Post by RPankn on Feb 26, 2006 18:20:36 GMT -5
lala_rawraw (1000+ posts) Sat Feb-25-06 08:55 PM
Original message
Important: MUST SEE!!!!
Edited on Sat Feb-25-06 09:04 PM by lala_rawraw
I just got a call from some folks and was told that 10 PM EST, CNBC was something I needed to tune into and take notes. So I found a listing for the hour and program, it is a Russert show with James Risen and another intel writer (http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/CNBCTV/TV_Info/P2100.asp).
I then made some calls and was told certain things that will be presented on this show, which came completely under radar. If what I have heard is correct, we have entered 1984 completely.
I was told to take notes on the following:
Company Names/Locations/Field of Expertise
Technology overlaps
What you infer from what you are being told
I don't know what this means as I have not seen this show, but given what I was told (not sure of how much of what I was told is actually in the show, supposedly quite a bit) it is imperative that we pay close attention.
Can you live blog to help me out, so that we can have a running discussion thread on this? Can you please make sure to track the things I was told to take notes on? I want to make sure I don't miss anything, especially to focus on point number 1 (as it will include 3 really important names). Apparently one company named is involved in another business all together and will give us, pause in terms of why it is involved in this stuff.
Let's prep by researching the other guest on the show, his area of focus, and publications. Also, spread the word for people to watch it as well.
UPDATE: ONE COMPANY NAME IS CHOICEPOINT, ABSORBED INTO NSA PROGRAM (not sure if the person was trying to imply hired on contract or really "absorbed") Where do I know choice point from?
kentuck (1000+ posts) Sat Feb-25-06 08:57 PM
Response to Original message
2. RFID
Something the author talked about...very minute chips that can be implanted in your hand that can follow you anywhere...It was scary stuff.
wildbilln864 (95 posts) Sat Feb-25-06 09:08 PM
Response to Reply #2
8. I heard of this a couple years ago...
It was called "digital angel" from verichip. look up Applied Digital Solutions.
wildbilln864 (95 posts) Sat Feb-25-06 09:13 PM
Response to Reply #8
17. here's a link to a...
an older article about it if this is what we're talking about.
www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=17705
btmlndfrmr (783 posts) Sat Feb-25-06 09:25 PM
Response to Reply #8
27. Tommy Thompson is on Verichip's board
Here's another link
news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-5793685.html
WarNoMore (474 posts) Sat Feb-25-06 09:09 PM
Response to Reply #6
9. Wasn't it Choicepoint
that was responsible for the Florida felon purge in 2000?
MelissaB (1000+ posts) Sat Feb-25-06 09:10 PM
Response to Reply #9
10. Must be...first hit for "choicepoint florida"
www.choicepoint.com/news/2000election.html
MelissaB (1000+ posts) Sat Feb-25-06 09:12 PM
Response to Reply #9
14. From Palast:
www.gregpalast.com/detail.cfm?artid=55&row=1
...
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 Tex
I think I'm going to be sick now.
rosebud57 (1000+ posts) Sun Feb-26-06 02:38 PM
Response to Reply #35
93. Choicepoint has been doing data mining in latin america also
Edited on Sun Feb-26-06 02:43 PM by rosebud57
www.voiceoffreedom.com/archives/Ofcourse/dataupd...
www.usatoday.com/tech/news/techpolicy/2003-09-01...
Vendor sells Latin American citizen data to U.S.
When Border Patrol agents came across the corpses of 14 Mexican immigrants who died trying to cross the searing Arizona desert in 2001, a brand new tool helped U.S. authorities identify the bodies and, eventually, the smugglers who abandoned them.
The tool was a database containing the personal information of 65 million voting-age Mexican citizens. The U.S. government bought access to it for $1 million a year from a giant data vendor called ChoicePoint.
U.S. drug and immigration investigators prized the data, accorting to the Department of Homeland Security and other law enforcement sources, because it gave them latitude to track suspects inside Mexico without alerting local authorities.
