Lawsuit claims Florida personnel data was sent overseas to save money

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) -- Confidential information on Gov. Jeb Bush and other top officials was allegedly sent overseas as a cost-saving strategy, according to a complaint by a former employee.
A subcontractor hired by Cincinnati-based Convergys Corp. used overseas scanning and indexing services to save money without telling the Cincinnati-based company that operates Florida's new privately run personnel system, attorney John Newcomer told The Tallahassee Democrat in Sunday's editions.

Newcomer filed the complaint on behalf of Tara Gilmore and Kristina Pagano, two former Convergys employees.

GDXdata, the subcontractor, allegedly hired at least three foreign companies from about June 2003 to November 2004 to perform indexing for Florida state employee records to save a couple cents per image, the complaint states.

``During this time period, hundreds of workers in foreign countries had access to millions of images containing the entire gamut of personal indentifiable and sensitive information on state employees which were to be safeguarded under the (Department of Management Services) contract,'' the complaint states.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-1225fldata,0,2411387.story?coll=sfla-home-headlines

If they do indeed spy on us all, how do we know the feds haven't outsourced sorting through all the data to someone overseas? I wouldn't be surprised.

which is especially risky for both health and finance records.

Yes, there have already been cases of extortion over health records and cases of identity theft, both poorly publicised. Blink and you missed the stories.

This stuff has got to be kept in the US, folks. Maybe when a few fat cats like Jebbie get burnt, it will be.

it goes to the lowest contracter. And Convergy had to know it was going to be outsourced when they signed the contract.

People First security breach alleged
DMS urges state to fortify system
By Bill Cotterell
DEMOCRAT POLITICAL EDITOR

People First employees can download sensitive personnel information to disks, print copies and e-mail data on state employees without leaving a trail in Convergys computers, according to an internal investigation.
The report by Department of Management Services Inspector General Steve Rumph calls for security improvements in Gov. Jeb Bush's biggest outsourcing project: a nine-year, $350 million contract for privatizing and automating state human-resource services.

In an affidavit taken for a lawsuit by five state workers who say they were put at risk of identity theft, a former Convergys employee alleges that some People First workers playfully poked through personnel files of Bush, Attorney General Charlie Crist, Chief Financial Officer Tom Gallagher and DMS Secretary Tom Lewis, whose agency has been laboring with Convergys for two years to work out chronic kinks in People First. Another ex-employee signed an affidavit saying she was told by Convergys bosses not to let state employees know their information was at risk.

snip

Andrews also got an affidavit from former Convergys payroll-team leader Valeta Roberson, who said legally confidential data on police officers could be viewed by People First employees, along with bank-routing numbers for state employees' paychecks.

"I was repeatedly told that myself and Convergys employees should lie to state employees concerning the programming defects in the system," she wrote. "I was repeatedly told by senior Convergys employees that the security defects ... should not be discussed."

snip

"An electronic colonoscopy is what I call it," said Mark Neimeiser, a 20-year lobbyist for state employees. "If the state had shown respect for the workers, this wouldn't have happened - but that's not what outsourcing is about."


http://www.tallahassee.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051225/NEWS01/512250325/1010


(Thanks, Jeb.)

we are both just screwed by Jeb (again.)

is just one more reason why government should be handling important measures such as this. If we rely on big business all of the time, they will find cheaper ways to run the CIA and NSA next.

Jeanette Wynn, state president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, called the allegations "chilling in the extreme." AFSCME, which represents about 100,000 state workers, has bitterly opposed People First since Gov. Jeb Bush worked it through the Legislature nearly four years ago.

"With more than 150,000 state employees affected and millions of documents involved, the People First scandal could become one of the largest identity-theft liabilities in the short history of this criminal trend," Wynn said. "Unbelievably, the protectors of state employees and taxpayers view these breaches of state contracts and security as unworthy of consideration."

snip

Jack Seddon, president of the Florida Federation of Physicians and Dentists, also heads spin-off unions that represent state-employed attorneys and middle managers. Seddon compared the lawsuit's allegations to the current Washington controversy over covert wiretapping and spying on citizens.

"We have President Bush invading the privacy of U.S. citizens and Governor Bush awarding and rewarding campaign contributors with contracts that basically give away employee personal information," said Seddon. "Check your stocking - you may have a message from Bangladesh."

http://www.tallahassee.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051225/NEWS01/512250324/1010

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Oh, and this lawsuit was filed under seal in Leon County Circuit Court in March, 2005, and the defendants outsourced work to Barbados and India, and perhaps China.

This is the first I've heard of this scandal. And as usual, the news is buried on Christmas Day, 2005.

The tsunami is coming.

And be aware that many mortgage companies now outsource your loan processing. Many medical transcription companies outsource the processing of doctors' comments on your condition... You name it and the info is out there, probably in the hands of the lowest bidders' low wage employees. Feel safer, America?