Dole: USDA Says Data About Tobacco Farmers Returned or Destroyed

Source from:  Associated Press RALEIGH, N.C. 03/20/2006

The U.S. Agriculture Department has assured U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole that data containing the tax identification and Social Security numbers of about 80,000 North Carolina tobacco buyout participants has either been returned to the Farm Service Agency or destroyed, Dole said. Dole, R-N.C., said in a news release Friday that she was told that "this unfortunate error has been corrected." The Agriculture Department said last month that it had inadvertently released the data about 350,000 tobacco buyout participants in response to Freedom of Information Act requests about the tobacco buyout program. The information went to eight different people or groups. Dole said USDA Under Secretary J.B. Penn has informed her that FSA has implemented a more stringent policy to ensure the protection of personal information in the future. The lion's share of the buyout is going to farmers in North Carolina, Kentucky and Tennessee. Those who received the information agreed not to disclose it, to destroy any copies and to return computer disks containing the data, officials said. Enditem