[Alert] ChoicePoint broken into, maybe more than 100K Identity thefts

ADMIN: As pointed out later in the thread a TB member (Kalliope) reported what GN reported today. The thread did not get any hits, but I really feel this is a big news story. I have now megered yesterdays thread with todays. Read the thread. This is going to hurt a lot of folks. Hopefully no one at TB2K

HeliumAvid
Administrator

-----------------------------------------------


ID Data Conned From Firm
ChoicePoint Case Points to Huge Fraud
By Robert O'Harrow Jr.
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, February 17, 2005; Page E01


One of the nation's biggest information services has begun warning more than 100,000 people across the country they may be targets of fraud, following disclosures the company inadvertently sold personal and financial records to fraud artists apparently involved in a massive identity theft scheme.

ChoicePoint Inc. electronically delivered thousands of reports containing names, addresses, Social Security numbers, financial information and other details to people in the Los Angeles area posing as officials in legitimate debt collection, insurance and check-cashing businesses.

At least 700 victims have had their mailing addresses changed, apparently by people connected to the scheme, authorities said. Identity thieves often change the addresses of victims in order to gain control of credit card offers and other mail. No one knows the extent of the fraud or the financial impact, authorities said. Only one suspect has been arrested.

Earlier this week, ChoicePoint officials said the records of about 35,000 people in California may have been disclosed. But yesterday, the company said the scope of the scheme is probably much wider than it originally reported. Company officials said they were sending out more letters to 110,000 addresses throughout the country that may be connected to the reports delivered to the fraudsters.

"We have reason to believe your personal information may have been obtained by unauthorized third parties, and we deeply regret any inconvenience this event may cause you," the letters say.

Authorities said the number of records involved may go higher as the investigation continues. "This is way far more reaching," said Los Angeles Sheriff's Department Lt. Robert Costa, commander of an identity theft unit. "I believe that when we're done it will be more than a half million nationally. It's huge."

Alpharetta, Ga.-based ChoicePoint maintains databases with billions of records about nearly every adult in America, including credit reports and criminal records. Over the past seven years, it has acquired more than 50 other information companies. Like others in the industry, the company routinely sells dossiers to police, lawyers, reporters and intelligence and homeland security officials across the Internet.

The current case, reported earlier this week by MSNBC, comes at a time when identity fraud and theft are on the rise, with as many as 10 million Americans a year falling victim to criminals who charge goods in their names or empty their bank accounts. It follows scores of other information breaches in recent years that have exposed financial, health care and other identifying information of millions of people, many of whom never discover they were put at risk.

In recent days, for instance, a group of former military and intelligence officials were told they were at risk of identity theft after thieves broke into offices of a government contractor and took computers containing the Social Security numbers and other personal information about tens of thousands of past and present company employees. Millions of financial records have been stolen by hackers from banks and credit industry companies in recent years.

Critics said retailers, credit issuers, information services and other companies have not done enough to protect the extraordinary caches of personal data collected over the past decade.

"This is an issue that goes beyond ChoicePoint. They're just one company," said James X. Dempsey, executive director of the Center for Democracy and Technology, which advocates for privacy and computer security. "Both the industry and Congress need to pay attention to the security of personal information."

Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, said the case raises important questions about who is responsible when companies are tricked into releasing data. "Companies such as ChoicePoint are operating with too little oversight," he said.

The ChoicePoint case began unfolding last fall. Initially, company employees assumed the requests for information were legitimate, because the applicants appeared to work at registered companies in the Hollywood area. But company investigators noticed that applications for access to the company's massive databases were coming from Kinko's stores, sometimes via fax machines.

A ChoicePoint official said dossiers, possibly including thousands of credit reports, were delivered to personal computers over the World Wide Web or mailed to suspects who had opened close to 50 accounts with the company. The reports, including credit reports, typically cost between $5 and $17, company officials said.

Last fall, the company sought help from authorities in Los Angeles, and together they tricked a suspect into returning to one of the Kinko's stores in late October. There, they arrested Olatunji Oluwatosin, 41, of North Hollywood, who is set to appear in a state court today on six counts of violating the state identity theft statute, authorities said. Three of those counts relate to activity in other states.

Investigators still do not know the extent to which the information was used or resold. They have been receiving assistance from postal inspectors. But the case has not gone as smoothly as investigators would have liked. Police said that's in part because ChoicePoint did not appear willing to quickly share information about the case, an allegation the company denies.

"We've been following up on leads while waiting for ChoicePoint," said Costa, the sheriff's department investigator who leads the Southern California High Tech Task Force's identity theft detail.

ChoicePoint spokesman James Lee said the company learned for the first time yesterday the case involved people in states outside California. He said the company has done everything it can to bolster security immediately and help with the investigation. The company also is considering "fundamental changes" in security procedures and customer authentication.

"We're not to blame, but we're taking responsibility," Lee said. "The people committing the fraud were smarter and quicker than we were.

"It's a wake-up call," he said. "Everybody needs to be ever vigilant and diligent."



© 2005 The Washington Post Company
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A30897-2005Feb16.html

ADMIN Note: I have Edited the title to bring this more in to focus.

This is a BIG STORY and many may brush off GN, but I got to hand it to him he is all over this one. If you type ChoicePoint into google news there are HUNDREDS of articles and growing. This is a big Story. I have posted several to the thread.
Many of the stories are only hours old.

Watch out.

HeliumAvid
Administrator

-----------------------------------------------------
Gary North's REALITY CHECK

Issue 422 February 18, 2005


THEY'VE GOT YOUR NUMBER (AND MORE)

A potential disaster has taken place. It has received
virtually no attention. Only MSNBC has reported it. There
is almost no discussion of it on the web. Had a specialist
in communications issues not contacted me, I would not have
heard about it.

You have probably not heard of ChoicePoint. Over the
last twenty years, ChoicePoint has compiled a private data
base on Americans that dwarfs anything the I.R.S. has.
Unlike the I.R.S., ChoicePoint has a comprehensive computer
system that is state of the art. The information covers
name, address, Social Security, transactions, and much,
much more.

Last week, the company notified over 30,000 people in
California that it has experienced a breach in security.
Hardly any of these people had ever heard of ChoicePoint.
But they are in bed with ChoicePoint, like it or not.

So are you. Here's why:

ChoicePoint maintains a dossier on virtually
every American consumer, according to Daniel J.
Solove, George Washington University professor
and author of "The Digital Person."

The Atlanta-based company says it has 10 billion
records on individuals and businesses, and sells
data to 40 percent of the nation's top 1,000
companies. It also has contracts with 35
government agencies, including several law
enforcement agencies.

So, what exactly has happened? The company is not
quite sure. Neither is the government.

