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Minnesota Privacy Laws

According to the FTC, every year thousands of people in Minnesota are victims of Identity Theft. Those numbers are staggering and unfortunately, this is one of the fastest growing crimes in Minnesota with no end in sight. Most of the time, identity theft is entirely preventable and can easily be avoided by proper destruction of paper documents, files or hard drives.

Minnesota lawmakers are making urgent efforts to protect its' citizens and since the mid 1970’s, lawmakers have implemented several Acts and laws to eliminate this growing security threat. The goal of these Acts and Laws is to ensure every government office, business, law enforcement agency and healthcare facility keeps the private information of those who utilize their services, secure. Anyone who is found to be in breach of these laws will be subjected to huge fines and massive penalties.

In short, it is your obligation to protect your customers and employees private information and yourself!

This resource page will explain many different privacy acts, both state and federal, that must be complied with.

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Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACTA)

FACTA is the Fair and Accurate Credit Transaction Act. This is a federal legislation that applies to every organization in the state of Minnesota and every other region throughout the United States. FACTA was established to prevent the risk of fraud and identity theft cases. Any company that disposes of confidential information improperly could face significant fines of up to $2500 per file.

Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)

HIPAA is the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. This is a federal law that must be followed correctly by every hospital, medical clinic or dental office which stores sensitive information about their patients. The purpose behind this act is to keep patient records secure and confidential while they are in storage. HIPAA also mandates the proper destruction of patient records once they no longer need to be kept on file.

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Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA)

GLBA is the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act and it was created specifically for financial institutions in the State of Minnesota; however, GLBA also applies to any company that looks after customer information. This act is in place to protect the financial information of customers, and penalize any business or bank that fails to do so.

Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX)

SOX is the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 and it was put into place to protect investors from the potential threat of fraudulent accounting activity by large companies. The SOX Act highlighted strict changes in an effort to improve financial disclosures from corporations, and to stop accounting fraud as a whole.

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Family Educational Rights & Privacy Act (FERPA)

FERPA is the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act and it has been put into place to assist in protecting the sensitive information and records of students who attend schools in the state of Minnesota. This Federal Act applies to every educational institution that is currently being funded by Minnesota’s Department of Education. It is vital that these institutions remain in compliance with the components of this act.

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