Slashdot Mirror
Bank Goofs, and Judge Orders Gmail Account Nuked
An anonymous reader writes "The Rocky Mountain Bank, based in Wyoming, accidentally sent confidential financial information to the wrong Gmail account. When Google refused to identify the innocent account owner's information, citing its privacy policy, the bank filed in Federal court to have the account deactivated and the user's information revealed. District Judge James Ware granted the bank's request, with the result that the user has had his email access cut off without any wrongdoing or knowledge of why." The Reg's earlier story says, "Rocky Mountain Bank had asked to court to keep its suit under seal, hoping to avoid panic among its customers and a 'surge of inquiry.' But obviously, this wasn't successful."
Wyoming is the home state of Dick Cheney, so TFA is no surprise.
The miscarriage of justice is the fact that Dick hasn't been rounded up and shot in the face with a 12 gauge shotgun. At point-blank range.
Close. It would be like having a package mailed to your home, without your knowledge, that's full of drugs, then the SWAT team kicks down your door, kills your dog, and arrests everyone in the house.
Oh, wait, that happens all the time. "Land of the free" my ass. I officially hate the land of my birth now.
God invented whiskey so the Irish would not rule the world.
Whoever modded this troll needs shooting; preferably at birth.
Requiem for the American Dream
Regardless of who is at fault to what degree, the owner of the account the information was sent to most likely was
A) oblivious to what happened, or
B) unscrupulous and was planning to take advantage of the gold mine that landed in his lap.
Considering the potential for harm, the judge in this case was right to act, at least in principle. Mind you, I don't know if the law was on his side since the recipient was effectively an innocent bystander.
That said, there may very well be laws that regulate the possession of confidential information. Considering that the information belonged to a financial institution, that may be the case.
Often times, I have received email with a footer that cites the information as confidential and stating that the recipient is required by law to delete it if it was sent in error.
Bottom line, the nincompoop that got the info was almost certainly up to no good. You don't just not notice a honking huge spreadsheet being plopped in your inbox.
The bank that sent this needs to get its ass kicked. If they find out that the recipient was in on anything, he needs sanctioned as well.
I'm only guessing, but could the mayor of Berwyn, Maryland possibly be black?
Artificial Intelligence stands no chance against Natural Stupidity