ChoicePoint Identity Theft Fallout Widens 297
dstates writes "A unique California law forced ChoicePoint to reveal that a break-in had compromised accounts revealing personal information on 40,000 southern californians and leading to more than 750 cases of identity theft. The company initially denied that the break-in compromised consumers outside of California, but CNN is now reporting that 110,000 accounts nationally have been compromised. 'The irony appears to be that ChoicePoint has not done its own due diligence in verifying the identities of those 'businesses' that apply to be customers,' said Beth Givens, director of the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse. 'They're not doing the very thing they claim their service enables their customers to achieve.'"
Who Goes There? (Score:5, Funny)
ChoicePoint: "Who goes there?"
Voice: "Thurston Howell III"
ChoicePoint: "A likely story!"
Voice: "Sherlock Holmes"
ChoicePoint: "We weren't born yesterday!"
Voice: "Landshark"
ChoicePoint: "That's better, here's 35,000 files, let us know if you need anymore."
SHUT THEM DOWN (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:SHUT THEM DOWN (Score:2)
Re:SHUT THEM DOWN (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:SHUT THEM DOWN (Score:5, Funny)
IANAL: I am not a lawyer (whew got one of them at least) :-)
GLBA: Gay/Lesbian/Bi Association??(I don't want to know how they get violated)
HIPAA: Some kind of privacy thing relating to medical records (can't recall exactly what it stands for) Health Information Privacy something something
SOX: I think Linux uses this to play sound files
CEO: Criminal Executive Office or something like that, often known as "head scapegoat" (and often rightly so)
I am not picking on you, just trying to provide some late Friday humor for everyone waiting to escape at 5pm.
Re:SHUT THEM DOWN (Score:2)
Re:SHUT THEM DOWN (Score:2)
I still think you can jail'em on Sarbanes-Oxley, if you got Spitzer to do it!
Re:SHUT THEM DOWN (Score:5, Interesting)
(Of course, Dubya's margin was so slim that *LOT'S* of groups can claim discredit for slipping him into the White House. Irregardless of the various culprits, we're all suffering for it now.)
Anyway, as I noted in the earlier thread on this topic, I think we need to establish the principle that *YOU* own the personal data about *YOU*, and no one can use it or sell it without *YOUR* permission. This is actually a logical implication of the Fifth and Sixth Amendments. However, to give it teeth, I think we also need to appeal to "Possession is nine points of the law", and *YOU* should be able to store your own data on *YOUR* own computer. Anyone wants to see it, they ask for your permission (or prove they deserve a search warrant).
Re:SHUT THEM DOWN (Score:3, Insightful)
Seriously- all of you who have been making this same complaint on Slashdot- have you also been complaining to your elected representatives? (I haven't, but I have an excuse- I live in the "People's Republic of California". No letter from ChoicePoint in my mailbox yet!)
This is really amazingly egregious that they shouldn't be required by law to contact you if they realize they sold your mother's maiden name to mobsters. I can't belie
Re:SHUT THEM DOWN (Score:2, Insightful)
So a unique California law, under their misnamed "deregulation" system, caused them to open their books, when they simply feel that 110,000 to 350,000 consumers are ignorant. They were entrusted with data security, was it worth it? Anyway, how many more consumers' personal data was thoroughly scrutinized by these thieves? This is what you got when you let ex-Governor Davis exercise his own self interest, the economy of California and rolling blackouts leading to a re-statement of Enron's books. When will th
Re:SHUT THEM DOWN (Score:2)
Re:SHUT THEM DOWN (Score:2)
Davis certainly deserves his fair share of blame, but considering how cheaply he was bought I'm fairly certain he had no idea what he was agreeing to. (Now that's pretty faint praise, but it's the best I can manage in his defense.)
Re:SHUT THEM DOWN (Score:2)
Are you a human being or did some clever coder write you as a fun side project?
