maybe our government that we vets served so proudly should issue us another card and give us credit for our old numbers making all the ones stolen usless to whomever has them...or is that asking to much?

All i can say is that I am glad I was in Canada and not Vietnam.

Hey this guy was a govenment employee. If anyone has been reading the threads around here you have to know he can't be wrong *laughs..... and you want my phone data too? Screw that noise!!!!

This is typical VA. There is no real supervision of this huge department. If you check Title38 Federal Law, you will find that they have the smallest Inspector Generals Department in government and they coverup their errors very well. Several months ago, the whole database of name and addresses for the VA mailorder pharmacy got jumbled and meds were sent to wrong addresses nationwide, but the VA never made it public. In other words, it's better that some of their veterans die, than for the Agency to be Embarrased. Those meds included paperwork with personal information and Federal Law (Hippa) requires it be made public. If you think FEMA is disfunctional, they are a tiny nothing compared to how screwed-up the VA is.

I think the real question is.. why did he take it home to start with?

Thats what I am saying!

maybe he intentionally took it home to let it get stolen, so he can cash in on the crime. these "i took the laptop with loads of personal data on it, and it just happened to get stolen, along with a few things of low value" stories are getting a bit fishy. im thinking maybe some people are maybe getting aproached by someone and bribed into bringing it home in return for some money or something.

...and maybe aliens implanted a probe in my...

...to illustrate the point that we could argue the "could be" and "may have" until the cows come home, and it won't get us anywhere.

We'll ifnd out tonight...ont he 10 o'clock news, I'm sure. ;)

Be careful, pstoff-a-toilet-seat may think you are a conspirator!

I read an article that said he had taken it home to work on a project. Chances are he was an honest guy who made a bad decision.

http://www.newswithviews.com/Devvy/kidd70.htm

"Social security is not an insurance program, it is a voluntary taxing scheme"

"The abuse of this number is rampant;"

"A social security number is to be used only for identification purposes regarding your social security account with the Social Security Administration."

or lazy parents got us into this... noone knows their rights anymore. sad sad.

True...and sad. In Ohio, the state actually claims it is legal to use the ssn for ID. They are grandfathered in prior to the law that prevents it being used for ID.

Voluntary taxation that the government uses for a big piggy bank to curry favor with voters and get re-elected. It is supposed to be a trust fund where they manage our money and help us (who are too stupid to save for retirement) by handing out breadcrumbs when we are old or sick. Instead it is theirs to spend as they see fit.

It is a challenge in this world to prove who you are. It is tough for companies to make sure that they have the right person. Because we have not stood up for our rights we have lost some of them.

We now all have a serial number. Just try to live in this society without a social. "What do you mean you don't have a SSN?"

The medical insurance companies love the SSN. They use it for an ID number and put it on your ID card.

In England they face the very real prospect of being forced to register with their government and be given and ID card. Let's see how long they go before they have to have it implanted on them (all in the name of security mind you).

Sorry for the OT post but this whole topic really fluxes my rods.

"Although it's unlikely the social security data was specifically targeted..."

uh-huh.

Now that they know they have it since its all over the news, it became a target.

LOL. Umm.. I left it on the counter, and I .. umm.. got distracted watching the NBA game..yeah!.. and ummm.. I ran out of beer!.. and umm.. Wal..Publix was real close, and then I had to get gas.. and when I got back, I was robbed!

...oh yeah, and my crack dealer delayed me too.. I mean my neighbor..

It's interesting to note that this gets a big article on BetaNews (even though it has nothing to do with any kind of Beta) But a laptop being shipped from Wells Fargo's Mortgage Dept in Utah that turned up missing gets just a little footnote on news sites.

http://kutv.com/seenon/local_story_138210001.html

GoogleNews Links

VA Theft currently 434 news links
Wells Fargo Theft, 1 news link

That is interesting. Thanks.

This seems have happend to quite a few companies, but people like to blame the government.

