BP loses personal details on spill victims Infamously leaky oil company BP has lost a laptop containing personal information, social security numbers and other details on 13,000 people claiming compensation for the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. The laptop was password-protected but not encrypted. It was lost 1 March by a travelling BP exec. BP said the lappy contained a …
"It said it took protection of personal information very seriously" but its actions very clearly contradict its words. Congrats BP, you've just added insult to injury.
Sidenote, do we never hear about loss of unencrypted internal employee listings with personal data because they are better protected, or because companies aren't obliged to report it at the same level?
Ya know, even though you failed to follow industry best practices on the rig where the spill happened, I won't hold that too strongly against you. I do actually fault The Big 0 and his response to the spill when it happened, and the failure of his administration to properly oversee your drilling plan because they were all set to give you that safety award and seize a photo op.
But in the case of this laptop, if I were on the jury I'd award $1 US million apiece to the people listed in the spreadsheet just on general principles.
Sincerely,
Tom 13
What amazes me is that there is plenty of paid for and free solutions that will allow you to install software on your computer and monitor its location form any computer that can connect to the internet.
As soon as the person who stole the laptop connects it online, the laptop will call home, if the laptop has a camera, pictures will also be taken. You can then retrieve this info for the police by logging into an online account which will store the data (location and images)
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