Re:SHUT THEM DOWN (Score:2, Insightful)
If you make the penalty for security breaches so severe, at the very first sign of a breach, a company will wipe all trace of it and pretend that nothing ever happened.
A lot of companies already do this for the sake of "saving face" in the marketplace. No company wants it to be widely known that they don't know how to secure sensitive data.
I bet that ChoicePoint was caught red-handed, otherwise we would not be hearing (and complaining) about this
Re:SHUT THEM DOWN (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:SHUT THEM DOWN (Score:3, Insightful)
Seriously- Nothing is going to happen to the CEO of ChoicePoint, or anyone else in charge. Worst that'll happen is a few execs are pushed out with multi-million dollar golden parachutes. They'll be retiring with their mansions and yachts, and we, the little people will be fired, homeless, or in jail because our credit report and background check says we're deadbeats and wanted criminals.
I LOVE THIS COUNTRY!
Re:SHUT THEM DOWN (Score:4, Insightful)
Why do they exist, because other corporations want and need the data they have on you and will pay for it, that includes potential employers and landlords, banks, car dealers, real estate brokers, etc. etc.
You can't stop all this information tracking without eviscerating employment screening, loans, credit cards, etc. I'd be all for it personally but there are trillions of dollars of big business that rely on these companies and they would scream bloody murder if you tried to shut them all down.
Choicepoint in particular probably experienced a boom after 9/11. The rampant paranoia that ensued multiplied by an order of magnitude the number of employment ID and criminal background checks employers conduct on prospective employees. Chances are if you are applying for a job with a company of any size their HR department is getting a COMPLETE run down on you form Choicepoint or someone like them, every criminal offense, how good you are at paying your bills, bankruptcies, loan history etc. Chances are they know every gory detail of your entire life, before you get an offer letter.
In case you didn't know Choicepoint sucks up every court document in every state so they probably have a more detailed criminal history on everyone than state or federal governments.
Its not entirely clear what the benefit is of having 3 different agencies scoring your credit plus Choicepoint, it just increases the likelihood of data compromise, and if there is an error in your credit report you pretty much have to correct it in all 3 places at your expense. But again any company can form to do this and all they have to do is collect data, market themselves and gain momentum where enough people use their service and you can have 4 or 10 agencies like this.
There is some regulation [creditreporting.com] of credit bureaus, though I'm not sure Choicepoint falls under it, they should.
You could propose that only the Federal government should hold all this data but it doesn't really help because this whole system is predicated on allowing pretty much any business who wants it to request this information about you before they hire you or give you credit.
You in fact have no privacy and haven't had for a while. Until the Federal government converts your Social Security number to a true encrypted digital signature with some minimal security, i.e. a password only you know to validate its yours, EVERYONE is a sitting duck for identity theft in the network era.
Trust us! (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Trust us! (Score:5, Funny)
John.
Re:Trust us! (Score:5, Insightful)
Not to mention the fact if they have erroneous data in their databases, you probably never get it corrected.
Easy. (Score:2)
Have a Bank Account.
Have a Credit Card.
Have Medical Insurance.
Have Medical Bills.
Purchase service from an Utility Company.
If you answer yes to one or more of the above there is a 99+% chance they have records on you.
Simple! (Score:3, Informative)
optional additional steps:
2. Do nothing.
3. Profit!!!
Re:Simple! (Score:4, Funny)
optional additional steps:
2. Do nothing.
3. Profit!!!
Profit??? You'd get a coupon for 20% off your next Choicepoint break-in!
Re:Simple! (Score:4, Informative)
Don't worry. . .there is new legislation on the president's desk right now that will make it "virtually impossible now to get a nationwide class-action suit off the ground." -- The Economist [economist.com]
How to find out what they know about you (Score:5, Informative)
This page [choicepoint.com] on the ChoicePoint web site points to Choicetrust [choicetrust.com]. (Insert joke about the mane choice here)
From the Choicepoint web site:
FACT Act Compliance
The Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACT Act) was enacted in 2003 and amends the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), a federal law that regulates, in part, who is permitted to access your consumer report information and how it can be used. The FACT Act entitles consumers to obtain one free copy of his/her consumer file from certain consumer reporting agencies during each 12-month period.