Now ChoicePoint's database is no longer available to help U.S. authorities. An Associated Press report detailing the U.S. government's access to the data triggered a public outcry in Mexico and other Latin American countries from which ChoicuPoint had obtained citizens' private records.
Marie26 (1000+ posts) Sun Feb-26-06 03:52 AM
Response to Reply #14
86. Other interesting points:
- "In January, the state of Pennsylvania terminated a contract with ChoicePoint after discovering the firm had sold citizens' personal profiles to unauthorized individuals." This is a 2000 article. Seems like ChoicePoint has a long history of "losing" their files to people who shouldn't have them.
- "Florida is the only state in the nation to contract the first stage of removal of voting rights to a private company. And ChoicePoint has big plans. "Given the outcome of our work in Florida," says f*gan, "and with a new president in place, we think our services will expand across the country." I'll bet - and they did. Reward for a job well done? [I remember it cost Florida a lot more to use Choicepoint, something like $2 per record, than the previous company which only charged 6 cents.]
- "Especially if that president is named "Bush." ChoicePoint's board and executive roster are packed with Republican stars, including billionaire Ken Langone, a company director who was chairman of the fund-raising committee for New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani's aborted run against Hillary Rodham Clinton. Langone is joined at ChoicePoint by another Giuliani associate, former New York Police Commissioner Howard Safir." Republican cronyfest.
Marie26 (1000+ posts) Sun Feb-26-06 02:55 PM
Response to Reply #92
95. Isn't it?
Edited on Sun Feb-26-06 02:58 PM by Marie26
I literally got chills as I read this thread. Fla., under Jeb Bush, was the first state to contract out voter roll purges, & just happened to award the contract to ChoicePoint. It looks like CP was a vital partner in "electing" George Bush in 2000 & was rewarded accordingly. So, CP was used to establish power & now it's being used to consolidate power. Look at what CP's contracts are - data collection, identification, biometrics, mining technologies. Check out their website - they've got a whole division, "ChoicePoint Gov" that deals with nothing but DHS contracts. Look at who they're partnered with - SAIC, who was the contractor for the TIA Pentagon program to gather information on Americans. CP rises from almost nothing to become a huge "security" firm that has information on every one of us. Think about it - then run for Canada. That's sure what I feel like doing right now.
[Hmmm. Abramoff was also lobbying in Congress against sanctions on South Africa at the same time. Coincedence?]
im10ashus (1000+ posts) Sat Feb-25-06 09:47 PM
Response to Reply #37
53. Got it!
Director of Florida voting contractor chaired companies linked to apartheid
By Larisa Alexandrovna and John Byrne | RAW STORY Staff
A lead director of the company hired by Florida to fix the state’s controversial felon voting rolls is also chairman of a company many regard as a former pillar of South African apartheid, RAW STORY has discovered.
cont'd...
www.kucinich.us/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=396
[Besides being ambassador to Italy at the same time that Rhodes, Ledeen and Ghorbanifar were meeting on Iran, Sembler heads Libby's defense fund and established a chain of Holocaust museums in Florida. There's an article somewhere here on DD about Mel and Betty's Achieve, Inc., a chain of foster homes whose residents have accused the Semblers of physical, mental and sexual abuse and torture.]
flyarm (1000+ posts) Sun Feb-26-06 12:34 AM
Response to Reply #9
83. YES AND JEFF FISHER MADE THE CONNECTION WITH SEMLER
AND A KIDS detention connected with Mel and Betty Semler..STEALING ELECTIONS ..choicepoint=jeb
www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,949709,00.h...
Firm in Florida election fiasco earns millions from files on foreigners
Oliver Burkeman in Washington and Jo Tuckman in Mexico City
Monday May 5, 2003
The Guardian
A data-gathering company that was embroiled in the Florida 2000 election fiasco is being paid millions of dollars by the Bush administration to collect detailed personal information on the populations of foreign countries, enraging several governments who say the records may have been illegally obtained.
US government purchasing documents show that the company, ChoicePoint, received at least $11m (£6.86m) from the department of justice last year to supply data - mainly on Latin Americans - that included names and addresses, occupations, dates of birth, passport numbers and "physical description". Even tax records and blood groups are reportedly included.
