Census Bureau Loses Hundreds of Laptops with Citizen Data

by Mike Bevel, CollectionIndustry.com

Since 2003, the Census Bureau has misplaced 217 laptops, 46 portable data storage devices, and 15 handheld devices used by census takers. Some of these items were lost; others stolen. All, however, contain the personal information of millions of Americans.

The Commerce Department claims that encryption methods protect the data, regardless of its whereabouts, and that nothing, so far, indicates that the data has been compromised.

“The department takes very seriously these high instances of missing laptops, as well as potential breaches of personal identity data,” Commerce Secretary Carlos M. Gutierrez told the Associated Press.

The Commerce Department isn?t the only governmental agency with data-loss problems. Several months back the Veterans? Administration lost several laptops containing sensitive personal data. The government had to provide free credit reports to affected veterans. Other departments reporting the loss of computers with personal information include the departments of Agriculture, Defense, Education, Energy, Health and Human Services, and Transportation. The Federal Trade Commission also has lost laptops with sensitive data.

The lost equipment came to light during an inventory review. “This review process has clearly pointed out the flaws in the department’s inventory and accountability efforts going back many years,” Gutierrez said. “We are viewing this process with the spirit of actively rooting out the problems and addressing them immediately.”