British Columbia accidentally auctions medical records
Published March 7th, 2006
A man who purchased 41 tapes from the B.C. government found himself the unexpected owner of 77,000 personal medical files.
The tapes included records such as HIV status, substance abuse history and mental illness.
The man bought the tapes at a public government auction with the intention of selling them.
The man, who assumed the tapes were blank when he purchased them, handed them over to the Vancouver Sun when he realized the information they contained.
Minister of Labour Mike de Jong said an investigation is underway into how the sensitive records ended up on the auction block.
“It is completely unacceptable for information like this to be unsecured in the way this clearly is,” he told The Canadian Press.
The Vancouver Sun’s technology specialist said it appeared no attempt had been made to erase the information from the tapes before they were sold.
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