Could your company survive a lawsuit?

Various state, federal and international regulations govern the protection of private information. Disclosing private information - even by accident - could be grounds for a lawsuit. A secure, reliable shredding program will assist you in remaining legally compliant with privacy laws.

• Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 ("HIPAA") - he Final Privacy Rule: This Rule limits the use and disclosure of individually identifiable health information relating to the physical or mental health of individuals absent consent or authorization from the patient and subject to certain other exclusions.

• Gramm-Leach-Bliley (GLB) Act: This Act requires that financial institutions take steps to ensure the security and confidentiality of its customers non-public personal information including personally identifiable information such as Social Security numbers, passwords or access codes for bank accounts, credit cards, ATM cards, financial assets of an individual, consumer credit reports, financial account numbers for an individual, and other similar such financial information that is attributable to a particular individual. The harm caused by "identity theft" has led the federal government to create mandates such as this in order to prevent even the negligent disclosure of sensitive personal information. GLB covers a wide array of financial activities. The definition of a "financial institution" under GLB is extremely broad, including preparers of individual tax returns, providers of real estate settlement services and debt collection agencies.

• The 1974 Federal Privacy Act was established to insure that government agencies protect the privacy of individuals and businesses with regard to information held by them and to hold these agencies liable if any information is released without authorization.

• Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) — Regulation S-P: The purpose of this Regulation is to bring businesses regulated by the SEC into compliance with the concepts for privacy outlined under the GLB Act. This Act applies to broker-dealers, funds, registered advisors, those who deal with variable annuity or variable life insurance, and any other entities dealing in Securities.

• Safe Harbor Privacy Principles: In October 1998, the European Union's wide-sweeping privacy legislation — called the European Union Data Protection Directive — became effective. The Directive places new requirements on businesses that wish to collect, process or transfer personal data from an EU Member State to an non-EU Member State. Under the Directive, the transfer of personal information from an EU Member State to a non-EU country is forbidden unless the country and the company involved provide an "adequate" level of privacy protection.In all likelihood, your state legislature has enacted, adopted or proposed privacy legislation which will apply to your company if your business requires access to any non-public personal information.

• FERMA

• Facta (2003): The new Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003 (FACTA) amends the current Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) to "prevent identity theft, improve resolutions of consumer disputes, improve accuracy of consumer records, make improvements in the use of, and consumer access to credit information, and for other purposes." According to the FTC’s FACTA disposal rule “any person who maintains or otherwise possesses consumer information for a business purpose” must properly destroy discarded consumer information. A reasonable measure as defined in FACTA is securely shredding of paper documentation containing consumer information.

• Sarbanes Oxley Act (2002) was passed to implement changes in federal securities regulation, corporate governance, and the regulation or auditors. It expanded federal white-collar laws criminalizing the destruction of certain corporate communications and documents.

• Federal Rule 26: By not adhering to a program of routinely destroying stored records, a company exhibits suspicious disposal practices that could be negatively construed in the event of litgation or audit. Destroying on a set schedule limits your legal risks.

• FERPA is a Federal law that protects the privacy of student education records. The law applies to all schools that receive funds under an applicable program of the U.S. Department of Education. FERPA gives parents certain rights with respect to their children's education records. These rights transfer to the student when he or she reaches the age of 18 or attends a school beyond the high school level.

• Fair Credit Reporting, enforced by the Federal Trade Commission, is designed to promote accuracy and ensure the privacy of the information used in consumer reports. Recent amendments to the Act expand your rights and place additional requirements on CRAs. Businesses that supply information about you to CRAs and those that use consumer reports also have new responsibilities under the law.

• Ecomonic Espionage Act makes the theft or misappropriation of trade secrets a criminal offense, and is the first federal law that purports to both broadly define and severely punish such misappropriation and theft.