County explains how driver's licenses were posted in place of animal adoption photos | WICS
County explains how driver's licenses were posted in place of animal adoption photos
by Jakob EmersonThursday, December 2nd 2021
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Sangamon County Animal Control and Adoption Center sign. (Jakob Emerson/WICS)
Sangamon County Animal Control and Adoption Center sign. (Jakob Emerson/WICS)
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SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WICS/WRSP) — Sangamon County Animal Control (SCAC) is embroiled in a community controversy once again.
SCAC is responsible for the sharing of uncensored photos of Illinois driver's licenses to the internet in the place of photos of animals available for adoption at the facility.
Anyone in the world with an internet connection could see photos, names, addresses, birth dates, and the license numbers of local residents on a third-party website called PetHarbor. The site is used by animal control facilities across the country to provide updated information and photographs of animals available for adoption.
"It was a very unfortunate mistake, part of it was clerical staff that was very new," said Sangamon County Department of Public Health Director Gail O’Neill.
O’Neill’s department oversees the county's animal control and adoption center. She says that when people come in to adopt, surrender, or deliver a stray, their driver's licenses are scanned into their computer system.
"The people should have gone with the people file, and the animal pictures should have in the animal file," O’Neill said. "It was clerical error on our part, but then the computer system takes it over to the site that gets it posted."
O’Neill says she knows of three specific incidents where licenses were posted online. In screenshots provided to us, there's been at least five stretching back to January of 2020.
As of Tuesday, Nov. 30, all photos from SCAC had been taken down on PetHarbor, and O’Neill says the facility has stopped sharing information altogether with the site for now.
O’Neill says the county is putting several measures in place to prevent anything similar in the future. She says that if the county is able to locate contact information for the impacted individuals, they will try to reach out to them.
We reached out to a few of the individuals whose licenses were posted through their social media accounts, but did not receive a response back.
In an email, a spokesperson with the Illinois Attorney General's Office said:
"We encourage people to visit our website for information about how to protect their information from identity theft. Specifically, we offer an ID Theft Resource Guide and a brochure containing tips and our hotline number.
Anyone who is concerned that their personal information may have been compromised is encouraged to call the Attorney General’s ID Theft Hotline for assistance with the tips in the ID Theft Resource Guide: 1-866-999-5630."
by Jakob EmersonThursday, December 2nd 2021
UserWay icon for accessibility widget
Sangamon County Animal Control and Adoption Center sign. (Jakob Emerson/WICS)
Sangamon County Animal Control and Adoption Center sign. (Jakob Emerson/WICS)
Facebook Share Icon
Twitter Share Icon
Email Share Icon
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WICS/WRSP) — Sangamon County Animal Control (SCAC) is embroiled in a community controversy once again.
SCAC is responsible for the sharing of uncensored photos of Illinois driver's licenses to the internet in the place of photos of animals available for adoption at the facility.
Anyone in the world with an internet connection could see photos, names, addresses, birth dates, and the license numbers of local residents on a third-party website called PetHarbor. The site is used by animal control facilities across the country to provide updated information and photographs of animals available for adoption.
"It was a very unfortunate mistake, part of it was clerical staff that was very new," said Sangamon County Department of Public Health Director Gail O’Neill.
O’Neill’s department oversees the county's animal control and adoption center. She says that when people come in to adopt, surrender, or deliver a stray, their driver's licenses are scanned into their computer system.
"The people should have gone with the people file, and the animal pictures should have in the animal file," O’Neill said. "It was clerical error on our part, but then the computer system takes it over to the site that gets it posted."
O’Neill says she knows of three specific incidents where licenses were posted online. In screenshots provided to us, there's been at least five stretching back to January of 2020.
As of Tuesday, Nov. 30, all photos from SCAC had been taken down on PetHarbor, and O’Neill says the facility has stopped sharing information altogether with the site for now.
O’Neill says the county is putting several measures in place to prevent anything similar in the future. She says that if the county is able to locate contact information for the impacted individuals, they will try to reach out to them.
We reached out to a few of the individuals whose licenses were posted through their social media accounts, but did not receive a response back.
In an email, a spokesperson with the Illinois Attorney General's Office said:
"We encourage people to visit our website for information about how to protect their information from identity theft. Specifically, we offer an ID Theft Resource Guide and a brochure containing tips and our hotline number.
Anyone who is concerned that their personal information may have been compromised is encouraged to call the Attorney General’s ID Theft Hotline for assistance with the tips in the ID Theft Resource Guide: 1-866-999-5630."
