Public Access
The growth of single-day shredding events has been one of the spillover results of the booming information destruction industry.
DataLock, a Mt. Vernon, Ill.-based document destruction firm, is seeking data destruction opportunities by offering free shredding days in communities where it has established business relationships.
"Our free shredding events have become so popular that we now include them in sales packages. It’s just another way to entice organizations to switch to our services," says Chris Barker, DataLock’s director of sales.
The idea came about after a local organization received bad press from Dumpster diving reports. DataLock offered the free shred day as a way for the tarnished company to restore its image in the community.
While the one-day events generally are not moneymakers, the company has been able to bring in a fair amount of paper at some events, even though it attempts to limit each participant to 50 pounds of paper per event. DataLock reports that at a one-day shredding event in Kentucky July 28, it ended up shredding just slightly less than 5,000 pounds of material.
"It’s become a great selling feature. We’ve even had non-customers ask us how much we would charge to do a free shred day," says Barker. At this point, DataLock has not charged for the community shred days, but rather provides them as a "thank you" to good customers.
DataLock is a National Association for Information Destruction AAA-certified company and offers plant- and mobile-based shredding operations.
Advice from the Inside
An editor for the St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times has interviewed the identity thief who disrupted his life for a feature story in the Florida newspaper.
After interviewing Shad Fish at the federal Leavenworth prison in Kansas, Political Editor Adam C. Smith published a story offering a look at Fish’s techniques as well as the "insider’s" suggestions on how to reduce ID theft.
The 35-year-old Fish, sentenced to six years in prison, blamed a drug habit for his willingness to use other people’s personal information to buy televisions, furniture and other items that could be sold for cash to feed his habit.
The convicted felon said a name and checking account number can often be enough for an identity thief to get a start. "Say I mow your grass, and you write me a check. I could then empty your account in a day. All I need is that account number and routing number," Fish told Smith.
After speaking with Fish, Smith sounded a fatalistic note to his newspaper readers, "Take every precaution—guard your Social Security number, update your computer firewalls, shred your credit card statements—it’s not enough."
A culprit that enables identity thieves to run up large tabs, according to both Fish and Smith, is the instant credit policy in place at so many retail locations.
Smith writes, "Had the stores so eager to issue instant credit bothered to call the last home phone number listed for me on my credit report, [Fish] probably would have been thwarted."
The full text of Smith’s feature story can be found online at www.sptimes.com.
Restaurant Chain Keeps Lid on I.D. Theft
Papa Gino’s Holdings Corp., an Italian quick-service restaurant chain in New England, is getting help from Dell, headquartered in Round Rock, Texas, to guard its customers and employees against incidences of identity theft.
The restaurant chain is using Trusted Platform Module (TPM) security technology integrated into Dell OptiPlex desktop and Latitude notebook computers to help keep sensitive data secure.
According to Dell, by integrating smart card readers and TPM technology into most of its enterprise client products, the company helps to ensure customers can secure critical data and control who has access to it.
"We wanted an open-standards security solution that could prevent lock in," John Fiore, chief technology officer for Papa Gino’s, says.
More information is available at www.dell.com.
Explore the December 2005 Issue
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