ChoicePoint chief envisions brave new world

Says data shield will protect society

NEW YORK - Derek V. Smith sees bad people lurking everywhere: terrorists, sexual predators, quack doctors, identity thieves. And yet Smith colors himself an optimist, insisting that society can protect itself from such dicey characters, using information as a shield.

In Smith's view, if we did more to examine each other's digital footprints addresses, employment records, credit data, lawsuits, criminal files, professional licenses, vehicle registrations the world would be safer.

Not surprisingly, Smith can supply much of that information he heads ChoicePoint Inc., a leading electronic data warehouse regularly mined by companies and the government. ChoicePoint does 8 million background checks a year, serving more than half of the Fortune 500.

Database aggregators like ChoicePoint have quietly become powerful arbiters, whirring in the background when people seek jobs, get on airplanes, apply for insurance, commit a crime or fall victim to one. ChoicePoint's computers are packed with 19 billion public records.

http://www.redlandsdailyfacts.com/Stories/0,1413,209~23371~2124590,00.html

Europe too? US acquires hundreds of millions of Latino citizens' data

The President's favorite database company, Choicepoint Inc., has acquired personal data on hundreds of millions of citizens in ten Latin American countries without their knowledge or consent. Data includes Mexico's Federal Electoral Register, details of drivers in Mexico City and Colombia.

"This is a corporation that works hand in glove with, and is politically connected to the administration, and does things that the US dare not do," Greg Palast, who uncovered Choicepoint's role in the 2000 election, told The Register last week. Choicepoint had been given a $67 million contract for data gathering on September 25, 2001. The contract lasts until 2005.

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From the Guadalajara Times we learn that the company has been active in Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and Nicaragua. However, the Times reports that Choicepoint has discontinued its role in Argentina, "due to lack of demand and a strict new law relating to privacy".

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a) complete listings of all Mexican, Colombian and Argentine citizens
b) inclusion of unlisted numbers in telephone files in Mexico, Brazil and Argentina
c) inclusion of Mexican vehicle and driver license data
d) complete listing of Columbian company data
e) inclusion of personal identification information for Brazilian business people
f) full usability in English language


...

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2003/05/05/europe_too_us_acquires_hundreds/

They disenfranchised thousands of Florida voters in 200 and appear set to do it again this year. It's unacceptable that OUR information, our private lives, are just a $5 record to whatever entity wants to know about us. I wish someone could do a doozy on their systems. That'd be a good thing. Not that I'm advocating anything illegal or nuthin.

I've come to the conclusion that I can support Wes Clark as a VP nominee, but if you find this stuff chilling, it is exactly what Clark was helping Acxiom (another data mining company) do with airline passenger screening and CAPPS II.

There is no need to trash Clark for his previously errant actions, but we must be able to influence policy. People who value civil liberties and abhor the notion of a surveillance society must make sure that the dems, whoever the leadership may be, do not allow this to continue.

I make the plea for level-headedness because this is not an attack on Clark. Far from it, it is an appeal to Clark supporters, old and new, to realize that if Clark is the nominee, we must nudge the ticket away from this dangerous "vision."

By working with such figures and companies, it is obvious where his sympathies lie. What makes you think he (or pretty much anybody else in his position) would care what you think, particularly about views on subjets that happen to greatly clash with those of the person that signs his check from time to time..

I'm quite sure that I, alone, will have no effect. If enough of us express concern, maybe it will get through. Interestingly, this gets to the core of one of the reasons I think I can support a Kerrry/Clark ticket -- at least there will be hope.

this thread shouldn't sink so quickly

to go underground.

There are companies that won't hire you if you don't have a good credit score. Never mind that you got laid off and got behind in your bills. This kind of thinking does not take into account the tragedies that befall people in life.

Like I'd trust these guys to keep an eye on us.