Criminals posing as legitimate businesses have
accessed critical personal data stored by
ChoicePoint Inc., a firm that maintains databases
of background information on virtually every U.S.
citizen, MSNBC.com has learned.

The incident involves a wide swath of consumer
data, including names, addresses, Social Security
numbers, credit reports and other information.
ChoicePoint aggregates and sells such personal
information to government agencies and private
companies.

This information caught my attention. It apparently
has not caught the attention of the major news media. For
them, it's a non-story, in part because the company so far
has successfully downplayed it.

While the criminals had access to ChoicePoint
data, it's not clear what, if any, information
was stolen, said Chuck Jones, another ChoicePoint
spokesman. . . .

Last week, the company notified between 30,000
and 35,000 consumers in California that their
personal data may have been accessed by
"unauthorized third parties," according to
ChoicePoint spokesman James Lee . . ..

The words "may have been accessed" are not reassuring
to me. I'm in the database. Now I wonder who has access
to it.

Lee said law enforcement officials have so far
advised the firm that only Californians need to
be notified.

Why California? Because only California requires by
law that data-gathering companies notify its citizens when
a breach of security takes place. So, unless you live in
California, you will not be notified.

What does it all mean? We aren't sure yet. This much
we know: the concerns that you have had about providing
your Social Security number to strangers are now on the
front burner. You have worried that someone might pass on
this information to criminals, who would use this
information to penetrate your accounts and start spending
your money. It looks as though thieves got this
information wholesale: a volume discount operation of
historic proportions.

Subsequent research by ChoicePoint revealed that
about 50 fake companies had been set up and then
registered with ChoicePoint to access consumer
data.

California consumers who received warning letters
from the firm last week were "in some way
connected to searches" conducted by those fake
accounts, Lee said.

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NO HEADLINES

When did this happen? Last October. According to
ChoicePoint, there was no announcement because law
authorities prohibited it.

The incident was discovered in October, when
ChoicePoint was contacted by a law enforcement
agency investigating an identity theft crime. In
that incident, suspects had posed as a
ChoicePoint client to gain access to the firm's
rich consumer databases . . ..

The firm was only given clearance by law
enforcement officials to disclose the incident
two weeks ago, Lee said.

The letters were sent as a precaution, he said.

A precaution? For what? For whom? If it's a
precaution for up to 35,000 Californians, then what about
you? What about me? I don't live in a "precautionary"
state.

The letter urges consumers to check their credit
reports for suspicious activity.

"We believe that several individuals, posing as
legitimate business customers, recently committed
fraud by claiming to have a lawful purpose for
accessing information about individuals," it
reads. "You should continue to check your credit
reports frequently for the next year."

Next year? Next decade!

I think of Wilford Brimley's line in "Absence of
Malice." His character was investigating a breach of
security in a Federal prosecutor's office. The local
newspaper had picked up story after story. The bureaucrat
in charge of the office admitted to a leak. Brimley,
playing the ultimate good old boy Southern lawyer,
responded:

A leak? You call what's going on here a leak?
Boy, the last time we had a leak like this, Noah
built himself a boat.

The article went on to say that nothing much is being
said by ChoicePoint.

The two-page letter offers details on how to spot
fraud, but no additional information about the
incident, or what information may have actually
been stolen.

"ChoicePoint has apologized for any inconvenience
this incident may cause," said ChoicePoint
spokesman Chuck Jones. "But ChoicePoint has no
way of knowing whether anyone's personal
information actually has been accessed," or used
to commit identity theft, he added.

Here is what is arguably the largest data base company
on earth. It can't say what has or has not been breached.
It is now four months after the breach took place.

Privacy consultant Larry Ponemon, who operates
the Ponemon Institute, said he was surprised
criminals were able to pose as ChoicePoint
clients.

"What really concerns me is when low-tech methods
are used to gain access, than you really have
problems," said. "Obviously this is very
surprising, given that they are in the data
business."

Jones said ChoicePoint had adjusted its
procedures to "help protect against a repeat" of
the incident.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/ID/6969799

Somehow, this is not reassuring. "Locking the barn
door after the horse has escaped" comes to mind.


IDENTITY THEFT

Last week, I was asked several times to provide my
Social Security number. I have moved, so I had to open new
accounts. My bank required it -- to keep the I.R.S.
informed, if necessary. The phone company required it.
The cable company required it to hook up my high speed
Internet access.

Do they need my number? No. Why do they want it? To
run a credit check on me. Our Social Security numbers are
the key to credit checks. This lowers the cost of running
a credit check. The problem is, it lowers the cost for
running other surveys, and criminals now seem to be in
possession of this information.

I am old enough to have a Social Security card that
says, right on the front of the card, "For Social Security
Purposes -- Not for Identification." Talk about the good
old days!

When I told the girl at the cable company that I did
not want to provide this number because of identity theft,
she said she could not have agreed more. She had been
ripped to the tune of $800 last year. She had given out
her number, and someone at a company had passed it along.

To get your credit records sorted out after a major
violation can take months. The paperwork is horrendous.
Here is how the Federal Trade Commission describes the
ordeal:

Identity theft is a serious crime. People whose
identities have been stolen can spend months or
years and thousands of dollars cleaning up the
mess the thieves have made of a good name and
credit record. In the meantime, victims of
identity theft may lose job opportunities, be
refused loans for education, housing, or cars,
and even get arrested for crimes they didn't
commit. Humiliation, anger, and frustration are
among the feelings victims experience as they
navigate the process of rescuing their identity.

http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/credit/idtheft.htm

If it happens to you, here is where to start cleaning
up the mess. First, go to the FTC's page. Print it out.
This will take a while. The steps you must take are
numerous.

The Department of Justice has also put up a web page
that outlines a parallel series of steps you should take.
Just skim reading this page is enough to spoil your day.

http://www.usdoj.gov/criminal/fraud/idtheft.html

A private organization, Privacy Rights, has also set
up a web page with recommendations.

http://www.privacyrights.org/fs/fs17a.htm

The loss of credit and the loss of time can be as
devastating as the actual theft. In some cases, honest
citizens get their identities mixed up with criminals.
They have no peace until the system is fixed.

How much fixing does the system need now? ChoicePoint
isn't saying.

Yes, it would be a good idea to monitor your credit
rating for a year. This will cost you up to $9 per report.
A few states have mandated lower rates. You should check
this page for the names and addresses of the three credit
reporting firms, plus the prices in various states:

http://www.consumer.gov/idtheft/recovering_idt.html#9

You should know what your credit rating is anyway. I
know mine because I recently purchased a home.

Problem: if too many inquiries are made, the
companies' computerized algorithms lower your credit
rating, on the assumption that you're trying to get too
many loans, or maybe that businessmen don't trust you. Who
knows why?