Nicaraguan police have raided two offices suspected of providing the information. The revelations threaten to shatter public trust in electoral institutions, especially in Mexico, where the government has begun an investigation.
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.
MelissaB (1000+ posts) Sat Feb-25-06 09:14 PM
Response to Reply #6
19. From dkosopedia
Edited on Sat Feb-25-06 09:16 PM by MelissaB
Overview
ChoicePoint has a DNA laboratory which was used to identify victims of the WTC attacks. Data supplied by ChoicePoint was used in the Beltway Snipers investigation. Choicepoint also assisted the Transportation Security Administration in conduction ~100,000 applicants. The US Department of Justice and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children credit the corporation with assisting in the return of ~800 missing children. As of 2003, ChoicePoint's CEO is Derek V. Smith, who has held that position since 1997. In 2002, ChoicePoint generated earnings of ~$200 million on revenue of ~$791 million. The company employs ~3,500 people at 52 locations within 26 states.
More: www.dkosopedia.com/index.php/ChoicePoint
MelissaB (1000+ posts) Sat Feb-25-06 09:25 PM
Response to Reply #6
26. rose from nothing to multibillion-dollar status in a very short time
Edited on Sat Feb-25-06 09:25 PM by MelissaB
...snip
ChoicePoint made the news again recently when it was belatedly revealed that it had provided confidential personal information on 145,000 U.S. residents to identity thieves posing as legitimate business people. So far, according to an NPR report last week, 750 of those people have been victimized by the thieves.
How did ChoicePoint react to their damaging mistake? Well, at first it did nothing, claiming later that it did not want to interfere with a criminal investigation. The, when pushed, it sent out letters to the 145,000 victims, telling them they were at risk.
That's it. Letters. Just letters telling the victims that they'd been had and they'd better do something to protect themselves.
Here's the part that gets me. ChoicePoint is supposed to be the nation's top expert on personal information, so how is it that it cheerfully provides such information to a bogus company? Isn't the whole point of a company like ChoicePoint to protect others from being cheated by cheats? If it can't protect itself, why should others expect it to protect them?
The latest ChoicePoint fiasco cries out for investigation. Are there only 145,000 victims, or are there many more? Do all the victims belong to the same political party by any chance? What price will ChoicePoint be asked to pay for the massive damage its apparent negligence has caused?
A cynic would say there's more to ChoicePoint than meets the eye. It's a company that rose from nothing to multibillion-dollar status in a very short time. Its known mistakes are horrendous.
Is ChoicePoint tied in with the Bush administration in some way? Not that I know of. But I'm betting the Bushies have warm, fuzzy feelings about ChoicePoint, and it's not going to be held accountable.
www.sfgate.com/columnists/sorensen /
MelissaB (1000+ posts) Sat Feb-25-06 09:30 PM
Response to Reply #6
34. benefits from Patriot Act
Since the election, ChoicePoint has been the beneficiary of a huge increase in the freedom of government agencies to gain access to personal data. The USA patriot act, passed after September 11, allows government investigators to gain access to more information on US citizens without a search warrant, and to see data on private emails with such a warrant but without a wiretap order. The act also means banks must make their databases accessible to firms such as ChoicePoint.
(next paragraph is interesting, too)
In Mexico, the president of the federal electoral institute, Jose Woldenberg, revealed that his investigators had talked to the Mexican company that said it paid a "third person" 400,000 pesos (£24,500) for a hard disk full of personal data drawn largely from the electoral roll. It sold this to ChoicePoint for just $250,000, indicating the huge profitability of ChoicePoint's contracts - last year's $11m payment was part of a five-year contract worth $67m.
