DOMINO'S SAYS CUSTOMER DATABASE TOO PRIVATE TO SHARE

Having an enormous database of customers, cell phone numbers and addresses from around the country, Domino's Pizza LLC is subject to speculation about abuse of that personal information.
One such article was in a CNET news article, The Internet, a Private Eye's Best Friend. A Brooklyn private investigator, Steven Rambam, observes in the article that the Internet is a goldmine for getting personal information. The article elaborates, "Rambam also gets information from marketing databases that gather information on people's buying habits and preferences from frequent-customer cards, surveys, product registrations, actual transactions, and other activities." It then quotes Rambam, saying, "Domino's has built the biggest consumer database in America, and the U.S. Marshals Service, the New York Police Department and collection agencies are using it to track people down."
Responding to a phone call from Blue MauMau and a follow-up email, Mr. Tim McIntyre, Vice President of Communications at Domino's, issued this statement a few minutes ago that such claims are simply not true.
"We do not sell or give away our customer lists to anyone, despite what this individual claims. He's grossly misinformed. Our customer lists are too important to us, and the trust we have with our customers is too valuable to break. There is no upside for us at all in sharing the information.
There have been a few instances in which our legal department has received subpoenas from law enforcement agencies who want to tie a specific address to a cell phone number. In those cases, we only provide that information - we do not share entire lists. Any business receiving a subpoena from a law enforcement agency is going to cooperate, of course. In the cases in which we have cooperated, the information has led to the arrest of drug dealers and murderers.For that, we will not apologize.
As for the accusation that we share information with collection agencies: again, false. Do we use this information to collect money owed to us? Yes, occasionally. That is the only time we would use that kind of information. We do not sell or share it with others.

PREPARE FOR e-DISCOVERY REQUESTS TO AVOID DISASTROUS LEGAL SANCTIONS AND FINES

If your company was hit with a lawsuit, would you be prepared for an e-discovery request? For instance, does your company have formal e-discovery policies? Do you know what data to store and how long to store it? Does your company provide employees with e-discovery training?
When we surveyed 711 TechRepublic members about e-discovery, we found that many of their companies were ill prepared for e-discovery requests.
Without policies and procedures in place, you could be setting your company up for huge fines and sanctions.
Here’s an excerpt from the E-discovery Special Report, which demonstrates why IT leaders should know the ins and outs about e-discovery:
“…recent decisions in Federal courts, as well as changes to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, reflect a shift toward holding respondents — the providers of information requested during discovery –responsible to pay for producing ESI. This responsibility is based on the assumption that a reasonable IT manager understands the need for knowing where his or her organization’s information is kept, whether it should be accessible during discovery, how to provide an environment in which documents and other information can be easily placed and kept on ‘legal hold,’ and the how to implement and use the tools necessary to provide them on demand.”

Digital Docs Raise Compliance Issues

Many tools exist that can help companies manage electronic documents in compliance with court rules, but some attendees of an electronic discovery conference this week said they don't trust all the technology.

Several technologies, such as e-mail archiving software, can help reduce risk and manage costs associated with e-discovery rules, vendors and other advocates said Friday at the Advanced E-Discovery Institute at the Georgetown Law School in Washington, D.C.