First of all, if BetaNews would site one of the actual articales, then people here could RTFA and get a better idea of what really happened. It seems that a data analyst working on a project took home the data (It's not clear weather it was on a CD in his laptop, or on the laptop itself, but sounds like it was the laptop that was stolen, not just a CD, which would make more sense). Any one who wants more infor can go to the links I will post below, or "call 1-800-FED INFO (1-800-333-4636). The call center will operate from 8 am to 9 pm (EDT), Monday-Saturday as long as it is needed." [quoted from the firstgov.gov link below]

33,000 Airmen had thier data stolen from Randolph AirBase in Texas in Aug 2005,
The FDIC employee database was compramised in June 2005
BofA lost backup tapes in feb 2005.
3.9 million Citibank lost thier backup tapes in May 2005.
Laptop stolen from employee's car with data on 50,000 employee's from merchantile Bank in Bethesda Maryland May 2006...

And the list goes on...

The origional article in Government Computer News that I was emailed that initially qued me onto this situation.
http://www.gcn.com/online/vol1_no1/40840-1.html

The actual Govt. site set up for Veterns to keep up on what is going on.
http://www.firstgov.gov/veteransinfo.shtml

PDF Copy of the letter that will be sent out to veterns.
http://www1.va.gov/opa/V..._Letter_to_Veterans.pdf

A great example of someone putting forth a diligent effort to assertain facts rather than feuling more conspiracy theories.

Thank you very much!

Thanks, I'm usually just a lurker here, but every once in while, something comes up that I just have to post on.

Yeah, he gives a bunch of links to a some websites, and all of a sudden he is some authority on facts now, huh? Are you always just this anal, or are you trying to show off?

Yeah, I can list a bunch of sites too and give information, but I leave fact finding to the people that made the article

You can do the same thing, but I fail to see ANY post where you put forth effort to illustrate facts, instead you resort to just bullying and pretending to side with people on the basis that their theories align with yours.

Why don't YOU put forth some effort there newb.

So what you're saying, is that this is pretty damned common, nowadays.

Huh...

Thank goodness most cards carry identity theft protection, fraud protection, and so on...

Notice to folks with credit: Make sure your card has these features. If it does not, drop them like a hot brick. Just about every reputable CC company ...

... Sorry.

... Reputable and CC company in the same sentance.

... too busy laughing.

... has these protections in place now. call and verify that this is the case for you.

One more tidbit of info:

Target has a press-release somewhere (Can't find it at the moment. Rijp, prove Yahoo! is better than Google and find it for me) that basically states they no longer provide *any* form of CC security at check-out. No signature verification, they won't even glance sideways at the card, or the name. Their reasong behind this is simply that CC companies now provide that protection, so they don't have to.

Unfortunately, the person who wrote the article on Beta News did not seem to add many facts, or even a link to any of the articles. This is why I tried to do some more research, especially since most of the posts at the time where about the “conspiracy” that someone would just steal a CD.

No, I don’t expect to be ‘the authority’ on facts. I can just post them as I find them. The problem is that I don’t think that Beta News had all the facts on this story.

I realize that this is a serious issue as my father is a vet too. I thought I'd add a little "old person" joke to liven things up. Tastless, perhaps, but just a joke on the less. I'll delete it none the less since everyone is so sensitive.

Yeah, but it does include those who fought in Desert Storm. Many of the veterans' benefits are lacking and on top of that, this just sucks.

I'm just over 30, and a vet, So I hope you don't think I will be useless soon. I'm just in my prime. :)

Most people think of vets as those old people from the vietnam war or WWI and WWII. Not so!!!

Anyone who has served and been discharged is considered a vet. The information that was stolen is a list of all veterans who served in the military and were discharged since 1975.

Edit: I'll jump in here also and say thank-you for changing your coment. Sorry if we jumped on you to hard ;-) And I understand that is was in jest, But some people are sensitive sometimes. Thanks for understanding.

What do you mean by "most of the numbers will be useless soon?" Just because I am a veteran does not mean that my social security number is any different than yours. And what "bright side" are you talking about? Because it wasn't your information that was taken, it is the bright side...right?! How arrogant!