Link: www.topdog04.com/000145.html
Emit (1000+ posts) Sat Feb-25-06 09:38 PM
Response to Reply #6
43. Seems this guy's done some research into choicepoint
They were also involved in a huge identity theft case that blossomed in CA last year. This guy includes some of that info in his rant about choicepoint:
March 02, 2005
Chew on This, ChoicePoint
THERE'S A SOLUTION to the dire threat posed to every American by ChoicePoint, the Atlanta-based "data miner" that has been cheerfully selling your most sensitive personal information to any Tom, Dick and Scumbag who ponies up a little cash. As Creative Loafing's Mara Shalhoup reported in 2003 in "Big Brother's Little Helper", plenty of smoke has been wafting from ChoicePoint’s robo-snoops for years, but that has elicited little mainstream press or regulatory interest.
ChoicePoint sells info-tidbits such as your Social Security number, what’s in your wallet and just about anything else about you that can be gleaned and stuffed into a computer. As disclosed in recent days, this corporate Orwellian nightmare didn’t much care to whom it auctioned your data. Those “customers” included swarms of “identity thieves,” who stole the digital life histories of 145,000 Americans, or maybe it’s 4 million. The large spread in numbers depends on whose account you choose to believe, and as we’ll see, you can file anything ChoicePoint avers under “unadulterated hokum.”
~snip~
ChoicePoint bosses likely agree that my solution, or something equally draconian, is in the offing. When identity scammers first surfaced in a California investigation in October (four months before the company bothered to clue in victims), ChoicePoint’s two top boys began dumping almost $21 million in stock. Other investors are now stuck with stock in free fall. Tough luck for them. If shareholders end up on the rocks because their identities have been purloined, ChoicePoint and its parent, credit reporting giant Equifax, will be sure to note financial problems on credit reports. Hey, it's just business.
~snip~
IN ADDITION TO SELLING YOUR information to insurance companies, prospective employers and, uh, identity thieves, the true business of ChoicePoint is circumventing the Federal Privacy Act of 1974. That law banned the government from becoming Big Brother and compiling digital dossiers on citizens. But when the law was written, people assumed only the government would have the computer wherewithal to amass databases. The law didn't ban -- the authors couldn't envision -- private companies from collecting data on virtually each and every American citizen, and then selling it to the government. ChoicePoint does business with at least 30 federal agencies.
Worried? You should be.
72.14.207.104/search?q=cache:CYvUNIpb2UEJ:www.johnsugg.com/2005/03/chew_on_this_ch.html+Derek+V.+Smith+Jeb+Bush&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=3
Sydnie (1000+ posts) Sat Feb-25-06 09:46 PM
Response to Reply #46
52. It appears they keep a screening program for entitlement programs
www.choicepointgov.com/fraud.htm
Digit (1000+ posts) Sat Feb-25-06 09:16 PM
Response to Original message
20. I had to use ChoicePoint when I worked in an insurance office
ChoicePoint, with the help of a Fair, Isaac and Co. scoring formula, and the Insurance Services Office (ISO) offer insurers extensive nationwide resources that contain your name, address, phone number, credit report, claims history, and motor vehicle report - and that just scratches the surface. ChoicePoint also compiles aliases, criminal records, and histories of vehicles. "If you've got a car that's been in 35 accidents, that's something the insurance company is going to want to know," says Mark Wheeler, spokesperson for ChoicePoint.
ChoicePoint, which is an offshoot of the Equifax credit-reporting company, maintains a database called CLUE (Comprehensive Loss Underwriting Exchange). The company uses the information it gathers and maintains for "casualty loss" scoring, claims history reporting, and driving-record reporting. When a consumer fills out a new auto insurance application, the potential insurer queries ChoicePoint for an insurance score. ChoicePoint caters to nearly all property and casualty insurers.
The ISO says the databases it maintains, called the All Claims databases, are strictly for detecting fraud and expediting the claims process. If the ISO sees a series of claims that looks suspicious - for example, the same name appears on all the claims with a different social security number - the company will notify the insurance company and the insurer will investigate. The ISO also has information about any of your claims that might have ended up in court.