Because of the breach of security at ChoicePoint, we
should check our credit. That's what the company told over
30,000 Californians. I take the warning seriously.

Pay close attention to your monthly bank statements.
Anything suspicious should be traced down and, if identity
theft has occurred, reported to the credit agencies and the
Federal Trade Commission.

The full magnitude of the breach is not known yet. It
seems to have been a low-cost heist. But the data may be
used for purposes other then penny-ante dipping into
particular bank accounts. Information can be used in other
ways. Maybe it could be used for a gigantic direct-mail
data base, to check who has how much money and should
therefore receive which kinds of offers. I know I could
use a list like that!


PRIVACY LOST

We're losing our privacy. I don't think there is much
we can do about it. We can fight it when we can, but when
the cost of something falls, more of it is demanded. The
cost of invading our privacy is falling as never before.
The ChoicePoint story is indicative. Here is a firm that
has been legally gathering data and selling it for over two
decades.

There is a website for computer professionals,
Slashdot. They opened a forum on the ChoicePoint incident.
They offered various complaints and technical suggestions,
such as encryption. But one of them identified the big
problem: the data are valuable, so they will be sold.

The problem with this is that *you* don't own the
data kept about you. You might have the right to
view the data, but you don't own it. Since just
about forever, various companies have been
tracking various info about people (buying
habits, credit history etc). They track these for
their benefit (and their customers) -- not yours.

When they lose the data, as far as they are
concerned they have lost some of their business
information (i.e. someone accessed their data
without paying).

That the data is about you, and could be damaging
to you is inconsequential to them. Anyone could
have bought the data from them anyway.

http://www.snipurl.com/cumn

We do not have ownership of our data. We share it
when we buy, and those on the other side of the transaction
are not prohibited from selling it in one form or other.
Unless a society's legal system defends property rights
systematically, including our names, Social Security
numbers, and records, these will be treated as public
domain assets, available to the highest bidder. In some
cases, the highest bidder is a government agency.

Our governments have been running a war on privacy for
decades. Government agencies pay ChoicePoint to access its
data. The company claims that it was a government agency
that forced the firm to delay notifying residents in
California.

The government is not only not protecting our privacy,
it is paying millions of dollars to private firms that have
reduced our privacy. It's more efficient this way . . .
unfortunately.

When the Federal government created the Social
Security System in 1935, it created not only a fiscal
nightmare, it created a privacy nightmare. The soothing
warning on my Social Security card -- "For Social Security
Purposes -- Not for Identification" -- was comforting in my
youth, but it has become meaningless. That all-pervasive
number is just too tempting in an age of credit.


CONCLUSION

Not all of your money should be accessible digitally.

Not all of your digital money should be in accounts
that you use often to make purchases. Transfer money from
more secure accounts into less secure accounts.

You should use firewalls and other defensive measures
installed, especially if you do on-line banking.

You should not keep financial information on a laptop.

But all of these precautions are undermined with
respect to security breaches in distant firms that monitor
what you do with digital money, day by day.

If any event, such as bank payments gridlock, ever
paralyses the use of digital money for longer than a couple
of weeks, the division of labor will collapse. Buying and
selling will be with cash only. (Got any cash?) But those
who survive the collapse will at least have greater
privacy. Look on the bright side!

I saw this on CNN. These people should get the "heck" sued out of them. All of their possesions sold at auction and the proceeds going to the victims of their company. The employees, their wives and children should be sold as slaves.

The company should be shut down, the building and all contents burned and nuked and the ashes ground up and mixed with toxic radioactive waste and launched into outer space.

That would be a good start.

ID Data Conned From Firm

http://www.timebomb2000.com/vb/showthread.php?t=140052

http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-5582144.html

<b>ChoicePoint data theft widens to 145,000 people</b>

By Matt Hines, CNET News.com
Published on ZDNet News: February 18, 2005, 9:18 AM PT

Forward in EMAIL Format for PRINT Security threats Databases Privacy
ChoicePoint has confirmed that scammers culled the personal information of tens of thousands of Americans in a recent attack on its consumer database, resulting in 750 individual cases of identity theft.

The Atlanta-based company said that it plans to inform approximately 110,000 consumers outside the state of California whose information may have been accessed in the criminal scheme, originally reported on Tuesday. The company has already told some 35,000 Californians that their personal data, including their names, addresses, Social Security numbers and credit reports, was stolen by scammers. California is the only U.S. state with legislation in place that requires companies to notify its residents when their personal data has been compromised.

ChoicePoint also said that law enforcement officials informed the company of 750 cases of identity theft tied directly to the incident. One California man has already pleaded no contest to felony charges related to the ChoicePoint attack, while federal and state law enforcement agencies continue to look for others involved in the operation.

The perpetrators were able to dupe the company, which provides consumer data services to insurance companies, other businesses and government agencies, by passing themselves off as legitimate customers. Chuck Jones, a company spokesman, said the criminals set up 50 fraudulent accounts with ChoicePoint by posing as businesses including collection agencies that were looking to run background checks on potential customers.

Jones said that ChoicePoint was misled via a detailed effort, as the criminals used previously stolen identities to set up what appeared to be legitimate business licenses, phone numbers and addresses for the organizations they claimed to be when applying for accounts with the company. He said the firm has changed its policies for qualifying new accounts, and will now go as far as having people who are looking to access the company's databases visit the physical location of firms in order to verify those persons' legitimacy.

"We're working hard to deploy new technologies and tighten up the policies and procedures that ChoicePoint already had in place," Jones said. "It's always been critical for us to verify that people are who they say they are, but we think that our verification process has already been improved significantly (since the attack)."

The spokesman said that ChoicePoint has been targeted by criminals seeking to steal consumer data in the past, but never on such a wide scale. He said the company does not expect to report any additional consumers affected by the scheme.

The company said that it first learned of the security problem last fall, but ChoicePoint claims that law enforcement officials would not allow it to disclose the incident until now, so as not to compromise their investigations. Jones said the company is working on the case with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's office, U.S. Postal inspectors and the FBI.

Some privacy experts have predicted that the debacle will shine new light on the risks posed to consumers by information brokers such as ChoicePoint, and said the incident may convince other states to adopt legislation similar to the guidelines required by California. Last month, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a Democrat from California, proposed legislation for a federal law that would require companies to inform consumers in any U.S. state of personal data losses.

Jones said ChoicePoint might support such legislation and will continue to work to help improve consumer protection across the data services industry.

"ChoicePoint has always been a proponent of responsible use of consumer data," he said, "and we remain hopeful that there will be a national discussion for improving policies that involves legislators, privacy experts and industry, to help establish better ground rules for this issue moving forward."