Thank you for editing your comment. It was in poor taste.

I served my country with honor and pride and wound up disabled for it, so yes I do take it pretty serious. But I wouldn't change a thing I did though.

No matter what anyone says, this is stil The Greatest Country in the World to live in. I lived and served in several and some of these comments would land people in prison with some pretty nasty treatment. Those who are unhappy with the affairs of this country should do the rest of those who love it a favor and go live in a 3rd world country with minimal freedoms and see where their ignorant and arrogant remarks land them.

Not your comment specifically, but those in reference to the current administration and our government.

Most Americans these days take their freedom of speech for granted and fail to realize that the freedom not to speak also applies.

Did you realize that over 60% of message tones get mistaken for something else? Your previous comment did not sound like a joke, nor did it say in the comment that it was intended to be a joke...[hint: if it's a joke, then say it in the post].

I appreciate you pulling the comment.

*The Greatest Country in the World to live in. I lived and served in several and some of these comments would land people in prison with some pretty nasty treatment.*

*current administration and our government. *

So you are contradicting yourself. Which is it, a good place to live, or you have to "put up with" the current staff? If you are a veteran, YOU of all people should know, he is YOUR boss, and you can't "bad mouth" your boss. you mentioned you would get into trouble for saying things, and get into nasty trouble, but yet you bad mouth the current administration.

I am sorry, are you the pot or the kettle? I lost track.

Don't EVER accuse me of being a conspirator or a sypathizer without facts, because I would *NEVER* talk bad about the current staff, if I knew I couldn't do any better, dumb ass. Especially when they are empowered over you.

So don't go telling me "how great thou art" when you are just a whining simpleton, with gross overstatements.

This article is evidence to your lackluster, menial intelligence, or lack thereof.

Makes me glad I'm not a vet :P

You know that is just so ignorant. Its not even humorous.

That makes completely no sense whatsoever. Think about this... If the employee took the CD home, how did "someone" else happened to know that the employee has a CD full of SS#??? If you (in general) were to break into someone's house, what would you steal? Definitely not a freakin' CD, that's for sure.

The government IS trying to cover this up. This is another bogus story that they've came up with; much like the weather balloon story.

Exactly my point! He sold the data, and made it LOOK like a robbery, how do we know he didn't make a few dollars from this?

That's why is on suspension..

Or lets look at it this way. What if the CD was in his laptop case (if he had one) or a briefcase or some other object that tends to contain valuable items and that was stolen?

Not saying I believe it, but we must look at all sides :)

Do you need evidence or does this stuff just come to you in your sleep?

Why would the obvious be so hard to imagine? He had it on his laptop (as suggested below) or it was on a cd that was possibly stolen with the rest of his cds. I'll bet that it wasn't the only thing taken...

Are you just a complete fool, or just an instigator? Your uneducated opinions do no one any good.

Your opinion flip flops worse than a 50 cent pair of sandles.

You should reread your own posts, get a grip and GROW UP!

I think your and rijp's brains must have jumped off the train onto the 3rd rail.

You should use your brain for more than keeping your ears from meeting and go READ and get EDUCATED, not just the super short article here but the main article.

To a fool EVERYTHING is a conspiracy, and to the closed mind nothing is. The key is to know that mistakes were made and problems occurred, but the you and rijp are doing nothing but useless instigating, a truly unintelligent, arrogant, childish way to spend you time.

Our it could be that this idiot took the cd home out of pure negligence. Then his/her home gets sacked. Then being a good little employee notifies the boss that the cd has been stolen.

I hope you aren't trying to EVEN compare your lame a** comments with mine, jack ass. I can have an opinion, you moron, you don't like, it, you can come up with a better example. do we have proof to contrary numb nuts? Well then shut the **** up.

You need to learn to just keep your stupid comments to yourself, if you have something positive to say in light of the article, great, otherwise, don't bother to try and comment on my opinion, you d***.

