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Globe goofs in releasing subscribers? credit nos.
By Jesse Noyes
Wednesday, February 1, 2006 - Updated: 04:36 PM EST
The Boston Globe is frantically attempting to rectify a major distribution blunder after accidentally releasing the credit card numbers of up to half its subscribers, the paper said yesterday.
As many as 240,000 people around New England may have been victims of last weekend?s distribution blunder, it said.
Globe subscribers? names, addresses and credit card numbers were inadvertently sent out with 9,000 bundles of the Worcester Telegram & Gazette?s Sunday edition after internal reports were recycled as routing slips or ?toppers? placed on top of bundles.
The bundles were dropped off at stores and with newspaper carriers around the Worcester region, the Globe said yesterday.
The T&G, which is the Globe?s sister paper within the New York Times Co., is also warning that it may have released as many as 1,100 subscribers? routing numbers from personal checks last weekend.
?We deeply value the trust our subscribers place in us and we are working diligently to remedy this unfortunate situation,? said Globe publisher Richard H. Gilman in a statement.
The Globe has contacted the four major credit card companies ? American Express, Discover, MasterCard and Visa ? to explain the situation and is contacting the banks of affected customers.
Management discovered the blunder yesterday morning but waited until the evening before issuing a statement.
?It?s a very complicated situation to determine just what happened,? said Globe spokesman Al Larkin. ?We needed, in making this disclosure, to tell our customers as much as possible.?
Staffers from both newspapers are attempting to get back as many slips as possible, but had recovered only about 10 percent of the confidential information as of last night. Most of the slips were likely thrown out, the Globe said.
The newspaper said it was discontinuing the practice of reusing revenue reports following the mistake. When asked if recycling the information was regular practice, a spokesman for the Globe said the company was investigating what policies were in place in Worcester, but that the Boston broadsheet did not reuse such sensitive information.
Globe goofs in releasing subscribers? credit nos.
By Jesse Noyes
Wednesday, February 1, 2006 - Updated: 04:36 PM EST
The Boston Globe is frantically attempting to rectify a major distribution blunder after accidentally releasing the credit card numbers of up to half its subscribers, the paper said yesterday.
As many as 240,000 people around New England may have been victims of last weekend?s distribution blunder, it said.
Globe subscribers? names, addresses and credit card numbers were inadvertently sent out with 9,000 bundles of the Worcester Telegram & Gazette?s Sunday edition after internal reports were recycled as routing slips or ?toppers? placed on top of bundles.
The bundles were dropped off at stores and with newspaper carriers around the Worcester region, the Globe said yesterday.
The T&G, which is the Globe?s sister paper within the New York Times Co., is also warning that it may have released as many as 1,100 subscribers? routing numbers from personal checks last weekend.
?We deeply value the trust our subscribers place in us and we are working diligently to remedy this unfortunate situation,? said Globe publisher Richard H. Gilman in a statement.
The Globe has contacted the four major credit card companies ? American Express, Discover, MasterCard and Visa ? to explain the situation and is contacting the banks of affected customers.
Management discovered the blunder yesterday morning but waited until the evening before issuing a statement.
?It?s a very complicated situation to determine just what happened,? said Globe spokesman Al Larkin. ?We needed, in making this disclosure, to tell our customers as much as possible.?
Staffers from both newspapers are attempting to get back as many slips as possible, but had recovered only about 10 percent of the confidential information as of last night. Most of the slips were likely thrown out, the Globe said.
The newspaper said it was discontinuing the practice of reusing revenue reports following the mistake. When asked if recycling the information was regular practice, a spokesman for the Globe said the company was investigating what policies were in place in Worcester, but that the Boston broadsheet did not reuse such sensitive information.
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