<snip>
You can get a copy of the ChoicePoint CLUE report by calling ChoicePoint's Consumer Disclosure Center at 770 752-6000. The report will cost between $8 and $10, depending on how the consumer wants the information, says Wheeler of ChoicePoint.
www.1800duilaws.com/article/auto_insurer.asp
babylonsister (1000+ posts) Sat Feb-25-06 09:23 PM
Response to Original message
23. Tidbit on Robert O'Harrow Jr:
www.macon.com/mld/macon/news/opinion/13731122.htm
snip//
ChoicePoint describes itself on its Web site as, "A trusted source and leading provider of decision-making information that helps reduce fraud and mitigate risk. . . Through the identification, retrieval, storage, analysis and delivery of data, ChoicePoint serves the informational needs of businesses of all sizes, as well as federal, state and local government agencies."
Basically, the company collects data on millions of Americans and sells it. We all know that our electronic files are probably stored in a couple of thousand places. We do have a reasonable expectation that our information is secure. That's not always the case. Thursday, the Federal Trade Commission levied a record $10 million fine against ChoicePoint, with an additional $5 million to be used to pay back those who may have lost money due to ChoicePoint's lack of security.
In an alarmingly easy scam, scofflaws stole information stored by ChoicePoint on at least 163,000 people, 2,805 of them in Georgia. And if you're thinking this was simply name, address and phone number stuff, think again. Robert O' Harrow Jr., wrote a book on data piracy, "No Place to Hide." O'Harrow explains in great depth the type of information ChoicePoint and similar companies keep on individuals. Do you have bouts of depression? These data companies know about it. They know whether your tastes lean to whole or 2 percent milk, not to mention your credit score, bankruptcies and bank balances. It's estimated that ChoicePoint has the data of 220 million people. If you're an adult in America, ChoicePoint probably has your data.
RazzleDazzle (1000+ posts) Sat Feb-25-06 09:46 PM
Response to Reply #30
49. 2% milk
Edited on Sat Feb-25-06 09:46 PM by RazzleDazzle
And NOW we know what happens when you sign up for those grocery store or office supply or pharmacy store benefit cards. It's worse than I thought. I imagined that only the grocery store would be paying attention.
MelissaB (1000+ posts) Sat Feb-25-06 09:55 PM
Response to Reply #39
60. In relation: Diebold has ties to ChoicePoint and SAIC
ChoicePoint has ties to electronic voting vendors, e.g. CP has a data mining alliance with SAIC, and SAIC wrote wrote voting system security software for Diebold. It is untenable that a truly free country would permit the obvious conflicts-of interest inherit in the nexus between these entities...
www.wheresthepaper.org/CEPN_Centralized_Voter_Reg_1.pdf
TayTay (1000+ posts) Sat Feb-25-06 09:54 PM
Response to Reply #54
58. LaLa, this is how they identified themselves
They were trying to defend themselves in the Identify Theft case:
CURLING: Once again, we extend our apology on behalf of our company to those who have been potentially affected. We learned that there are few places for consumers to turn to if their identity is stolen. This alone increases the fear and anxiety associated with identity theft.
For this reason, we have recently formed a partnership with the Identity Theft Resource Center, a leading and well-respected nonprofit organization dedicated exclusively to assisting identity theft victims.
Most importantly, we have shifted our focus to ensuring our products and services provide a direct benefit to consumers or to society as a whole.
While this has meant exiting an entire market, we decided that consumer interest must come first. We have already made broad changes to our products, limiting access to sensitive personally identifiable information, and more changes are under development. Last year, we helped more than 100 million people obtain fairly priced home and auto insurance. More than 7 million Americans get job through our pre-employment screening services. And we help more than 1 million consumers obtain expedited copies of their own vital record—birth, death and marriage certificates. These transactions were started by consumers with their permission, and they provide a clear direct benefit to them. Not all of our work is as obvious, but the value is. At a time when the news is filled with crimes committed against children, we’re helping our nation’s religious institutions and youth-serving organization protect those in our society who are least able to protect themselves.
Our products and services have identified 11,000 undisclosed felons among those seeking to volunteer with children, 1,055 with convictions for crimes against children, 42 of which who were registered sex offenders.