I don't need evidence, dork. Its an opinion, I am sorry you have some lame response to something we can't prove anyway.

And I was kidding, jack ass, if you too me serious that's YOUR problem, not mine.

you know you spend way too much time concentrating on my comments, and trying to compete for some strange reason. Your head is so far up my ass, I can't tell my where butt hold stops. Stop following me d***, get your own backbone, dumb ass, no one cares what you think of me, if you have to spend this much time analyzing my posts, you need a life. I think you should start with learning how to formulate your own opinion.

What are you some liberal that thinks that world is black and white? We can have our own thoughts, evidently your idea of thoughts only come up when you think your pathetic response are worth something, well they aren't.

I love how you reply to my post calling me childish and all you did was complain about he and I, so what the **** does that make you, dumb ass?

Fine. Look at ALL sides. ANYTHING is posible at this point, all we have is 1 point of view of the story.

There are 3 sides to EVERY story, there is the A side, the B side, and then there is the truth.

Which is it? a joke or your opinion?

You certainly are entertaining... I'm sure it isn't for the reasons you'd like it to be though.

a crime ring and a conspiracy are completely different things. you know what i think is a conspiracy? you and all the other over-sensitive people on here b****ing about a joke, thats what. maybe you should keep your mouth shut more.

would there be cause for an investigation if it was just stolen? no dont think so.

Was there a point to this? Or are you in line with david123 and that other moron, pstoff-a-lot?

You seem like a smart guy... figure it out.

Okay, maybe I'm overreacting. Sometimes you post things that make sense. However, think about it. If this guy was really going to sell this data, don't you think he *wouldn't tell his boss* about the missing data? He would just take it home, copy it, sell it on the black market, and return the laptop without the VA being the wiser.

Of course there would be cause for an investigation. Something happened that wasn't good. They need to track the use of those SSNs and come up with policies to prevent this happening again.

Only the republicans can manage a brand new total SNAFU every single day of the week. Their complete incompetence is stunning. Not even P.T. Barnum could sell the gruel they're serving to US citizens every day. At least I can look forward to the new Dixie Chicks CD this week, whew!

Hey "Homer" if you would stop smoking the pot that kept you from joining the military (or are you just not bright enough?) You would know that the republicans have absolutly nothing to do with the employees at the VA! Remember even an idot seems wise if he keeps his mouth shut!

hahaha.a...

I think you and your Dixie chicks need to get off the crack.

Are these the same Dixie chicks that looked stupid on national TV, when they said " "Just so you know, we're ashamed the president of the United States is from Texas."

Those Dixie Chicks? Yeah, its good you get your political news from red neck chicks that wouldn't know a steer from cow. Yeah, I can see where your political views stem from.

Remember even an idot seems wise if he keeps his mouth shut!

Very similar to the following:

"It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt."
-- Mark Twain

Derrr, dude. Jim Nicholson is former CHAIRMAN OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY that oversaw Bush's stolen 2000 election and was appointed by Bush himself to the post in 2004. GET YOUR FACTS STRAIGHT.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Nicholson_(U.S._politician)

Jim Nicholson is just another republican who's spying, lying, stealing, robbing, and raping Americans blind. The list of republican criminals is now so long that it's unreadable in one sitting. Even their radio talkshow hosts are being frogmarched into jail (Rush and his drug dealing), and their hand-picked CIA director was suddenly fired without warning, notice, or having a successor in place. If you're so proud of this president, then how come you're not in Iraq fighting his war? I see lots of tough-talk typing, but why don't you sign up, put on the greens, and pick up a rifle? Too chicken?

I thought so.

oh because unless you jump at the chance and join the military, you dont support the president. man you are one dumb ****. and you think the dems dont have a list just as long? why dont you put a gun in your mouth and pull the trigger so we dont have to listen to your ignorant jackass comments anymore. or are you too chicken?

Thought so.

Here's three more kids-- use away:

666-66-6666

696-69-6969

868-86-8686

My grandmother is so old..her SSN is 2.

000-00-0002?

