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Bank Sues Google for Name of Accidental Identity 'Thief'

by Caleb Johnson on September 25, 2009 at 06:33 AM


All it took for thousands of Rocky Mountain Bank customers' confidential information to be compromised was one unlucky employee's slip of the mouse. Now, the bank is scrambling to protect its customers, but Google isn't cooperating.

According to Wired, Rocky Mountain Bank is suing Google to reveal the identity of a Gmail account holder who mistakenly received an e-mail containing a bank customer's loan statements, as well as the confidential information of 1,325 individual and business customers. The foolish bank employee later sent another message, asking the still unidentified person to delete the first e-mail and attachment without reading them. Not at all surprisingly, the employee received no reply. Google says it won't identify the account holder unless there's a court order, and even then, the company won't guarantee it will i dentify the person.

It's easy to send an e-mail to the wrong person, but how did this employee attach such an important document without realizing it? Unfortunately, the mistake has been made. Now, it's time for the bank and Google to find a compromise that protects the privacy of all parties involved. [From: Wired]

Tags: banks, court, email, gmail, google, legal, privacy, top

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