INFORMATION PROTECTION WATCHDOG TO RELEASE RESULTS OF "DISCARDED LIVES"
RESEARCH PROJECT

TORONTO, Oct. 12 /CNW/ - The National Association for Information Destruction- Canada (NAID-Canada) will present the findings of its "Discarded Lives" research project at its upcoming conference, titled "Your Data or Your Life", on October 29th at the Toronto Board of Trade.

The presentation will provide the results of the non-profit industry watchdog's 6- week investigation into the amount of personal and trade secret information readily available in Toronto's commercial trash bins.

To conduct the research, NAID-Canada retained one of the country's most respected private investigation firms to analyze representative sampling of a large cross section of commercial dumpsters serving data-sensitive institutions. Among the guidelines dictated for the survey were that all such reviews be done with legally permitted methods.

"The guidelines we provided to the firm conducting the investigation mandated that no heroic or illegal means were to be taken to obtain access to the dumpsters' contents," says NAID-Canada's executive director Robert Johnson. "Canadian courts have routinely maintained that there is no right to privacy when materials are casually discarded."

Johnson also says that the report will only disclose the statistical abstract of the findings of the study.

"By design, we never had any intention of naming names or indicting specific organizations," says Johnson. "Our contract with the research firm we commissioned for the study mandates that we never know what organizations were subject to the investigation. We were simply looking to demonstrate how attentive organizations are in general to their responsibilities to the customers and to their regulatory compliance."

While the results of the study are still being compiled, the early indications are that a surprising amount of personal information is being put at risk.

Completely by coincidence, the NAID-Canada "Discarded Lives" study comes on the heels of a report recently issued from the Canadian Privacy Commissioner's Office showing that many government agencies' surplus computers still contain a considerable amount of personal information.

About NAID-Canada

NAID-Canada is the regional chapter of NAID, the non-profit trade association of the secure destruction industry dedicated to promoting the responsible destruction of discarded information and promoting the high ethical and operational standards of its over 1,400 member-companies around the world.

Websites:
www.naidonline.org
www.naidcanada.org

For further information:

Duncan Rayner
Temple Scott Associates
190 O'Connor Street, 5th Floor
Ottawa, Ontario
Canada K2P 2R3
Phone: [phone]
Email:[email protected]