Niiice..

Easy to remember, at least. :P Probably a good thing, what with the advanced alzheimers...not to mention that nasty case of rigor-mortis.

Now that was hilarious!

Oh sure, an employee just walked off with 26.5 million records on CD.

Not possible.

The Department of Veterans Affairs is just covering up what really happened which was that their security is easily hacked. Duh

What if this was an employee with access to employee records? Don't ASSUME you know what's going on until you know the facts. So far, the press released stated exactly what happened if you choose to disagree, that's your problem.

Precisely. With the information I have access to, I wouldn't need to hack the system to download all of the personal information for all of our employees (which I am sure is the case with many who visit BetaNews and their access at work).

im also pretty damn sure that with the number of people that work with personal info, that at least 5% are bribable or morally corrupt people.

hm.. that is also a good point.

EVERYONE has a breaking point. Its just a matter of the right number.

What I want to know is--why are we so upset with the US government over privacy concerns when the problem is with the careless businesses that control our data?

I guess you might say government is at fault for "allowing" businesses to control personal records, but it's way too late IMO for government to do anything about it. The Internet has successfully out-smarted the government. (deleted OT statement)

"I guess you might say government is at fault for "allowing" businesses to control personal records, but it's way too late IMO for government to do anything about it."

Exactly.

Also on the whole www thing and 666 it's not the same. It is Six Hundred Sixty Six, not Six Six Six. WWW is simply 3 6's and not Six Hundred Sixty Six.

The Internet: The People.

The Gov: The Power.

The people have outsmrted the power? Nah...I think it's the other way around.

Corps control the Gov *and* the Net for all intents and purposes.

Compare the number of laws regarding human rights that have been passed in the past decade with the number of laws who's sole beneficiary is Big Business.

Scary. Brilliant, but scary...

"Also on the whole www thing and 666 it's not the same. It is Six Hundred Sixty Six, not Six Six Six. WWW is simply 3 6's and not Six Hundred Sixty Six."

Geez, I feel dumb now...maybe this will make me feel better: It actually says "Six-hunderd threescore and six..." :P

Yeah, I was just mentioning one of the several dozen possibilities--but it only detracts from my main point, so perhaps I will edit that part out...

Just for that....

After having been translated thousands of times.

It could very easily have originated as 6 6 6

Who knows?

Weeeeeee....

< - - Topic went that'a way!

*What I want to know is--why are we so upset with the US government over privacy concerns when the problem is with the careless businesses that control our data?*

Ah! Great, yes, that is it! I like it. Very well said.

Careless people are the problem, even in Government.

"Geez, I feel dumb now"

heh

uhh heh

:-P

heh

Let's be more specific: Careless people who are republican.

I am not partisan, I just don't believe parties should be aligned, or maligned. Both parties have good and bad points, and to simply eliminate them based on nothing but their party, isn't very open minded.

Lets be even more specific: Dumb**** opinionated people who dont look at both sides of things, and have no real point to go on named Zridling.

Feh..

Both parties are Evil Incarnate.

This should not imply, of course, by any means that I have formed a solid opinion concerning the direction in which our nation is headed...

I mean we could have been wrong all those centuries...maybe Evil is a good thing. ;)

Total BS.

Idiots.

This is an example of how the Fed can have too much info on everyone that is too accessible. That is why I say the data being captured the NSA is more than likely to become compromised. It happened at CentCom. Laptops with highly classified material were taken out of the facility and, if I remeber correctly, 1 was stolen and 2 were sold. Data is often not well secured within the government except combat related data. Most of the security background checks done prior to 2002 were cursory at best. People paid to verify data often did not actually go out to check the information supplied to them.

...Feds get this from these people's records. If ya ask me, I would PREFER the US government to control the data rather than these businesses--at least I know who the government is. The businesses can screw up with little accountability for a long time, but the people will speak up quickly when the government screws up!

Yeah, but where do the Feds get their info?

....from the businesses. Yeah. Scary. It's not th eFeds running the show, man. It's Big Business. Has been for a long time.