ChoicePoint has three separate companies that maintain consumer files that are subject to the free disclosure requirement: C.L.U.E. Inc. maintains information on insurance claims histories, ChoicePoint WorkPlace Solutions Inc. maintains employment history information, and Resident Data Inc. maintains tenant history information. Each of these companies designed an easy process for consumers to request their free file disclosure.
Please note that a consumer file does not necessarily exist for you with any one of the three companies. For example, if you have not filed a claim with your auto or home insurance company during the last five years, we will not have a report on you. If you have not applied for employment with a customer that we serve, we likely will not have an employment history report on you. If you have not submitted a residential lease application with a customer that we serve, we will likely not have a tenant history report on you.
To request copies of your claims history report, visit www.ChoiceTrust.com or call 1-866-312-8076.
To request a copy of your employment history report, call 1-866-312-8075.
To request a copy of your tenant history report, call 1-877-448-5732.
If you would prefer to send your request by mail, please send your name and address to the appropriate address below. A report request form will be sent to you to complete and return.
For claims history reports:
ChoicePoint Consumer Disclosure Center
P.O. Box 105295
Atlanta, GA 30348
For employment history reports:
ChoicePoint WorkPlace Solutions Consumer Disclosure Center
P.O. Box 105292
Atlanta, GA 30348
For tenant history reports:
Resident Data Consumer Disclosure Center
P.O. Box 850126
Richardson, TX 75085-0126
Re:How to find out what they know about you (Score:3, Informative)
Actually, I think the real explanation is that they have a bunch of lawyers on their side, and they are looking very carefully at every loophole and possible reason to avoid telling you anything. Sure, legally speaking, they have to provide the informat
Re:How to find out what they know about you (Score:2)
ALL credit reporting companies are like that, i tried to contact chexsystems once about a bounced check( i was out of the country at the time, didn't get the notice that my account was overdrawn) so, chexsystems decides i'm a theat to banks for bouncing a 20$ check 2 years ago, blacklists me from banks, i pay the bill, and the bank claims they will notify chexsystems that its paid. 3 years later, i've written, emailed, gone through their web system, called them (good luck!) asking A) for my data, an
Re:How to find out what they know about you (Score:3, Insightful)
> Please note that a consumer file does not necessarily exist for you with any one of the three companies.
But it certainly will AFTER you have made a request to see their records, if any, on you.
There is something inherently broken about having to give up your personal information to the very companies who abuse it in order to find out if they are abusing it.
As a minimum, I think the FACT Act should be modified to prevent the companies from recording or otherwise using any of the information you prov
Got my reports, they had wrong info on me. Thanks (Score:2)
Initial denial (Score:3, Interesting)
They're a company..... (Score:4, Insightful)
If they did that, it would cost them business. That would cost them profit. They're a company. Next question?
Re:They're a company..... (Score:2)
Pity the souls so caught up in their own greed and blind money-grubing they would invest in this company.
Re:They're a company..... (Score:2)
In the short term, maybe. In the long term, it caused them... well, this.
Companies, even public ones, are quite capable of taking the long view -- it's just that so many don't.
Re:They're a company..... (Score:2)
As bulk mail, it'll probably cost them about $20K to send out snail-mail notices. Far less (perhaps $2K) if they manage to send out email notices. I figure that that's nothing compared to what they've gotten from questionable companies making requests. -- In fact, I'd be shocked if they were charging less than $1.00 per query (probably more in the range of $10), which would still leave them with a healthy profit buffer.
Re:They're a company..... (Score:2)
I'd be extremely suprised if the cost of mailing out the notices was a noticable fraction of the costs incurred by this incident.
Consider the inevitable class-action suit, the cost of fighting privacy bills (whose supporters just got some extra ammo), and the like.