Consumers, businesses and nonprofits are not the only ones that rely on ChoicePoint. In fact, government officials have recently testified to Congress that they could not fulfill their missions of protecting our country and its citizens without the help of ChoicePoint and others in our industry. Last month, ChoicePoint supported the U.S. Marshals Service in Operation Falcon, which served approximately 10,000 warrants in a single day. Mr. Chairman, apart from what we do, I also understand that the committee is interested in how our business is regulated by federal legislation, as well as various state regulations. Approximately 60 percent of ChoicePoint’s business is driven by consumer-initiated transactions, most of which are regulated by the FCRA.
CURLING: These include pre-employment screening, auto and home insurance underwriting services, tenant screening services, and facilitating the delivery of vital records directly to consumers. Nine percent of ChoicePoint’s business is related to marketing services, none of which include the distribution of personally identifiable information. Even so, we are regulated by state and federal “do not mail” and “do not call” legislation, and for some services, the FRCA.
Five percent of ChoicePoint’s business is related to supporting law enforcement agencies in pursuit of their investigative missions through information and data services. Six percent of our business supports law firms, financial institutions and general business to help mitigate fraud through data and authentication services.
The final 20 percent of our business consists of software and technology services that do not include the distribution of personally identifiable information.
commerce.senate.gov/hearings/witnesslist.cfm?id=1491
Original message
Important: MUST SEE!!!!
Edited on Sat Feb-25-06 09:04 PM by lala_rawraw
I just got a call from some folks and was told that 10 PM EST, CNBC was something I needed to tune into and take notes. So I found a listing for the hour and program, it is a Russert show with James Risen and another intel writer (http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/CNBCTV/TV_Info/P2100.asp).
I then made some calls and was told certain things that will be presented on this show, which came completely under radar. If what I have heard is correct, we have entered 1984 completely.
I was told to take notes on the following:
Company Names/Locations/Field of Expertise
Technology overlaps
What you infer from what you are being told
I don't know what this means as I have not seen this show, but given what I was told (not sure of how much of what I was told is actually in the show, supposedly quite a bit) it is imperative that we pay close attention.
Can you live blog to help me out, so that we can have a running discussion thread on this? Can you please make sure to track the things I was told to take notes on? I want to make sure I don't miss anything, especially to focus on point number 1 (as it will include 3 really important names). Apparently one company named is involved in another business all together and will give us, pause in terms of why it is involved in this stuff.
Let's prep by researching the other guest on the show, his area of focus, and publications. Also, spread the word for people to watch it as well.
UPDATE: ONE COMPANY NAME IS CHOICEPOINT, ABSORBED INTO NSA PROGRAM (not sure if the person was trying to imply hired on contract or really "absorbed") Where do I know choice point from?
kentuck (1000+ posts) Sat Feb-25-06 08:57 PM
Response to Original message
2. RFID
Something the author talked about...very minute chips that can be implanted in your hand that can follow you anywhere...It was scary stuff.
wildbilln864 (95 posts) Sat Feb-25-06 09:08 PM
Response to Reply #2
8. I heard of this a couple years ago...
It was called "digital angel" from verichip. look up Applied Digital Solutions.
wildbilln864 (95 posts) Sat Feb-25-06 09:13 PM
Response to Reply #8
17. here's a link to a...
an older article about it if this is what we're talking about.
www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=17705
btmlndfrmr (783 posts) Sat Feb-25-06 09:25 PM
Response to Reply #8
27. Tommy Thompson is on Verichip's board
Here's another link
news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-5793685.html
WarNoMore (474 posts) Sat Feb-25-06 09:09 PM
Response to Reply #6
9. Wasn't it Choicepoint
that was responsible for the Florida felon purge in 2000?
MelissaB (1000+ posts) Sat Feb-25-06 09:10 PM
Response to Reply #9
10. Must be...first hit for "choicepoint florida"
www.choicepoint.com/news/2000election.html
MelissaB (1000+ posts) Sat Feb-25-06 09:12 PM
Response to Reply #9
14. From Palast:
www.gregpalast.com/detail.cfm?artid=55&row=1
...