This story is ALL over the net, but not getting much media attention...

BIG PROBS...

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/computersecurity/infotheft/2005-02-18-fraud-threat_x.htm

<b>Secret Service: Internet fraud threatens U.S. economy</b>

By Spencer Swartz, Reuters
SAN FRANCISCO — Internet fraudsters, motivated by money and armed with sophisticated technology, pose an increased economic threat as they steal private data from companies and individuals, the director of the U.S. Secret Service said Thursday.
"There is no longer any doubt about that threat ... With just a few key strokes, (online fraudsters) can disrupt our nation's economy," said Ralph Basham at the RSA Security Conference in San Francisco.

In addition to protecting the U.S. president, the Secret Service also helps to protect U.S. financial institutions.

Security analysts have warned that Internet hackers, once motivated by the thrill of shutting down computer systems, are joining forces with organized crime groups as they seek to profit from hacking into databases and stealing personal data through a variety of tactics, like phishing.

Phishing scams fool users into entering sensitive information on Web pages that look legitimate.

Basham said several law enforcement agencies in the United States and overseas recently disrupted an online organized crime ring that spanned eight U.S. states and six countries. Thirty people have been arrested so far in that case.

Basham said 7 million credit card numbers had been stolen by the crime ring, costing consumers and credit card companies around $4.3 million, though the loses could have been up to $1 billion, he added.

Increased cooperation

Analysts have warned that the scale and speed of online threats has increased and quickened as hackers exploit technologies like spyware.

Spyware has been one of the fastest-growing of the so-called malicious code threats. It gathers private data by recording keystrokes and monitoring e-mail without a person's knowledge.

But increased cooperation and information sharing between U.S. agencies, foreign governments, technology companies and the financial community has helped mitigate online fraud, Basham said.

Howard Schmidt, a special advisor for cyberspace security during the first term of President Bush, said companies and individuals are better protected now than ever before and are also more aware of online fraud risks.

But he cautioned that Internet fraudsters were increasingly targeting less-protected small businesses rather than large companies that can spend millions of dollars on security software to protect their computer systems.

"We're seeing the bad guys moving down the food-chain," hitting small businesses and credit unions, said Schmidt, whose other posts have included security chief at Microsoft and eBay.

Security analysts and technology executives said in panel discussions and interviews at the conference this week that Internet crime will continue, despite efforts by companies and individuals to protect themselves.

As evidence, they pointed to news this week that personal data of thousands of U.S. consumers was stolen from a U.S.-based company.

ChoicePoint said Tuesday that tens of thousands of U.S. consumers faced a greater risk of identity theft after thieves posing as legitimate businesses got access to a database of Social Security numbers and credit histories. (Related story: Personal info breach puts data warehouser in hot seat)

ChoicePoint, based in Georgia, gathers and sells information on millions of U.S. consumers to employers, landlords, marketing companies and several 35 U.S. government agencies.

http://www.allamericanpatriots.com/...PSESSID-298a2ad961b21674d3e580dd8215cdf4.html

<b>Details Demanded About Personal Information Leaked To Identity Thieves By ChoicePoint, Inc.</b>

February 17, 2005 -- Attorney General Richard Blumenthal today demanded that ChoicePoint, Inc., a national information broker, take immediate corrective action after it inadvertently released highly sensitive personal information on about 140,000 citizens to identity thieves.

ADVERTISING

Blumenthal joined a multi-state letter (attached) insisting that the company notify residents in all states who might have been affected by the information leak and urge consumers to check their credit reports for suspicious activity.

ChoicePoint provides identification and credential verification to businesses nationwide. The company claimed in published reports that criminals, posing as legitimate businesses, gained access to ChoicePoint's data. The leaked information might have included people's names, addresses, Social Security numbers and credit reports.

The company has known about the fraud since last fall, but only notified California authorities and residents because it is required to by law in that state. Blumenthal said that possible victims in Connecticut deserve the same notification.

"ChoicePoint's error is inexcusable and irreversible," Blumenthal said. "Personal, highly private and confidential information on thousands of citizens has been released – irrevocably – causing potential for damage that is pervasive and permanent. We demand that ChoicePoint immediately contact all consumers whose confidential personal information has been compromised. My office also wants a detailed explanation from ChoicePoint outlining its plan and timeframe to notify consumers.

"The company enabled this invasive, insidious identity theft. Lacking sufficient safeguards, it empowered identity thieves to steal a wealth of confidential information, exposing people to huge emotional and financial costs. Consumers at risk should be notified immediately – so they can take protective steps – and my office will vigorously press ChoicePoint to do so."

They weren't really broken into per se. They were social engineered. The theft happened because companies ask for access (and pay big I'm sure) to their extensive database.
They are supposed to do a back ground check on each company that requests such access.

What the thief here did was make up a fake company and fake stuff to make it seem like the company was real. The process Choicepoint had in place failed, or they didn't do a background check, or a good enough one. So they said aok to this dude/company and he took them and their database entries (you and me and everyone else) for a ride.

As a white hat hacker, I know for a fact that when you can't get into their network via network hacking, chances are you will be able to get in via social engineering. Doing penetration tests on various companies has proved this to me over and over again. The human factor is a hackers friend. :-)

So not broken into but scammed, IMHO.

peace
neosgirl

and just a reminder...

Choicepoint used to be known as EQUIFAX.....

Ah, just a thought. here.

As far as the original credit collection agencies went,
their subscribers could also SUBMIT CREDIT INFORMATION to the databases.

So, are there now useful alias entities tucked away in there?
Ones who would likely sail through any credit or background searches?

K

---
Sans Isc comment:

Remember:
If you build a man a fire, you'll warm him for a day.
If you set a man on fire, you'll warm him for the rest of his life. ;-)


The context is to TEACH rather than just to DO FOR another, re: firewalls n virus-checkers

"We're not to blame, but we're taking responsibility,"

Not to blame? BIGBS! Where's the class-action lawyers when they'd really be useful? Yeah, I know, anyone who tries it would find one of their kid's heads stuffed and mounted.

Personally I'd like to see ChoicePoint put out of business, their databases shredded. Since that's not gonna happen, I'd like to see them hobbled so tight a ChoicePoint janitor has to ask permission in triplicate 3 days in advance to take a pee.

So not broken into but scammed, IMHO.

Click to expand...

I appreciate this distinction but to the people whos information was obtained it makes little difference. On top of that Choice Point was not at all forthcoming on any of this. It is bad enough they were duped but showed little concern for those who could be and are greatly effected.

I also agree that this is and should be big news. You have to wonder about all this computerized information and just how secure it is. From credit bureaus & banks to gov agencies etc.