Re:They're a company..... (Score:3, Insightful)
As it is, even a class-action suit might not cost them as much
Re:They're a company..... (Score:2)
Fuck off.
+750 in California alone! (Score:5, Insightful)
The only way to know is to notify all people that had their identity stolen. All 50 states need to have a ID theft law like California.
Eat Your Own Dog Food (Score:3, Insightful)
Either way, how many more times do things like this need to occur before people will become widely convinced that companies such as these need to be more thoroughly scrutinized?
Re:Eat Your Own Dog Food (Score:2)
Of course, they'll claim that they don't have to verify it, under whatever laws currently exist. I think that privacy laws like apply under HIPAA for medical records should be required for any business system which includes social security numbers.
Re:Eat Your Own Dog Food (Score:2)
Debt Debt Debt. This apathy has carried into our government with a NEW RECORD BREAKING DEBT AMOUNT!
What you get (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:What you get (Score:4, Informative)
denied? (Score:5, Insightful)
Did they actually deny that no one outside of California was compromised, or was it just that they weren't legally obligated to inform anyone outside of the state? From Monday's story, I got the distinct impression that it was the latter (i.e., no legal obligation), rather than outright deception. Regardless, it's still a really crappy thing to have happened.
(on a personal note, given that the break-in happened months ago, and i just got my yearly free credit reports from the 3 agencies and didn't see anything suspicious, I guess I'm a lucky SoCalifornian...)
Lucky? (Score:5, Funny)
Read Between the Lines People! (Score:5, Informative)
That they're announcing that they're 'only' informing 100,000 other US residents can be explained in any of the following ways:
- The attacks were focused on CA residents, for some reason.
- They have only identified 100,000 people this week, and there's another 3 weeks of work to do.
- They are willfully underreporting the actual numbers and hoping that nobody will do the research to prove them wrong.
- Given that the law doesn't require them to inform everybody who got hit, they're only informing those non CA residents who got hit the worst. 2/3 of the people who would have been informed under CA law will never know...
The most interesting information is between the lines. Learn to read there more often. ("Diplomacy is the art of telling a lion 'Nice kitty kitty' while you search for a big rock. Media relations is doing for a company what a diplomat does for a country.")ChoicePoint's canned customer service response (Score:2, Informative)
From: CorpMktg.Communications@choicepoint.com
ChoicePoint was recently a victim of organized fraud, and we understand
this news may be cause for concern.
A very small number of criminals posed as legitimate companies in order to
gain access to personal information about consumers. When the fraud was
discovered, access to information was immediately discontinued and the
authorities were notified.
ChoicePoint has acted quickly to address the c
Importance (Score:3, Insightful)
Manifest Destiny (Score:5, Insightful)
California is far from perfect. But their 35M consumers are unusually well protected by laws in the public interest. The economy of California scale forces car makers around the country, and around the world, to comply with their higher standards. Perhaps we will see California's own self interest protect us from other scams like these, as we all get closer to the Golden State.
35M consumers (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:35M consumers (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:35M consumers (Score:2)
"I am not merely a consumer or a taxpayer. I am a citizen of the United States."
Re:Manifest Destiny (Score:2)
Democrats are just plain *old* evil (influence peddling), whereas Republicans are the cartoonish super-villiany evil where it doesn't even make sense to be that evil (basically: any business that makes money is good, no matter how much damage they do)
Re:Manifest Destiny (Score:2)
Re:Manifest Destiny (Score:2)
The loopholes and exceptions, traded political influence for campaign donations, etc. Often, such loopholes end up constraining all but a favored few, in the end, having the effect of concentrating power, and encouraging the behavior that the original law was intended to discourage. (ie. CAN SPAM act, etc.)