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 Tex
I think I'm going to be sick now.
rosebud57 (1000+ posts) Sun Feb-26-06 02:38 PM
Response to Reply #35
93. Choicepoint has been doing data mining in latin america also
Edited on Sun Feb-26-06 02:43 PM by rosebud57
www.voiceoffreedom.com/archives/Ofcourse/dataupd...
www.usatoday.com/tech/news/techpolicy/2003-09-01...
Vendor sells Latin American citizen data to U.S.
When Border Patrol agents came across the corpses of 14 Mexican immigrants who died trying to cross the searing Arizona desert in 2001, a brand new tool helped U.S. authorities identify the bodies and, eventually, the smugglers who abandoned them.
The tool was a database containing the personal information of 65 million voting-age Mexican citizens. The U.S. government bought access to it for $1 million a year from a giant data vendor called ChoicePoint.
U.S. drug and immigration investigators prized the data, accorting to the Department of Homeland Security and other law enforcement sources, because it gave them latitude to track suspects inside Mexico without alerting local authorities.
Now ChoicePoint's database is no longer available to help U.S. authorities. An Associated Press report detailing the U.S. government's access to the data triggered a public outcry in Mexico and other Latin American countries from which ChoicuPoint had obtained citizens' private records.
Marie26 (1000+ posts) Sun Feb-26-06 03:52 AM
Response to Reply #14
86. Other interesting points:
- "In January, the state of Pennsylvania terminated a contract with ChoicePoint after discovering the firm had sold citizens' personal profiles to unauthorized individuals." This is a 2000 article. Seems like ChoicePoint has a long history of "losing" their files to people who shouldn't have them.
- "Florida is the only state in the nation to contract the first stage of removal of voting rights to a private company. And ChoicePoint has big plans. "Given the outcome of our work in Florida," says f*gan, "and with a new president in place, we think our services will expand across the country." I'll bet - and they did. Reward for a job well done? [I remember it cost Florida a lot more to use Choicepoint, something like $2 per record, than the previous company which only charged 6 cents.]
- "Especially if that president is named "Bush." ChoicePoint's board and executive roster are packed with Republican stars, including billionaire Ken Langone, a company director who was chairman of the fund-raising committee for New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani's aborted run against Hillary Rodham Clinton. Langone is joined at ChoicePoint by another Giuliani associate, former New York Police Commissioner Howard Safir." Republican cronyfest.
Marie26 (1000+ posts) Sun Feb-26-06 02:55 PM
Response to Reply #92
95. Isn't it?
Edited on Sun Feb-26-06 02:58 PM by Marie26
I literally got chills as I read this thread. Fla., under Jeb Bush, was the first state to contract out voter roll purges, & just happened to award the contract to ChoicePoint. It looks like CP was a vital partner in "electing" George Bush in 2000 & was rewarded accordingly. So, CP was used to establish power & now it's being used to consolidate power. Look at what CP's contracts are - data collection, identification, biometrics, mining technologies. Check out their website - they've got a whole division, "ChoicePoint Gov" that deals with nothing but DHS contracts. Look at who they're partnered with - SAIC, who was the contractor for the TIA Pentagon program to gather information on Americans. CP rises from almost nothing to become a huge "security" firm that has information on every one of us. Think about it - then run for Canada. That's sure what I feel like doing right now.
[Hmmm. Abramoff was also lobbying in Congress against sanctions on South Africa at the same time. Coincedence?]
im10ashus (1000+ posts) Sat Feb-25-06 09:47 PM
Response to Reply #37
53. Got it!
Director of Florida voting contractor chaired companies linked to apartheid
By Larisa Alexandrovna and John Byrne | RAW STORY Staff
A lead director of the company hired by Florida to fix the state’s controversial felon voting rolls is also chairman of a company many regard as a former pillar of South African apartheid, RAW STORY has discovered.
cont'd...
www.kucinich.us/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=396
[Besides being ambassador to Italy at the same time that Rhodes, Ledeen and Ghorbanifar were meeting on Iran, Sembler heads Libby's defense fund and established a chain of Holocaust museums in Florida. There's an article somewhere here on DD about Mel and Betty's Achieve, Inc., a chain of foster homes whose residents have accused the Semblers of physical, mental and sexual abuse and torture.]
flyarm (1000+ posts) Sun Feb-26-06 12:34 AM
Response to Reply #9
83. YES AND JEFF FISHER MADE THE CONNECTION WITH SEMLER
AND A KIDS detention connected with Mel and Betty Semler..STEALING ELECTIONS ..choicepoint=jeb
www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,949709,00.h...
