Today’s databases are used to store massive amounts of information. Often the information a company stores about it’s clients and employees is excessive. Technology has permitted more data to be stored in increasingly smaller spaces. As a result, more and more data has been collected about people. The companies usually use this data benignly, but the data is still there… (usually names, addresses, telephone numbers, credit card numbers, social security numbers, bank account numbers, etc…) What prevents somebody with access to this data from using it for their own personal gains?

Nobody thinks it will happen to them, but one day you could wake up and find your bank account empty, or the Government wants words with you because somebody with you social security number has committed some crime somewhere and they think it was you.

The long and short if it is that companies need certain data to operate, but they do not necessarily need to store every piece of data they collect for the long term. In fact, most of the time, once a transaction has occurred, the company does not need access to your credit card number again.

I am bringing this up now because I think we should make certain at this point, that we store only the data we need for the long term. People will be entrusting us with personal data, and we need to be sure that we do our very best to protect the data we need, and to remove from our systems the data we no longer need.

Just a few thoughts before tonight’s meeting, and while we are moving towards making this a reality.