If The Office Of Civil Rights Doesn't Get You, The FTC Will

The FTC Charges a Debt Collection Firm and an Auto Dealership with Data Privacy Violations for Exposing Private Information through Peer-to-Peer File Sharing Networks

In a June 7 press release, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced two proposed consent orders – one against a debt collection firm and the other against an auto dealership – for violations involving the public disclosure of private consumer information, including Social Security numbers. In both instances, the data breaches occurred because peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing software was installed on company computers, which made data on a person's computer available to everyone else connected to that P2P network.

One of the two actions is against EPN, Inc., a debt collector based in Provo, Utah, which provides services to healthcare providers and other clients. The FTC alleges that EPN's chief operating officer installed P2P file sharing software on the company's network, causing the disclosure of Social Security numbers, health insurance numbers and medical diagnosis codes of 3,800 hospital patients. The software was disabled in April 2008, "when EPN was informed by a client that two files containing personal information about the client's debtors were available on a P2P network." The FTC found that, using healthcare terms, EPN had failed to perform a risk assessment and address deficiencies. As such, the FTC found EPN's actions constituted unfair or deceptive acts or practices in violation of Section 5(a) of the FTC Act.

The other action is against Franklin's Budget Car Sales, Inc., also d/b/a Franklin Toyota/Scion, out of Statesboro, Georgia. In this case, records for 95,000 individuals were made available on a P2P network, which included names, addresses, Social Security Numbers, birth dates, and driver's license numbers. The FTC noted that while the dealership advised consumers through a privacy policy that it "maintain[s]...

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