Jump to full article: Richmond (VA) Times-Dispatch, 2006-02-16
Author: DAVID RICE MEDIA GENERAL NEWS SERVICE
Intro: A contractor for the U.S. Farm Service Agency inadvertently released the Social Security numbers and tax-identification numbers of all 350,000 participants in the federal tobacco buyout.
About 42,000 Virginians are participating in the buyout.
"The agency sincerely regrets that this occurred," said Teresa Lasseter, the FSA administrator. "And we are working aggressively to protect this data and see that it doesn't happen again."
In response to requests made under the Freedom of Information Act, the agency said a contractor with FSA's Kansas City office inadvertently released the personal information on Jan. 19 to eight groups that included banks and the Environmental Working Group, a nonprofit group that opposes farm subsidies. FSA officials said they discovered the error Feb. 9.
Lasseter said that all eight groups agreed not to make disclosures of the information.
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