ProtectMyPapers
FEMA: The Challenge
The Idea:
Innovative. It is a product that changes the way we will in the future think about and prepare for disasters when it comes to a families important papers and documents. It is digital instead of paper. It is a software program installed and running exclusively from a flash drive, specifically designed to help families easily gather and scan all of their important family documents following an organized and detailed script of up to 100 categories.
Importantly, when a family is threatened with a fire, flood, tornado, earthquake or any other disaster that befalls them, they can rush from their home without wasting valuable time grabbing this large container or that envelope of papers, instead grabbing only this small flash drive and evacuating with their family and pets.
The program utilizes advanced scanning technology with data input, notes and PDF Import/Export to store and print all of a families documents. It is password protected with military grade 256 bit encryption. It can be plugged into any USB port on a computer and no footprint is ever left on the host computer.
It makes Be(ing) Prepared easy instead of time consuming. It is inexpensive - $30; less than the cost of a water-tight sealed container. It is much more portable, secure and safe than the alternatives, and not dependent on the internet.
This product is NOT a backup program.
It is not new that people have used flash drives for backups. Most backups, including online backups, by their nature are not in a format that can be readily accessed unless restored to the original computer and / or program. Questionable worth then in the critical hours or days after a disaster when important information is most needed.
This flash drive and the software program already installed are self-contained. It only needs a USB port to plug into to run. No footprint is ever left on the host computer. It is small, portable and waterproof in our sealed sleeve. It is encrypted and password protected, while most backup flash drives, external hard drives or software programs are not.
This product is NOT internet based.
A decision we faced was whether or not to web base this product. It was clear after careful evaluation that there were insurmountable key flaws in an internet based solution for storing and retrieving a families important documents during a disaster.
One, in a natural disaster or terrorism there is no guarantee that the internet will be available or that the servers, if available, will not be overwhelmed.
Two, if the US Government's classified documents can be distributed worldwide without authorization what guarantee does a family have that its ENTIRE collection of important papers residing on some unknown server, somewhere, won't be compromised. What happens if they are stolen by an external source, or a rogue employee steals everything a family has? What happens to their documents if the internet company goes out of business?
Three, scanned documents, particularly color PDF files, take up substantial storage space on host servers. It takes bandwith to transmit those files that needs to be paid for by the vendor and passed along to the end user. Those servers require backup, redundancy and personnel to maintain them. That is why a family would have to pay a $60 ANNUAL FEE or more for a web based program instead of a low one time charge for this flash drive program. Offers are replete in any field today for free space on web based platforms, but the useable space is so pitifully small (50 mb or less) that it is worthless and nothing more than a bait and switch tactic. Scanned documents take space.
This product has a one time fee of $30. We never receive any information from the flash drive, nor does any other party. In fact, one of the most vulnerable areas for Identity Theft are our computers, particularly in a disaster when they are left at home unprotected. Also, they all break or get infected so when we take them to get repaired a technician can steal any file we have on them. As such, a side advantage of this product is that if the family has any PDF files such as taxes or insurance on their computer, they should import them to the appropriate category on this flash drive and delete them from their computers hard drive. Remove the flash drive before service and that potential pitfall is avoided. When scanning with this flash drive product the scans do not land on the computers hard drive, only on the flash drive.
For many reasons then this flash drive is the preferred choice since the family has complete and sole control of their information and access to it. Flash drives are dependable and solid state. This flash drive is again password protected with 256 bit military grade encryption. The data backup also has the same grade of encryption. If the flash drive is ever lost, replace it and restore the data.
Finally, since most households already have a 3 in 1 printer, scanner, fax no additional purchases are necessary. Should it be necessary though to purchase a printer / scanner they can be found for well under $100., even with a document feeder.
Level of Community Engagement:
and
Ease of Implementation:
Joe Becker, Senior Vice President, Disaster Services with the American Red Cross said in a statement before the US House of Representatives Committee on Emergency Management on July 27 of 2009 that moving the needle on disaster preparedness is not easy. But two levers that have helped citizens to be more involved are school's and business's.
I believe the approach used with this flash drive program will help move the needle and make it easier for communities to be more involved. But if disaster preparedness is not a good enough motivation, then there are other good reasons citizens will use this program to accomplish the same end.
Travel. A side benefit of a family having all of its important papers on this product is that if something occurs at home when they are traveling, they can access repair records, medical information, everything. While on the trip should they lose a credit card they can retrieve the scanned images of the front and back of the card by going to the business office in the hotel and plugging it into a computer. Most people when they travel would not and should not carry paper copies of all their important information for fear of theft, loss and the shear bulk. A couple from PA were recently visiting the Grand Canyon in AZ and had indeed carried all their important papers in their suitcase. When they learned of this product they were relieved that never again would they have to do that. And since they were already fairly well organized they easily and quickly scanned their documents into this software program.
