SECURITY OF PERSONAL INFORMATION

[madkins007 10]

Talk to the folks in your local Scouter Services office of your Scout Council office about protection and confidentiality if that will help assauge your concerns.

 

Most of this data that you are most worried about is not kept past the initial background check. In general, the necessary data is entered into a computer (ScoutNet, I believe, in most councils) and not everything on the form is kept or entered into long-term storage. Some of the data is used for statistics and trending. Once entered, the forms are destroyed.

 

Any BSA employee that misuses private data is terminated and prosecuted, and not that many employees have access to your raw data. When I worked in the office, about all I could access was SM and CC name and phone number (even that was only for verification purposes) I'd also bet that if you could prove that the BSA did indeed leak info you could still sue them or the individual involved, regardless of the waiver.

 

You'll notice that Scouters do not recieve any junk mail or spam because of their membership- a great sign that the BSA is keeping the data pretty dang protected. Imagine how much you could earn if you could leak even some of the addresses to mailing list companies!

 

[packsaddle 753]

ML2, I view this issue in terms of past experience. If the BSA database is managed today the way it has in the past, your personal information will be lost, corrupted, or accidentally deleted (along with our advancement and registration information) in a reasonably short time. I would not consider your concern a problem unless you need to rely on BSA to remind you of your birth date.

[Trevorum 24]

ML2, you are clearly concerned more than most of us about the security of personal information. Maybe none of us will ever convince you, but I don't see a problem either. You say that you "would like to volunteer my time as a leader in my pack ...". So just volunteer your time as a parent! There is no requirement for you to formally register or wear a uniform. If you were in our pack, we'd finds LOTS of ways for you to focus your enthusiasm for Scouting without registering! In fact, I'd say more than 75% of the volunteer jobs in the pack would be open.

[ML2 10]

Packsaddle, you're probably right. As a matter of fact, I recently received a letter from my son's council stating that his membership had expired. I contacted the Cubmaster who told me not to worry, his membership had NOT expired and that he was currently on the rolls.

 

Trevorum, I do volunteer as a parent. I go to all the council meetings and try to help wherever.

 

-ML

[evmori 11]

I gotta agree with Bob White on this. If you want to join, the BSA wants to check you out. And the information you must supply will be used to do that. If you don't want to disclose your SSN or drivers license # then you can't join. Simple.

 

Sure there have been a lot of people who have had their identity stolen. But based on the population, what is the %? Remember, numbers can tell you anything people want them to if you only look at them one way.

 

Ed Mori

Troop 1

1 Peter 4:10

[ML2 10]

No problem Ed. I'll help as much as they let me w/o being registered.

 

When they draw the line, I'll move on to one of my other hobbies.

 

ML