Re:Manifest Destiny (Score:2)
Re:Any lawyers care to comment? (Score:2)
Re:Any lawyers care to comment? (Score:2)
P.S.: Being a conspiracy theory doesn't prove that it's wrong. It's definitely a lot easier to invent them than it is to prove them, but there is conside
Re:Any lawyers care to comment? (Score:3)
The real consparicies aren't nearly as convoluted. This one was posted in response to the Enron/California conspiracy, very recent (ongoing, under Schwarzenegger) and very
Choice quotes... (Score:5, Interesting)
I love the way marketing companies have more access to my personal information than I do. Moreover, they're among the "legitimate" businesses who the company claims it sells information to -- any dick and harry spammer joint can be called a "marketing company". In other words, if you have enough money to pour down their gullet, you have the information.
The company says its records enable law enforcers to track down serial killers and have helped find 822 missing children.
Yeah, since they help children, they cannot be an irresponsible company.
"The topic of the responsible use of information is a vital one to our society ... we support a national debate on this very topic," ChoicePoint President Doug Curling said.
Classic tangential marketspeak response from the president.
Stock doing ok? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Stock doing ok? (Score:2)
The stock is not great. The volume is going up while stock is going down. People are starting to bail on this stock, but not on mass, yes.
When we start seeing lawsuits and criminal investigations into CPS, then the stock could nosedive.
Checkpoint Client Verification (Score:5, Funny)
Cruel Twist of Irony? (Score:2)
Thanks to California (Score:5, Insightful)
I just want to thank California for their identity fraud laws that force businesses to disclose when an unauthorized person has accessed records illegally. If it weren't for that, we probably wouldn't know anything about this.
Re:Thanks to California (Score:2)
It's probably because rich Californians go north to buy nice vacation real-estate in Oregon for (no pun intended) dirt cheap. The similar effect happens on a smaller scale with SF bay area residents moving out of the valley and tele/commuting into the valley... House prices skyrocket, and people who could afford to live there find it harder, and curse the rich bay area/californians.
Who the bloody hell is ChoicePoint? (Score:3)
And yes, I live in California and yes I've RTFA, this is just an angry response not a true question.
And your checking account# (Score:2)
Re:Who the bloody hell is ChoicePoint? (Score:3, Informative)
Unfortunately, this is very unlikely to happen in the United States.
While doing research for my graduate thesis on, among other things, privacy law, I found several quotes from high-ranking US politicians where they explicitly stated that they believed that US citizens did not have the right to ownership of their own personal data. Quite a bad stat if Americans wish to have personal
Corporations are so much better than government (Score:2)
I guess that is why the personal data from the government databases are getting hacked and stolen, but it never happens to databases controlled by corporations....
Needs a change of laws (Score:2, Informative)
Any fellow californians interested in starting a initiative for this? Especially those who know how to go about it- I don't!
Re:Needs a change of laws (Score:2)
Then the stockholders MIGHT be more inclined to watch more carefully what they put their money into!
Here's to investor responsibility - eventually responsibility has to land somewhere... the system as it stands is broken - so let's harness the marketplace to fix it.
Re:Needs a change of laws (Score:2)
If they screwed up once or twice more, they would be greeters at Wal-Mart.
Not to mention the surge the economy would experience if corporate assets were handed down to the middle class, who actually contribute to the economy.
Class Action, Choicepoint victims? Think again. (Score:2, Insightful)
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=51277
Double Edged Sword (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Double Edged Sword (Score:2)
Are you kidding me? What sensitive information is on the CIA's website?
Re:What benefit is it? (Score:3, Insightful)
Must MILLIONS of US citizens have their personal information warehoused, prostituted, and subject to theft because of the comparatively few that it may have helped? This is one case where I believe the cost FAR outweighs the benefit.
Re:Double Edged Sword (Score:2)
If the rest of their data handling is as solid as their consumer data handling, how much reasonable doubt have they created in those cases?
If someone wants information bad enough the'll get it. Look at how many times the CIA's website has been hacked into.
Considering the F and D+ grades so many government agencies get for computer security, that's not necessarily saying much.