Circumstances are way way way too coincidental, So you're telling the Employee took the cd home with out permission. Then his/her house got robbed and the robber took the cd?

Come on make better excuses. Like someone who knew the vulnerbilites and stole the data, for the sake of the data.

I believe that the problemm of employees having all sorts of confidential stuff on their home computers is pretty far spread. I believe their was a huge problemm in Japan half a year ago (where people allmost work around the clock).
That one of them gets burgled once in a while isn't that much of a coincidence.

The employee only placed on leave pending? Who know what he does with the data. He can easily make copies and sell it for millions of dollar. The employee should be put behind bar for stoling (we all agreed that taking w/o permission is stealing).

26.5 mil that pretty much included every who have ever served or serving the arm force. If the VA or the govenment let this guy go easy, I am sure more similar cases like this will follow. We do so much to protect our SSN and now this guy just steal it.

*The employee only placed on leave pending?*

Yeah it's called "due process". They are innocent until PROVEN guilty. They only suspected he/she took it. Maybe they did know they took it, for a reason, but they didn't have permission, which is cause for alarm.

They said it was stolen, what if a manager gave permission, and neglected to tell someone else in charge. We don't know yet, but you can't jail someone unless formal charges have been filed.

Another guilty of not reading the article.

*sigh*

We've'n™ epidemic on our hands, boys.

FTFA:
. The information was taken when the employee's house was burglarized.

He did nothing with it. It was stolen. For allw e know, he took it home to finish some work because his boss didn't get it to him in time to do it at work.

READ PEOPLE!!! It's why they post this stuff.

*CD without permission.*

WE *DID* READ it.

It shouldn't 've been in the house in the *FIRST* place. :)

feh...

technicalities. :P

hmm use decent grammer much? i mean mine is bad, but this is piss-poor.

What's worse is that the buglars probably didn't know what they had until now.

They weren't burglars, this was an employee that took it without permission. So I think THEY KNEW what they had when they took it.

You ignorant dumb s***, the employee took it home and THEN he was *conveniently* burgled, can't you even read?

Yah,
I think thats the biggest screwup that rijp has made on here. See what happens when you DONT read the whole article.

lol, GOOD one.

Hey dumb ****!

*employee took the data home on CD without permission.*

He didn't have permission to TAKE it the FIRST place, you idget, lame ass, backwoods, retarded b****!

Can you drop your subscription to jugs long enough to UNDERSTAND, 3 redundant no-nothings?

*employee took the data home on CD without permission.*

If the employee didn't take the DAMN CD in the first ****ing place, NONE of this would have happened, DUMB ASS!

suck up. You blow his nose for him too?

You are SO-O-O-O brilliant with your elequent word. Right! Let me ask a question to all of you that continue to fuel a fire that breaches the border of ingnorance.

Are you a Veteran? I am, and having read the article most of your posts do nothing more than instigate arguments.

From the Washington (AFP) article 'The department said the employee was not authorized to take home the data and has been placed on administrative leave pending an investigation.', is now irrelevant. The important issue is actually damage control.

This whole forum is nothing more than a b*tch session for conspiracy theorists. Do something constructive and call you elected officials. If your a Vet get in touch with your rep, but most of all grow up!

A lot more brilliant than your comments. can you manage to just comment, instead of following me around?

I suppose you think you deserve some respect for being a Veteran? Well its EARNED not given, and so far, I don't see any reason to bestow any respect to you. And yes, not that is ANY of your damn business, I *AM* a veteran. You want to refute that too? You want a copy of my DD-214, jack ass?

You are so ignorant, you can't even be original.

We are not simply conspiring, as you so jump to conclusions, in your limited intellect way, put it. Maybe we are just tossing ideas out, and trying to put a spin on this, how about that? We can't discuss stuff to just discuss it, and you take for gospel, dr. theatrical? are you always this much of a drama queen, or did your sister beat you up one too many times?