This was in our local paper yesterday and I put a big asterisk on it so DH wouldn't miss it.


The POINT is that these companies should never have been allowed to compile such databases in the first place.

Our privacy has been sold out by legislators who have been lobbied by BigBiz-BigBank to establish their "rights" against the powerful, but evil little consumers.

Pandora's box folks, and it can't be closed. Everything about you, me and the neighbor next door (true or false) is readily available for a price, or to anyone clever enough to scam it.

Gotta protect the BIG MONEY.

"We're not to blame, but we're taking responsibility," Lee said. "The people committing the fraud were smarter and quicker than we were.

Click to expand...

The heck they aren't to blame. They most certainly are to blame.

I hope over half the people whose idenity was stolen will sue them and put them out of business. I hope with all my heart this happens.

This has been all over the news here in GA but it is local news as they are here. I thought about posting a thread a couple days ago but didn't have to time to find print material and everyone wants a link as they don't like TV said posts.

It is not going over big in GA as the General Assembly is making a bill to make sure Georgians are informed by law when they have been idenity exposed like this.

I hope some big attorneys get on this big time and shut these types of businesses down. They keep to much info and invade to much privacy.

Now it is time for them to fall. Make it cost to much and they will die off.

Senses On said:

Our privacy has been sold out by legislators who have been lobbied by BigBiz-BigBank to establish their "rights" against the powerful, but evil little consumers.


Gotta protect the BIG MONEY.

Click to expand...

Here's a Rense arfticle....from whence it all comes from...

What You Didn't Know
About Taxes & The 'Crown'
By Mark Owen
2-17-5


There are two Crowns operant in England, one being Queen Elizabeth II. Although extremely wealthy, the Queen functions largely in a ceremonial capacity and serves to deflect attention away from the other Crown, who issues her marching orders through their control of the English Parliament. This other Crown is comprised of a committee of 12 banks headed by the Bank of England (House of Rothschild). They rule the world from the 677-acre, independent sovereign state known as The City of London, or simply 'The City.'

The City is not a part of England, just as Washington is not a part of the USA. The City is referred to as the wealthiest square mile on earth and is presided over by a Lord Mayor who is appointed annually. When the Queen wishes to conduct business within the City, she is met by the Lord Mayor at Temple (Templar) Bar where she requests permission to enter this private, sovereign state. She then proceeds into the City walking several paces behind the Mayor. Her entourage may not be clothed in anything other than service uniforms.

In the nineteenth century, 90% of the world's trade was carried by British ships controlled by the Crown. The other 10% of ships had to pay commissions to the Crown simply for the privilege of using the world's oceans.


The Crown reaped billions in profits while operating under the protection of the British armed forces. This was not British commerce or British wealth, but the Crown's commerce and the Crown's wealth. As of 1850, author Frederick Morton estimated the Rothschild fortune to be in excess of $10 billion. Today, the bonded indebtedness of the world is held by the Crown.

The aforementioned Temple Bar is the juristic arm of the Crown and holds an exclusive monopoly on global legal fraud through their Bar Association franchises. The Temple Bar is comprised of four Inns of Court. They are; the Middle Temple, Inner Temple, Lincoln's Inn and Gray's Inn. The entry point to these closed secret societies is only to be found when one is called to their Bar.

The Bar attorneys in the United States owe their allegiance and pledge their oaths to the Crown. All Bar Associations throughout the world are signatories and franchises to the International Bar Association located at the Inns of Court of the Crown Temple.

The Inner Temple holds the legal system franchise by license that bleeds Canada and Great Britain white, while the Middle Temple has license to steal from America. To have the Declaration of Independence recognized internationally, Middle Templar King George III agreed in the Treaty of Paris of 1783 to establish the legal Crown entity of the incorporated United States, referred to internally as the Crown Temple States (Colonies). States spelled with a capital letter 'S,' denotes a legal entity of the Crown.

At least five Templar Bar Attorneys under solemn oath to the Crown, signed the American Declaration of Independence. This means that both parties were agents of the Crown. There is no lawful effect when a party signs as both the first and second parties. The Declaration was simply an internal memo circulating among private members of the Crown. Most Americans believe that they own their own land, but they have merely purchased real estate by contract. Upon fulfillment of the contract, control of the land is transferred by Warranty Deed. The Warranty Deed is only a 'color of title.' Color of Title is a semblance or appearance of title, but not title in fact or in law. The Warranty Deed cannot stand against the Land Patent.

The Crown was granted Land Patents in North America by the King of England. Colonials rebelled at the usurious Crown taxes, and thus the Declaration of Independence was created to pacify the populace.

Another method used to hoodwink natural persons is enfranchisement. Those cards in your wallet bearing your name spelled in all capital letters means that you have been enfranchised and have the status of a corporation. A 'juristic personality' has been created, and you have entered into multi-variant agreements that place you in an equity relationship with the Crown.

These invisible contracts include: birth certificates, citizenship records, employment agreements, driver's licenses and bank accounts. It is perhaps helpful to note here that contracts do not now, nor have they ever had to be stated in writing in order to be enforceable by American judges. If it is written down, it is merely a written statement of the contract.

Tax protestors and (the coming) draft resistors trying to renounce the parts of these contracts that they now disagree with will not profit by resorting to tort law (fairness) arguments as justification. Judges will reject these lines of defense as they have no bearing on contract law jurisprudence. Tort law governs grievances where no contract law is in effect.

These private agreements/contracts that bind us will always overrule the broad general clauses of the Constitution and Bill of Rights (the Constitution being essentially a renamed enactment of English common law). The Bill of Rights is viewed by the Crown as a 'bill of benefits,' conferred on us by them in anticipation of reciprocity (taxes). Protestors and resistors will also lose their cases by boasting of citizenship status. Citizenship is another equity agreement that we have with the Crown. And this is the very juristic contract that Federal judges will use to incarcerate them. In the words of former Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter, "Equity is brutal, but we are merely enforcing agreements." The balance of Title 42, section 1981 of the Civil Rights Code states, ".citizens shall be subject to like punishment, pains, penalties, taxes, licenses, and exactions of every kind"

What we view as citizenship, the Crown views as a juristic enrichment instrumentality. It also should be borne in mind that even cursory circulation or commercial use of Federal Reserve Notes effects an attachment of liability for the payment of the Crown's debt to the FED. This is measured by your taxable income. And to facilitate future asset-stripping, the end of the 14th amendment includes a state of debt hypothecation of the United States, wherein all enfranchised persons (that's you) can be held personally liable for the Crown's debt.