It is reasonable to believe that this approach to travel will be very well received by the business community. Take the transportation industry alone and the number of employees who travel away from home for a living: Airline employees. Truckers. Business travelers. And the lodging industry that hosts them has a vested interest in accommodating emergency demands. If travel was the primary motivation for a family to have all if its personal documents scanned to this flash drive program, and if in the end disaster preparation is the collateral beneficiary, great. In the end, disaster preparedness wins with this multi-pronged approach. The Charitable Foundations of these companies should be called upon to help promote the benefits of these activities.
Another area of community involvement and easy implementation, Flood Insurance: Every one of the 5 million plus homeowners who carry flood insurance should be encouraged or required to have an up-to-date copy of this flash drive program. Since many in a flood have to leave in a moments notice and returning to the home is often delayed, this flash drive can be used from any location, needing only a computer to plug it into. Retrieval of insurance, property and financial records can be instantaneous while the family is sitting with a financial officer or insurance adjuster – using their computer as the host. Think of the untold hours and savings to the insured and the insurers if this was implemented with a small fee included in the premium, once. Insurance companies would surely be positive about this strategy.
Also, anyone who has already filled out EFFAK or other paper formats can easily and quickly scan those pages and copies into this flash drive. If permitted we would like to include EFFAK as a guide on the software program as an addition to the host of categories we already list. Additionally, we now include many national phone numbers needed in a disaster which also could be supplemented.
FEMA could encourage the Citizen Corps Councils to share information about this flash drive along with EFFAK with its volunteers, so American households could utilize all the good alternatives. This vehicle has tremendous upside to expand the breadth of disaster preparedness as well by including on this drive educational pdf's on any disaster related topic, indexed and listed for easy reference. The Grand Canyon Chapter of the Arizona Red Cross has a flash drive with 36 educational pdf files. Although it has no software program on it those pdf files, with Red Cross approval, could instantly be included on our flash drive, indexed and listed.
Another approach that we have found receptive is the gift approach. We have a beautiful Gift Box that the flash drive and brochure fit into nicely. Already business clients have found this to be a valuable, inexpensive gift for their valued clients. One small firm near San Diego in a wildfire area previously gave their clients a binder with paper forms to fill out. They purchased this flash drive program in bulk to give to their clients and said they were happy to move into the 21st century. Another firm is actually going to help their clients scan their documents into this product. Mom's and Dad's have found this a great, inexpensive gift for their children or a Holiday gift.
Prehaps next Christmas Eve @CraigatFEMA will be able to include “flash drive program for important papers” with his other gift suggestions on preparedness that he tweeted this year:
Still shopping? Out of ideas? Give gifts of preparedness: first aid kit, home fire extinguisher, wx alert radio, flashlight www.ready.gov
Distributors of Disaster and Emergency Kits should be encouraged to include this flash drive program as a part of their First Aid Kits.
We all should engage Corporate Foundations to donate funds so that our active duty military can be provided a discounted or free copy, maybe on a state by state basis. Think of the value to a military family when the spouse is away months at a time at war or service, knowing that the family is organized and prepared should an emergency occur at home. We should encourage the same outreach for our Police Officers and Firefighters.
The goal should be complete Community Involvement by American families. These are only a few suggestions. This program lends itself to the imagination of the local volunteers, local schools, to the faith based groups helping their congregations to Be Prepared, to the government through ready.gov and Citizen Corps coordinating the community outreach. Use of social media such as Twitter with @Citizen_Corps and @CraigatFEMA should be encouraged and promoted.
The idea behind this product started during the summer of 2008 when the Iowa floods were happening. A national news network doing a feature on preparedness got to important papers and suggested a sealed baggie, like a freezer baggie. I instantly knew what we were going to do: Take our software product that had served the financial services industry for 20 years, redesign it with the express purpose of helping families to Be Prepared should a disaster occur, and do it from a secure, encrypted and easy-to-use software program on a flash drive. Two years later we now have that product available for our neighbors, clients and the national community. With cooperation, we believe we can help move the needle on preparedness, substantially.
For us, it is a public service product, a public service endeavor. We are anxious to share, to cooperate in any manner, method or system of branding or distribution that will be most appropriate and effective in achieving the goal of having every American household better prepared should disaster strike.
Please visit the website below. Our Second Generation product is in development, coming soon and will target iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch and SmartPhones.
Don Kuk
James R. Anderson
james.anderson@protectmypapers.com
Phoenix, Arizona
800-669-9684
© 2010 ProtectMyPapers LLC
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