If you don't like our "b**** sessions" you don't have to come back, you can simply find another forum to stalk people on. We aren't forcing you to stay. I don't need to call anyone, on your say so, moron. I don't feel the need to go off half c***ed everytime there appears to be "security" breach. There are so many ways this information can be gained, that a lost CD isn't really going to have an impact.

First of the data didn't reside on a CD, its on an electronic database, someone COPIED the info to a CD, stripping the address, phone number, military records, and other non important info other than birthdate, and name, and SSN. If the information wasn't authorized in the first place, and it was coincidentally "stolen" around the same time, are you so dense to believe this doesn't seem just a TAD fishy to you?

So, we don't even know the extent of the damage yet, you overzealous, pedantic fool. So calm down, get to Vet hospital, and take a zanax, we are going to be here for a while.. But you are free to go.

ohh look your a vet so that makes you sooooo much of a better person, your still a prick, and nobody gives a s*** if you served or not.

Hahaha, there is no coming back from your mistake, no matter how hard you try, you still shot first, didn't even ask questions later and for that i grilled you.

Now bend over and take it up the a** like a good little troll now ;)

First Tricare (medical insurance provider for the U.S. military) has their (our) records ripped off, now this? "Progress through technological advances" - gotta love it.

What keeps employees from copying CDs and taking them home? Obviously nothing since they can take the originals.

What keeps you from simply making a copy of everyone in the global address book at work? What keeps you from copying copyrighted, confidential material from work? What keeps you from walking into the controllers office at work, and taking stuff off his/her desk? nothing!

Security is EVERYoNE's job, not just people with a clearance. A janitor, receptionist, simple invidividuals have access to company or personal info.. Its all a matter of trust.

This is only a problem for people if they become disgruntled, or they are not happy. ANY company, EVERY company has a security leak. We are trusting the people they hire.

CEO's of large companies, oh I don't know, let's just pick one at random, let's say.. oh. ENRON! They stole from the retirement fund..

ANYONE at ANYTIME is capable of theft. The only thing from making you do it, is motive. EVERY ONE has the means, and you have the opportunity, but if you get the motive, you will do it.

Why does this seem likes it any less of a risk?

they need to make the company and any guilty parties completely responsable for all fallout of this, so if 500 vets get their ss fund stolen, the company and that jackass who took the disk home, and the guy who stole it all need to pay for it. there need to be way harsher penalties and people need to learn a lesson, as this is a serious ****ing problem.

Wow :O

In 1981 I worked on Air Force electronic systems. Of the 12 people in my job, 6 had tumors of the Parotid Gland. Five of the 6 were malignant, mine was not. I had it removed in 1981. When it grew back in 1998, I went to the local VA. I told the attending physician I did not give permission for the residents to do the operation, althought they could watch. He ignored my request and left me to the residents to do the operation, which took 16 hours, so they could get trained. He actually left the hospital after a few hours and left me to the residents for 16 hours. After I was unconscious, an unsupervised resident strapped me down to the table, way too tight, cutting off circulation to my legs for 16 hours. I was so badly injured that I could not walk for 18 very painful months. When I complained to my Congressman, I found out that the VA had told the Congressional Staff that my condition was a result of self inflicted wounds. I forced the VA's IG to inspect the hospital and with their findings, I successfully sued the VA, which was not easy, as they cheated every step of the way to try to coverup what happened to me. I would have been safer in a third-world hospital. What faith should I have in them now? With every step I still feel the pain that will be with me for a lifetime.

By the way, thousands of government workers travel with sensitive information on laptops. The ones that the government cares about, are required to be encrypted. Why do they not care enough about data to follow the Hippa Law and encrypt the data? It should not only be the guy who lost the data that pays for this, but his supervisors and IT support for allowing it to be put on a non-encrypted disk.

i think the entire company should be forbiden from ever touching infortmation like that again, thus driving them out of business. that would be fair IMO. seriously it is that big of a deal to lose thousands of peoples information, information that these vets are going to need to live off of when they reach the age to retire.

and dude i would have killed that doc, no joke.