Legislation

Fair and Accurate Credit Transaction Act (FACTA)

FACTA stands for the Fair and Accurate Credit Transaction Act. The FTC enacted the FACTA (Fact Act) to protect consumers against the mishandling of consumer information by any person or business. This regulation mandates that any person or business that gathers consumer data must carefully and accurately destroy that information. It also mandates that if a person or business cannot accurately and carefully destroy that information, it must contract the services of a business that can. The National Association for Information Destruction (NAID) is a non-profit trade group comprised of document destruction firms dedicated to upholding the standards of FACTA. Find out more>>

Health Insurance Portability & Accountability Act (HIPAA)

HIPAA was enacted in 1996 and the mandatory compliance date is April 14, 2003. All hospitals, doctors, pharmacies, health plans, medical billing companies and any other business entity involved in the healthcare industry must comply. The rules apply to all protected health information. The Standard for Privacy of Identifiable Health Information requires that covered entities put in place administrative, technical and physical safeguards to protect the privacy of protected health information. One example given of a safeguard for the proper disposal of paper documents containing protected health information is that the documents be shredded prior to disposal. Find out more >>

Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (1999) Financial Services Modernization Act

This Federal legislation went into effect in 2000, the privacy provisions in the law require that financial institutions and insurance companies give consumers prior notice of an intention to share personal information and a chance to opt out of the sharing of such information. The law states that these institutions and companies need to “respect the privacy of its customers and to protect the security and confidentiality of those customers’ non-public information.” The language suggest that paper documents containing such personal information should also be protected and safely destroyed. Find out more >>

Federal Privacy Act of 1974

This law was established in 1974 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 for any information released without proper authorization.

Supreme Court Case

California v Greenwood, The US Supreme Court ruled in 1988 that any item placed in the trash is considered public information.