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WHY
SHRED?
Identity Theft:
On-site document shredding is the simplest and most cost effective way
of reducing your liability and potential for lawsuits. On-site
document shredding ensures your confidential information is completely
destroyed and is rendered unusable. By taking your staff out of
the chain of custody it lowers the risk of internal theft and
negligence. With identity theft as the fastest growing crime in
America, both State and Federal lawmakers have actively begun passing
legislation that currently requires or will require sensitive document
destruction.
Trash is Open to the
Public:
In 1988 the US Supreme Court
ruled that
trash-picking (i.e. Dumpster Diving) is legal. Once trash is picked up,
it’s public domain…with no exception of privacy or ownership. If you
dispose of your files in a public landfill and they are recovered you
could be held liable.
It's the Law:
NorCal Shred has a goal to keep its
customers
up to date and in compliance with laws that may affect their
business. The following is a partial list of laws that affect
nearly all business types in California. Notice that all of the
laws specify some type of destruction as a method for compliance.
FACTA
- Ensuring Legal
Compliance
In
November 2004, a final rule within the Fair and Accurate Credit
Transactions Act (FACTA) was issued that addresses the disposal of
consumer information. Every company that operates in the United States
is affected by this legislation. (More
Info)
California,
Assembly Bill 2246
In California, Assembly Bill
2246
requires a business to: "Take all reasonable steps to destroy…… a
customer's records within its custody or control containing personal
information which is no longer to be retained by the business by (1)
shredding, (2) erasing, or (3) otherwise modifying the personal
information in those records to make it unreadable or undecipherable
through any means."
Graham
Leach
Bliley Act (Financial Services Modernization Act)
Created for the financial
services
industry, this law mandated broad rights for consumers. In terms
of shredding, it stated that financial services firms need to destroy
consumer information before discarding it and created penalties for
violations. (More
Info)
HIPAA
(Health
Information Portability and Accountability Act)
This Act required the
Department
of Health and Human Services to establish national standards for
electronic health care transactions and national identifiers for
providers, health plans, and employers. It also addresses the security
and privacy of Patient Health Information (PHI). Specifically, it
requires healthcare providers to destroy PHI before throwing it away. (More Info)
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