The Crown views our participation in these contracts of commercial equity as being voluntary and that any gain accrued is taxable, as the gain wouldn't have been possible were it not for the Crown. They view the system of interstate banks as their own property. Any profit or gain experienced by anyone with a bank account (or loan, mortgage or credit card) carries with it - as an operation of law - the identical same full force and effect as if the Crown had created the gain.

Bank accounts fall outside the umbrella of Fourth Amendment protection because a commercial contract is in effect and the Bill of Rights cannot be held to interfere with the execution of commercial contracts. The Crown also views bank account records as their own private property, pursuant to the bank contract that each of us signed and that none of us ever read.

The rare individual who actually reads the bank contract will find that they agreed to be bound by Title 26 and under section 7202 agreed not to disseminate any fraudulent tax advice. This written contract with the Crown also acknowledges that bank notes are taxable instruments of commerce.

When we initially opened a bank account, another juristic personality was created. It is this personality (income and assets) that IRS agents are excising back to the Crown through taxation.

A lot of ink is being spilled currently over Social Security. Possession of a Social Security Number is known in the Crown's lex as 'conclusive evidence' of our having accepted federal commercial benefits. This is another example of an equity relationship with the Crown. Presenting one's Social Security Number to an employer seals our status as taxpayers, and gives rise to liability for a reciprocal quid pro quo payment of taxes to the Crown.

Through the Social Security Number we are accepting future retirement endowment benefits. Social Security is a strange animal. If you die, your spouse gets nothing, but rather, what would have gone to you is divided (forfeited) among other premium payers who haven't died yet.

But the Crown views failure to reciprocate in any of these equity attachments as an act of defilement and will proceed against us with all due prejudice. For a person to escape the tentacles of the Crown octopus, a thoroughgoing study of American jurisprudence is required. One would have to be deemed a 'stranger to the public trust,' forfeit all enfranchisement benefits and close all bank accounts, among other things. Citizenship would have to be made null and forfeit and the status of 'denizen' enacted. If there are any such natural persons extant who have passed through this fire, I would certainly appreciate hearing from them


http://www.rense.com/general63/tcs.htm

Thanks Bloggers.

Another Story that is Not carried by mainstream media, who insist upon keeping important information from the masses.

This is a HUGE story. I post the following fyi. The combining of the avian flu epidemic and this privacy theft cannot be supported. However, even if the same minds are not behind both events, both events TOGETHER have the potential to change our world like WWI and the Spanish Flu epidemic did at the beginning of the last century.
*************************

February 21, 2005

Avian Flu Death Toll in 'Hundreds of Millions' of Earths Animals,
Information on All Americans Stolen in Worlds Largest Theft, Spur Global
Panic

By: Sorcha Faal, and as reported to her Russian Subscribers

"Even though you might not have heard of ChoicePoint, they've heard of
you." , is quoted in the American MSNBC News Service report about the
largest theft in world history when this most secret of companies entire
database of information, and on every single American, was stolen, yet
the American people themselves are unaware of this happening.

ChoicePoint is the largest private collector of information the world
has ever known, and as said about them by the American newspaper,
Chicago Sun-Times, "ChoicePoint, based in Alpharetta, Ga., is a spin-off
of the credit-reporting giant Equifax. ChoicePoint maintains databases
that hold 19 billion Social Security numbers, credit and medical
histories, motor vehicle registrations, job applications, lawsuits,
criminal files, professional licenses and other sensitive information.
ChoicePoint also owns a DNA analysis lab and facilitates drug testing
for employers."

Though this massive, and unprecedented, theft occurred in October, 2004,
only a mere handful of the American people have been informed, and in
California only, for the reason given, and as reported by the MSNBC News
Service, "California law requires firms to disclose such incidents to
the state's consumers when they are discovered. It is the only state
with such a requirement.".

This report further reports that, "The firm was only given clearance by
law enforcement officials to disclose the incident two weeks ago.", but
even with the release of this information it was quickly lost in the
headlines to the more pressing concerns of the American peoples of the
trial of their Pop music icon Michael Jackson, and as evidenced by the
attention the American people gave to both of these stories, with
Michael Jackson being the most popular story for the week, the
ChoicePoint theft not even making the top ten news stories.

To the rest of the world it is astounding that the American people have
left, by their laws, individual and group inactions, this giant secret
company to grow in their midst, and to which even their own government
is beholden due to the fact that they cannot match the information power
of this ChoicePoint monster.

As explained in his recent book, "The Digital Person: Technology and
Privacy in the Information Age" about the dire situation facing the
American people Daniel J. Solove, associate professor of law at the
George Washington University Law School, has said;

"Seven days a week, twenty-four hours a day, electronic databases are
compiling information about you. As you surf the Internet, an
unprecedented amount of your personal information is being recorded and
preserved forever in the digital minds of computers. These databases
create a profile of activities, interests, and preferences used to
investigate backgrounds, check credit, market products, and make a wide
variety of decisions affecting our lives. The creation and use of these
databases-has thus far gone largely unchecked."

More disturbing about this secretive company was the location it has
chose to locate itself, Alpharetta, Georgia, which is less than [100
miles] from Elberton, Georgia, and which as we all know is the place of
standing for the enigmatic Georgia Guidestones, of which has been
written;

"On one of the highest hilltops in Elbert County, Georgia stands a huge
granite monument. Engraved in eight different languages on the four
giant stones that support the common capstone are 10 Guides, or
commandments. That monument is alternately referred to as The Georgia
Guidestones, or the American Stonehenge. Though relatively unknown to
most people, it is an important link to the Occult Hierarchy that
dominates the world in which we live."

Who has placed these stones, and for what purpose involves much
speculation. But the message inscribed on these hugh giant blocks of
granite we know all to well:

"Maintain humanity under 500,000,000 in perpetual balance with nature.
Guide reproduction wisely - improving fitness and diversity. Unite
humanity with a living new language. Rule passion - faith - tradition -
and all things with tempered reason. Protect people and nations with
fair laws and just courts. Let all nations rule internally resolving
external disputes in a world court. Avoid petty laws and useless
officials. Balance personal rights with social duties. Prize truth -
beauty - love - seeking harmony with the infinite. Be not a cancer on
the earth - Leave room for nature - Leave room for nature."

Reports received from this region that regular ChoicePoint company
employee excursions to this monument for a one world utopia are not
surprising to us to hear. It is instead a logical conclusion that the
only company in the world that could facilitate and document world
events to achieve such a drastic reduction in world population has as
its company 'resting place' the monument that extols these aims.

Aside from ChoicePoint's role in the loss of the American Presidential
candidate, Albert Gore, in the 2000 US presidential elections by its
mismanagement of the State of Florida's voter database, this fearful
company also provides intelligence on American Citizens to their secret
police organization, The Federal Bureau of Investigation, and as
reported by FBI file experts, "If you are an adult citizen of the
United States, or if, after 1996, you have ever applied for credit, you
have an FBI File. At that time the FBI spent millions with ChoicePoint
Inc. to buy information on virtually all adults living in the United
States with any credit or public record history."

