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When Background Checks Go Wrong...
Kraken137 asks: "A friend of mine recently got a new job, and as a routine part of the hire process, a background check was done. At 5pm on the Friday before she was to start work, she was notified that the background check had turned up a felony on her record, and as a result, she could not be hired. My friend has never done anything worse than a speeding ticket, so she was suitably confused. If the incorrect results of a background check led to someone not being hired, or being fired, etc... would the person have a legal recourse against the security company?" In this, the age of information, where the numbering, collating, indexing and cross-referencing of millions of identities happens in a single second, the fact that mixups like this still occur disturbs me. What kind protections are in place when the accidental twiddling of a bit can change your entire history?
"[In the end] she ended up having to go to the county courthouse for some sort of proof of her identity, and then had to get them to re-do the background check. The matter was resolved, and she started work (a week late however). The felony actually belonged to someone in another state with the same name as my friend (but with a different date of birth and Social Security number). My friend has a very common last name, and a common first name as well. That got me to thinking. Are security companies who do background checks responsible for incorrect results?"
At some time around 1994 (not long after my mother died), the credit bureaus collectively decided that I am now "Johnny P. Narkinsky", with my Social Security Number, my Birthdate, and my mother's credit record!
I have disputed items in my credit file. I have fought. I have written letters. Nothing I do can convince them that my mother is dead and I am not she. In fact, one (which will remain nameless due to outstanding litigation) now claims that I am dead.
But wait, it gets worse. A couple of years ago, I was involved in a lawsuit. I won the lawsuit (filed by an apartment complex) and won a countersuit claiming fraud and a couple of other things. Since then, all three credit bureaus are claiming that I lost this lawsuit -- and listing this information as a matter of the public record.
I have been unable to get any of them to remove this entry -- instead, they simply list it as "disputed". I have sent them copies of the written judgement, I have pointed out their error, and they are still non-responsive.
Because of the laws congress passed protecting credit bureaus (while claiming to be for a consumer's protection) from defamation suits, I am unable to find a lawyer who really wants to file suit against these jerks. They have ignored threatening letters from my lawyer -- which are about all I can do.
My solution? I have named my son John Paul Narkinsky. Not John Paul Narkinsky Jr. John Paul Narkinsky. I plan to name my twins sons to be born in Nov. James Patrick Narkinsky and Jeremy Peter Narkinsky. If I am so fortunate as to have a fourth, I will name him Jonah Petronius or something equally difficult.
Girls will all be Jane Paula, Jennifer Patricia, or something equally appropriate. If I am truly blessed, one will be born on my birthday. This one, regardless of gender, will be Johnny P. Narkinsky.
I plan to teach ALL of my kids to give only their initials, and to make up a social security number whenever they are asked.
As Heinlein pointed out in Friday, it is the duty of all citizens in this day and age to confuse computers. If you can't avoid a tax, pay too much. Transpose digits. Anything to make information mining difficult.
Are you doing YOUR part?
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She needs to go to Central Services and fill out a 27B/6.
"Reactionaries must be deprived of the right to voice their opinions; only the people have that right." - Mao
Is that speeding in excess of a certain number of Miles Per Hour is in some juristictions a felony. Typically it's between 15-20 over. And many also fail to realize that when you just pay the ticket you're basically "pleading guilty". So if you have a speeding ticket for doing 70mph in a 50mph zone, and you simply pay the ticket ( note that just paying the ticket is really just waiving your rights to a jury trial ) then you've for all intents and purposes been convicted of a felony crime.
:) Note: i may be wrong with the 15-20, in some places it could be lower or much higher. it varies.
Of course, if i'm wrong, i will be corrected
This sort of thing has been discussed repeatedly and at length in the Risks Digest. You guys do read the Risks Digest, don't you?
The Risks Digest is more verbosely known as the Forum On Risks To The Public In Computers And Related Systems, ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy, Peter G. Neumann, moderator. It's a great and fascinating thing to read; it covers almost any topic even tangentially related to the risks of using computers and digital systems, including privacy issues, Y2K issues, software in critical systems, encryption policy, etc., etc. It is known on usenet as comp.risks, and is also available via e-mail. It's an old forum; in the online archives you can read discussions following such famous events as the loss of the Shuttle Challenger and the Robert Morris Internet Worm. Highly recommended reading for anyone making software.
Also recommended are the Privacy Forum and the Computer Privacy Digest.
--Jim
A colleague of mine went to an interview in conjunction with obtaining a top secret security clearance. Once there, he was confronted with and asked to explain a ten-year-old photo of himself, age 12, walking into the Polish embassy. He had apparently arranged to meet someone there while gathering data for a middle school geography report.
Someone in our intelligence apparatus was lurking outside the embassy, taking pictures of random kids, identifying them, and holding on to the photos so that they could surface a decade later during an NCIS investigation.
Creepy.
Chris
I called my uncle who is a lawyer in my area to ask him about this one once. My question was concerning a failed drug test tht my friend had. He failed it due to incomplete results. Basically..what he found out later is that the company lost his sample and could not finish testing. He started his job one month late because of this. (While he had to wait for the next training courses) My uncle said for me to tell my friend just to have a lawyer call them and they will settle. They paid 3/4 of one month salary + lawyer fees for him in the settlement.
I'd tell your friend just to threaten a lawsuit for loss of wages and grief caused by misinformation. They will never win it and probably will just settle.
I gave my 2 weeks notice and on the day before I planned to drive from Chicago to New York, I got a phone call that there was a warrant for my arrest in Chicago for failing to appear in court to answer a drug pusession charge. I was told not to report for work on the following Monday. After making a few calls in Chicago, I was reassured that the whole thing was bogus -- no one had a warrant for my arrest. I drove to New York and the background check people sent someone to the courthouse to get a copy of the warrant which was for someone with the same name but a different birthdate. The company did the right thing: I started on Wednesday instead of Monday and got paid for the two days of work I missed while they were clearing up the problem. I just had my 5th anniversary with them last month.
The background check folks screw up sometimes. You need to get the report in writing from them -- you are entitled to a copy under Federal law. You have a recourse if they refuse to correct gross errors and their failure to correct causes you financial damage.
Anomalous: inconsistent with or deviating from what is usual, normal, or expected
Anomalous: deviating from what is usual, normal, or expected
Canard: a false or unfounded repor
When the background check came back, they denied him clearance on the grounds that he lied on his air force enlistment papers. The lie? He said that his mother was born in Germany when in actual fact, she was born in Austria.
The funny thing is, he didn't know she was born in Austria, and she didn't know she was born in Austria. The background check revealed that she was adopted by a german family, another fact that she didn't know her whole life up until that point.
Bingo Foo
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taken! (by Davidleeroth) Thanks Bingo Foo!