RadioShack fined over disposal of its customers' personal data

FORT WORTH, Jul 17, 2008 (Fort Worth Star-Telegram - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- RSH | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- RadioShack, the Fort Worth-based electronics retailer, has been fined $630,000 by the Texas attorney general and ordered to better train employees regarding its information-security procedures, stemming from an incident last year when employees at a RadioShack store north of Corpus Christi threw away sensitive customer information in a nearby trash bin without destroying it.

The action violated state laws passed in 2005 governing the disposal of customer records that contain sensitive personal information, such as bank accounts, driver's license and Social Security numbers, the attorney general's office said Wednesday.

RadioShack did not return phone calls seeking comment on the fine and agreement.

What happened

In March 2007, a man sifting through a trash bin behind a RadioShack store at the Northshore Plaza center in Portland found boxes of documents and receipts containing personal information on thousands of customers. The documents included more than 2,000 payment slips with active credit-card numbers, discarded applications for RadioShack credit cards and mobile-phone service plans.

The attorney general's office said it found a customer's 1998 credit application and a receipt for a shredder that one customer bought to prevent identity theft.

What it means

Under an agreement reached with the attorney general, RadioShack must implement and maintain a comprehensive information-security program and train and test existing employees and managers within the next 60 days. All new employees must train on the procedures within 30 days of hiring.

The company must also select an executive to oversee the program and assure compliance with the state.

RadioShack also agreed to destroy records, both hard and electronic copies, by shredding, erasing or altering the personal information so that it's unreadable or undecipherable.

Others involved

The agreement with RadioShack was one of two disclosed Wednesday by Attorney General Greg Abbott under the state's identity-theft protection laws.

Select Medical, a Pennsylvania-based company, was fined $990,000 after an investigation of a physical-therapy facility in Levelland, west of Lubbock. The Levelland Police Department found more than 4,000 documents containing sensitive customer information in garbage containers behind the facility.

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