Maryland Attorney General Settles with Payment Processing Company for Allegations It Failed to Properly Dispose of Consumer Information

On May 10, Maryland Attorney General Douglas Gansler announced a settlement with a payment processing company (MAP, LLC) and two of its officers for allegedly violating the Maryland Personal Information Protection Act by failing to take “reasonable” steps to protect consumer information when it discarded sensitive consumer information (e.g., Social Security Numbers, cancelled checks, etc.) in a public dumpster. According to the statement, no consumer information was actually compromised. Under the settlement, the company and officers (i) deny any liability, (ii) will take reasonable steps to dispose of the information (and will continue to take reasonable steps to dispose of consumer information in the future), and (iii) will pay a $20,000 penalty.