Arizona firms must destroy records.

• Author: Swartz, Nikki
• Position: UP FRONT: News, Trends & Analysis - Brief article

A new law requires Arizona businesses to start destroying records containing personally identifying information when they do not need them anymore.

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A 2005 Federal Trade Commission report said the Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, Arizona-area, with more than 9,300 incidents in 2005, had the nation's highest per capita rate of identity theft. According to AZCentral.com, the new law makes it a crime for businesses to knowingly dispose of paper records if identifying customer and employee information can he read. They must first shred or otherwise destroy such records if they contain an individual's name along with other personal information, including numbers such as...