Even more attention should be paid though to this company's knowledge of
the health, and DNA, of every single American citizen through the
medical files they have compiled on all of them. The importance for
noting this is the coming flu pandemic of which much has been reported,
and as equally ignored by the American people.

From the American news magazine, The New Yorker, their writer, Michael
Specter has said, "The vicious avian flu that has killed dozens of
people in Vietnam, Thailand, and elsewhere in the region "has caused the
deaths of hundreds of millions of animals in nearly a dozen Asian
countries" in the past two years and could kill millions of people if it
becomes capable of spreading efficiently among humans."

When asked in an interview the question, "Is anyone in charge of global
health? Are there treaties, for instance, that can force a government to
take action regarding the health of its citizens?" Mr. Specter
responded, "Nobody is in charge-and, in an age of global illness, we
desperately need that to change."

The truth of this assertion by Mr. Specter was just yesterday verified
by the British newspaper, The Independent, in an article titled "Risk of
deadly global epidemic as bid to halt spread of bird flu is foiled" and
which says, "Thailand, one of two countries at the centre of the bird
flu outbreak, is refusing to act against its spread, scuppering attempts
to stop a devastating pandemic expected to kill tens of millions of
people around the globe."

What then can we make of this largest theft in world history, this
secretive company ChoicePoint, the beginning of global war and the
coming flu pandemic? Certainly more than can be detailed in this one
small report, but to the past as always should we look, for these
dragons are all too predictable in their actions by their signs, symbols
and dates of importance for their rituals.

The swiftness of their actions can not be underestimated either, and as
seen by the events of the last century when in a 3 year time period
through war (World War I) and flu pandemic (Spanish Flu), the face of
the world was changed forever. No more were the empires of Czarist
Russia, Austria Hungry, Great Brittan and the Ottoman Turks. In their
place arouse the communists, the fascists and the capitalists, with the
sole remaining super power today being the fascist American Empire and
its Axis Allies, Israel and Japan.

Therefore, the engineered destruction of four fifths of the world's
population to meet 'their' goal of world population of 500 million, and
able to be controlled by just one world government, is not just the end
goal of these dragon masters, but is approaching every human being with
the speed of lightning.

For the intended human survivors we cannot be sure of much, except that
all of their names are contained in ChoicePoints 'book of life.'
http://www.whatdoesitmean.com/index685.htm
--
Sorcha Faal
sorchafaal@fastmail.fm

Bump

Choicepoint and other companies like it need to be outlawed ... period end of story.

Residents in 50 states, D.C., territories may be affected

ChoicePoint: ID theft could be extensive

California authorities have said as many as 500,000 people may have been affected, but ChoicePoint disputes that number.

Click to expand...

The Associated Press
Updated: 4:36 p.m. ET Feb. 21, 2005

ATLANTA - ChoicePoint Inc., under fire for being duped into allowing criminals to access its massive database of personal information, said Monday that consumers in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and three U.S. territories may have been affected by the breach of the company’s credentialing process. The data warehouser also announced plans to rescreen 17,000 business customers to make sure they are legitimate.

The Alpharetta-based company said it has hired a retired Secret Service agent to help revamp its verification process. It also has paid for a one-year subscription to a credit monitoring service for each of the 144,778 people that may have been affected by the breach.

The company said the smallest number of possible victims — two — was in the U.S. Virgin Islands, while the largest number — 34,114 — was in California. It released a state-by-state breakdown late Monday. People in Puerto Rico and Guam also may have been affected.

ChoicePoint said it is almost done notifying by mail all of the potential victims. California authorities have said as many as 500,000 people may have been affected, but ChoicePoint disputes that number.

“All I can tell you is our number is roughly 145,000, and we know that we’re over-notifying,” ChoicePoint marketing director James Lee said. “There will be duplications in there.”

Last week, attorneys general in 38 states demanded ChoicePoint inform all affected consumers that they might vulnerable to identity theft amid concerns the company was foot-dragging. Politicians have also become involved, with two U.S. senators calling for hearings and stepped-up regulations to protect consumers.

As for the rescreening, ChoicePoint said any business that is not publicly traded or not a government agency will have to be recredentialed to use its services.

“It will involve the revalidation of any information they previously provided as well as requests for additional information,” Lee said. “Certain customers will receive site visits, but I can’t be more specific than that because we don’t want to reveal too much.”

He said it could take up to 60 days to recredential the affected customers.

Once recredentialed, those customers will no longer receive access to consumers’ Social Security numbers, dates of birth and driver’s license numbers unless they are sponsored by a public company or government agency, Lee said.

The company said in a statement that it is seeking to “remove information in those segments where organized crime fraud is likely to occur.”

The customers affected represent less than 5 percent of the company’s $900 million in annual revenue

The company acknowledged last week that thieves apparently used previously stolen identities to create what appeared to be legitimate businesses seeking ChoicePoint accounts. The bandits then opened up 50 accounts and received volumes of data on consumers, including names, addresses, Social Security numbers and credit reports.

The ring, which operated for more than a year before it was detected, used the information to defraud at least 750 people, according to investigators in California.

Like any business that opens an account with ChoicePoint, the suspect companies were given an access code and password that allowed them to use ChoicePoint’s database. ChoicePoint says it puts applicants for accounts through rigorous protocols such as verifying business licenses and individual’s names and background checks.

In this case, the thieves — posing as check-cashing companies or debt collection firms — provided business licenses that appeared to be legitimate and used the names of real people with clean criminal records.

The company caught on later by tracking the pattern of the searches conducted by the suspects.

The company learned of the problem in October, but did not notify those customers who were possibly affected until this month because authorities did not want to jeopardize their investigation.

Formed in 1997 as a spinoff of credit reporting agency Equifax Inc., ChoicePoint has 19 billion public records in its database at its suburban Atlanta headquarters, including everything from motor vehicle registrations, license and deed transfers, military records, names, addresses and Social Security numbers.

Wall Street was closed for the Presidents Day holiday on Monday, but on Friday, ChoicePoint shares slipped 63 cents to close at $43.50 in heavy trading on the New York Stock Exchange — down from nearly $48 a share on Feb. 4.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7007430/

My address has been changed already If any of you haven't checked you should

I just downloaded copies of my credit report from all three, equifax, experian and
Transunion. As far as they are concerned I now live in Mo. So far all I have been able to get from them are the automated responses, no real people. I think it may partly be that today is a holiday.