What the F? (Score:2)
Re:What the F? (Score:2)
Then there's things that if you have a permissible purpose (as defined in the FCRA) like someone deciding on whether or not to loan you money, rent you a house or give you a job, that allows them to look at the loan you took
We need anti financial stalking law (Score:2, Informative)
This Company is Corrupt (Score:3, Interesting)
bushco used choicepoint for attempted Chavez coup (Score:2)
Re:This Company is Corrupt (Score:2)
I suppose you have some unbiased media reports to back this up?
Re:This Company is Corrupt (Score:2)
Re:This Company is Corrupt (Score:5, Interesting)
Here is a reference [cnn.com] to an article on CNN about this. Also, check out the article in the St. Petersburg Times [sptimes.com]. Last, but not least, check out this article in The Guardian [guardian.co.uk]. My favorite quote from the last article: "The controversy [regarding the Bush DoJ paying ChoicePoint $11 million for names, addresses, occupations, DoB, passport numbers, "physical descriptions," tax records, and blood groups of Latin Americans] is not the first to engulf ChoicePoint." Nor, apparently, the last. This was written on May 5, 2003, over a year before this fiasco. How many chances should one company get before they're shut down?
So yeah, this company scares the shit out of me, as does its parent, Equifax. Personal opinion o' me is that they all need to be immediately shut down. If you don't like YOUR personal information being given to anyone with a few bucks, PLEASE write to your government representatives [vote-smart.org] and demand that something real be done NOW to protect our privacy!
P. S. I live about 10 minutes away from Alpharetta, GA, where this company is located. I'm thinking of posting a link to where you can donate pitchforks and torches...
You know what would be great (Score:3, Informative)
The karmic justice of these clowns having to spend substantial time and money trying to protect their credit history and whatnot would be priceless.
I'm not advocating that anyone should do this. I just think it would be justice because we're certainly not going to see any otherwise.
Re:You know what would be great (Score:5, Informative)
- Derek V. Smith (CEO) [google.com]
is your man. Also available via Google:Phone: (770) 752-0881
Address: 15120 N Valleyfield Rd, Alpharetta, GA 30004
- David Lee (Executive VP) [google.com]
- David W. Davis (Corp. Sec and VP, Government Affairs) [google.com]
So, if any um... parents of those 822 missing children recovered would like to call and, uh... thank them, well, there you go.Phone: (770) 594-7838, (770) 594-9090
Address: 230 Ridge Point Ct, Alpharetta, GA 30022
Phone: (678) 366-9445
Address: 3325 Cedar Farms Ct, Alpharetta, GA 30004
Coincidence? (Score:2)
Although I can't say the whole ChoicePoint thing is a suprise. After all, the entire purpose of their business is to sell that information. It's not good business to turn away customers, now is it? Oh sure, they probably turn away the most egregious crooks who show up. But their business is to sell your information to whoever want to pay for it.
Simple solution: (Score:2)
To reiterate (Score:2)
In combination with mandating that companies actually verify the identity of a person before doing sensitive business transactions with them, the government should operate an independent "identity clearinghouse" of sorts. The process would go something like this:
1. Consumer requests (for example) a new line of credit from Bank X. In the process, Consumer provides contact information to Bank X.
2.
Choicepoint? (Score:2)
not suprised (Score:2)
I told their service, and the retailer to STUFF it, apparently they didn't need my business.
I'm now GLAD I didn't play ball with these jackasses.
Part of a Larger Problem (Score:4, Informative)
Back in December 2004, I along with the Electronic Privacy Information Center wrote a letter to the FTC arguing that the FTC should open an investigation of ChoicePoint: http://www.epic.org/privacy/choicepoint/fcraltr12
This letter might be of interest, as it explains the extensiveness of the data companies like ChoicePoint have and how it affects people's lives.
