Data destruction–it’s harder than you think
On June 1, 2005, the Federal Trade Commission enacted new rules regarding proper data destruction relating to personal information such as names, addresses, and social security numbers. It’s yet another provision of the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003 (FACTA), an act which among other things allows everyone in the United States and its territories to request a free credit report once a year from each of the major credit bureaus. But many of the FACTA provisions, though well intentioned, remain obscure. As the old saying goes, if a tree falls in the forest and no one’s around to hear it, does it still make a sound? In other words, do you know whether this rule applies to you (chances are it does), and do you know how to purge data (chances are you don’t)?