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ARTICLE · 14 OCTOBER 2022

Regulatory Obligations Concerning The Disposal Of Outdated Hard Drives And Servers

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The disposal of hardware in the wrong manner can leave an organization offside its regulatory obligations under privacy legislation.

CanadaPrivacy
Ruth Promislow
Ruth Promislow
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The disposal of hardware in the wrong manner can leave an organization offside its regulatory obligations under privacy legislation. Depending on the residence of the individuals or entities whose personal data is stored by organizations, improper disposal of hardware storage devices may be offside of regulatory obligations in several countries.

Morgan Stanley recently agreed to pay US$35 million to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) further to an inquiry by the SEC regarding the alleged improper removal of computer devices from the Morgan Stanley offices. The SEC alleged that the company hired a moving and storage company with no expertise in data protection to decommission thousands of servers and hard drives. The SEC further alleged that the moving company sold those devices, which included the personal identifying information of millions of customers. Morgan Stanley has not admitted the allegations.

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