I also argued in my new book, THE DIGITAL PERSON: TECHNOLOGY AND PRIVACY IN THE INFORMATION AGE, that identity theft and other privacy problems are caused not by technology but by irresponsible business practices. Everybody seems to be saying that in today's world of information technology, privacy is dead. The culprit is technology, and since it is foolish to believe that it can be stopped, there's little hope. I argue that this isn't the case. The culprit is government and business practices. There's a "digital person" that is a counterpart to people, not composed of flesh and blood but of bits and bytes of personal information gathered together in databases. The digital person is a representation of ourselves in the world of computers. But this is only part of the story. Increasingly, decisions about us are made by looking to our digital person. What happens to our digital person in the digital world is increasingly having effects in realspace to our real person. It is this problem that I explore, and I argue that the answer is regulating government and businesses - not technology. For those interested in learning more, I encourage you to read the FTC letter as well as my book. Here's the book's website: http://www.law.gwu.edu/facweb/dsolove/Solove-Digi
What does it take??? (Score:5, Insightful)
After undermining all sane separations between state, religion, and commerce, we find ourselve in what can only be described as a Nation of the Corporation, By the Corporation, and For the Corporation. You may now bow to your corporate masters.
Our founding fathers saw government as a detestable necessity, so they wisely hamstrung it seven ways come Sunday, to keep it at bay. By giving corporations the same rights as "REAL FLESH AND BLOOD PEOPLE", without the same accontabilitiies or limitations, we created a monster. That monster was further allowed free access to influence and ultimately control our government. That brings us where we are today.
A nation where your privacy is a farce, virtually nonexistent, while government and corporations alike enjoy almost complete opacity.
Just last week a Federal Judge ruled in favor of the Governor of Maryland, in a suit involving reporters from the Sun Times being frozen out of press meetings. The Judge ruled that "the paper wrongly asserted a greater right to access to government officials than private citizens have. The right to publish news is expansive. However, the right does not carry with it the unrestrained right to gather information,"
In short, A political leader, your elected representative, has the right to inform only those he likes or feels fit to inform. That and your primary organ of political enlightenment, the press, has no special right to garner information on your behalf. Add to that the recent $400,000 charge for FIA documents against the justice department, and the Gannon/Guckert debacle at the White House this week, and it's clear... the Government is hell bent on having it's citizens standing naked in the streets, stripped of every right to privacy and personal dignity, while they plot and practice "God only knows what" with complete impunity.
The information disaster at ChoicePoint underlines the complete disregard that business and the Government have for the needs and the rights of every day citizens. Recent leaks suggest the final number of people exposed may exceed 400,000. If the government were working on your behalf, you would certainly see heads rolling immediately. However, I suspect you'll see none of that. The government is using these very companies to perform an endrun around the constitution, filling up government dosiers with information collected by these very companies, at the same time lucrative government contracts and multimillion dollar campaign funds are trading hands.
We're at a critical time in history. Benito Mussolini defined fascism as "The Corporate State". Looking at the historical analysis of the last century, there's good reason why conservative and liberal law makers, educators in law and political science, and men of conscience around the world are calling the United States a fascist state. One of the certain casualties in such a government, are the rights and freedom of the individual. We still have a tremendous amount of infrastructure that protects us, and as bad as things are, no single person has yet amassed so much power that our government can be easily toppled. We're however in extreme danger. It'll take all our commitment, and every kind of contribution we as citizens can make, to bring our government back into it's proper place as an engine designed to promote the advancement of freedom, and justice. The alternative is too grim for words.
Genda
Re:Ouch (Score:5, Insightful)
Exactly (Score:4, Interesting)
I do wonder if it would be beneficial to indentity thieves to expressly avoid stealing information about California residents to limit knowledge of their efforts. If those 100K people weren't notified by Choicepoint, it'd give them a lot more freedom to exploit that pile of information.
Re:Hot Damn (Score:2, Funny)
Excellent Timing. (Score:3, Interesting)
Meanwhile, in that Bastion of Truth, Justice and the Liberty, Washington DC, George W. Bush signs The Class Action Fairness Act of 2005 [reuters.com]
<sarcasm>at least america is safe from gay weddings</sarcasm>
Re:How the hell is this legal? (Score:2)