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ChoicePoint Identity Theft Fallout Widens
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.'"
How does someone determine if Choicepoint had data on them?
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
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.
An Indian-American Hindu committed to non-violent thought/speech/action alarmed by the global explosion of radical Islam
(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).
Freedom = (Meaningful - Coerced) Choice != (Speech | Beer^2), and sad sock puppets' bad mods avail them naught.
Here is a reference to an article on CNN about this. Also, check out the article in the St. Petersburg Times. Last, but not least, check out this article in The Guardian. 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 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...