If anyone has any experience with this or how to get to these people pronto ,advice is welcome. It's bad enough getting screwed by the crooks but you get screwed again when you have to pay them for the report/s

ThankX
for any help

cb.

Have to add this to the thread. Very important..

Take this story backwards in time from the links here: http://www.unknownnews.net/choicepoint.html

Pretty interesting that's for sure. I see a lot of dots and some of them huge. Anybody who dosn't isn't thinking about it.


Feb. 14, 2005:
ChoicePoint transforming itself into a private intelligence service

ChoicePoint data stolen by imposters

# They've known about this since last October. But now that it's in the news, "ChoicePoint says it will notify all potential victims." My, how civic minded of them. =Sir J=

# Isn't it ironic; the corporation that has the largest database of information on people is duped by 'imposters'? =Mr. Cieciel=


Jan. 20, 2005:
ChoicePoint transforming itself into a private intelligence service


May 18, 2004:
The people's paper trail
by Carlos Pecciotto Jr., Unknown News


March 16, 2004:
ChoicePoint: Watching people on behalf of Uncle Sam


Nov. 26, 2003:
Officials at Mexican company may face treason charges

Excerpt: The Mexican federal attorney's office confirmed Wednesday that its investigators searched the offices of the Mexican company Soluciones Mercadologicas en Bases de Datos and the homes of three of its employees. Investigators said they found documents possibly pertaining to the sale of personal information on Mexicans to ChoicePoint Inc., an Atlanta-based information gathering company.


June 10, 2003:
ChoicePoint says it will stop selling Mexican voter data


May 6, 2003:
Latin American fury as U.S. company buys information on millions

Excerpt: ChoicePoint literature advertising its services to the Department of Justice includes the promise of a "national registry file of all adult Colombians, including date and place of birth, gender, parentage, physical description, marital status ... passport number, and registered profession."

It is illegal under Colombian law for government agencies to disclose such information, except in response to a request for data on a named individual.


May 5, 2003:
Firm in Florida election fiasco earns millions from files on foreigners

Excerpt: The controversy is not the first to engulf ChoicePoint. The company's subsidiary, Database Technologies, was responsible for bungling an overhaul of Florida's voter registration records, with the result that thousands of people, disproportionately black, were disenfranchised in the 2000 election. Had they been able to vote, they might have swung the state, and thus the presidency, for Al Gore, who lost in Florida by a few hundred votes.


April 30, 2003:
Mexican data acquired by ChoicePoint included more details than originally suspected


April 27, 2003:
Mexico claims ChoicePoint stepped across the line
OUR ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION NAME: cough drop
LOGIN:spam-catcher@lycos.com PASSWORD: pucker-up

Excerpt: Uncle Sam is watching more of you, which may come as no surprise, given the post-terrorist reality of Sept. 11.

What may be surprising is that even before the attacks, the United States was quietly purchasing dossiers on millions of citizens in 10 Latin American countries from an Alpharetta-based firm. The reason: to help verify the identities of Latin American nationals accused of committing crimes in the United States and help in the larger effort to find potential terrorists.

Now, ChoicePoint, the firm that collected the data, finds itself the target of growing criticism abroad and investigations in Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Mexico over whether privacy laws were violated. Latin American media have decried the company's actions, including what Mexico claims was the illegal sale of confidential voter registration records of more than 65 million of its citizens.


April 22, 2003:
Winning the 2000 election, the Republican way:
Racism, theft, fraud in Florida

Excerpt: The Florida Republicans wanted to block African Americans, who largely vote as Democrats, from voting. In 1999 they fired the company they were paying $5,700 to compile their felony “scrub” lists and replaced them with Database Technologies [DBT], who they paid $2.3 million to do the same job. [DBT is the Florida division of Choicepoint, a massive database company that does extensive work for the FBI.]


April 15, 2003:
Mexico to investigate who sold citizens' personal data to U.S. government


April 13, 2003:
Nicaraguan president launches investigation of sales of citizens' information to U.S. agencies

Excerpt: The Associated Press reported on Friday that Atlanta, Georgia-based ChoicePoint Inc. said it bought official registry files from subcontractors in Nicaragua, as well as Mexico, Colombia, Venezuela, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador. The company has refused to name the sellers or say where those parties obtained the data.


Feb. 17, 2001:
Inquiry into new claims of poll abuses in Florida

Excerpt: Information supplied by the company, Database Technologies (DBT), led to tens of thousands of Floridians being removed from the electoral roll on the grounds that they had felonies on their records.

However, a Guardian investigation in December confirmed by Newsnight found that the list was riddled with mistakes that led to thousands of voters -- a disproportionate number of them black -- being wrongly disenfranchised.

The scale of the errors, and their skewed effect on black, overwhelmingly Democratic voters, cost Al Gore thousands of votes in Florida in an election that George Bush won by just 537 votes. Moreover the Florida state government, where Mr Bush's brother Jeb is governor, did nothing to correct the errors, and may have encouraged them.


Dec. 10, 2000:
'Disappeared' Gore voters:
You'd almost think it was deliberate

Excerpt: I was curious about this company that appears -- although never say never in this game -- to have chosen the next President for America's voters. Its board dazzles with Republican stars, including billionaire Ken Langone and Home Depot tycoon Bernard Marcus, big Republican funders.


Dec. 4, 2000:
Florida's flawed "voter-cleansing" program

Excerpt: If Vice President Al Gore is wondering where his Florida votes went, rather than sift through a pile of chad, he might want to look at a "scrub list" of 173,000 names targeted to be knocked off the Florida voter registry by a division of the office of Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris. A close examination suggests thousands of voters may have lost their right to vote based on a flaw-ridden list that included purported "felons" provided by a private firm with tight Republican ties.

Early in the year, the company, ChoicePoint, gave Florida officials a list with the names of 8,000 ex-felons to "scrub" from their list of voters.

But it turns out none on the list were guilty of felonies, only misdemeanors. The company acknowledged the error, and blamed it on the original source of the list -- the state of Texas.

Florida officials moved to put those falsely accused by Texas back on voter rolls before the election. Nevertheless, the large number of errors uncovered in individual counties suggests that thousands of eligible voters may have been turned away at the polls.

Florida is the only state that pays a private company that promises to "cleanse" voter rolls.The state signed in 1998 a $4 million contract with DBT Online, since merged into ChoicePoint, of Atlanta. The creation of the scrub list, called the central voter file, was mandated by a 1998 state voter fraud law, which followed a tumultuous year that saw Miami's mayor removed after voter fraud in the election, with dead people discovered to have cast ballots. The voter fraud law required all 67 counties to purge voter registries of duplicate registrations, deceased voters and felons, many of whom, but not all, are barred from voting in Florida.

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