Firm in Florida election fiasco earns millions from files on foreigners
Oliver Burkeman in Washington and Jo Tuckman in Mexico City
Monday May 5, 2003
The Guardian
A data-gathering company that was embroiled in the Florida 2000 election fiasco is being paid millions of dollars by the Bush administration to collect detailed personal information on the populations of foreign countries, enraging several governments who say the records may have been illegally obtained.
US government purchasing documents show that the company, ChoicePoint, received at least $11m (£6.86m) from the department of justice last year to supply data - mainly on Latin Americans - that included names and addresses, occupations, dates of birth, passport numbers and "physical description". Even tax records and blood groups are reportedly included.
Nicaraguan police have raided two offices suspected of providing the information. The revelations threaten to shatter public trust in electoral institutions, especially in Mexico, where the government has begun an investigation.
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.
MelissaB (1000+ posts) Sat Feb-25-06 09:14 PM
Response to Reply #6
19. From dkosopedia
Edited on Sat Feb-25-06 09:16 PM by MelissaB
Overview
ChoicePoint has a DNA laboratory which was used to identify victims of the WTC attacks. Data supplied by ChoicePoint was used in the Beltway Snipers investigation. Choicepoint also assisted the Transportation Security Administration in conduction ~100,000 applicants. The US Department of Justice and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children credit the corporation with assisting in the return of ~800 missing children. As of 2003, ChoicePoint's CEO is Derek V. Smith, who has held that position since 1997. In 2002, ChoicePoint generated earnings of ~$200 million on revenue of ~$791 million. The company employs ~3,500 people at 52 locations within 26 states.
More: www.dkosopedia.com/index.php/ChoicePoint
MelissaB (1000+ posts) Sat Feb-25-06 09:25 PM
Response to Reply #6
26. rose from nothing to multibillion-dollar status in a very short time
Edited on Sat Feb-25-06 09:25 PM by MelissaB
...snip
ChoicePoint made the news again recently when it was belatedly revealed that it had provided confidential personal information on 145,000 U.S. residents to identity thieves posing as legitimate business people. So far, according to an NPR report last week, 750 of those people have been victimized by the thieves.
How did ChoicePoint react to their damaging mistake? Well, at first it did nothing, claiming later that it did not want to interfere with a criminal investigation. The, when pushed, it sent out letters to the 145,000 victims, telling them they were at risk.
That's it. Letters. Just letters telling the victims that they'd been had and they'd better do something to protect themselves.
Here's the part that gets me. ChoicePoint is supposed to be the nation's top expert on personal information, so how is it that it cheerfully provides such information to a bogus company? Isn't the whole point of a company like ChoicePoint to protect others from being cheated by cheats? If it can't protect itself, why should others expect it to protect them?
The latest ChoicePoint fiasco cries out for investigation. Are there only 145,000 victims, or are there many more? Do all the victims belong to the same political party by any chance? What price will ChoicePoint be asked to pay for the massive damage its apparent negligence has caused?
A cynic would say there's more to ChoicePoint than meets the eye. It's a company that rose from nothing to multibillion-dollar status in a very short time. Its known mistakes are horrendous.
Is ChoicePoint tied in with the Bush administration in some way? Not that I know of. But I'm betting the Bushies have warm, fuzzy feelings about ChoicePoint, and it's not going to be held accountable.
www.sfgate.com/columnists/sorensen /
MelissaB (1000+ posts) Sat Feb-25-06 09:30 PM
Response to Reply #6
34. benefits from Patriot Act
Since the election, ChoicePoint has been the beneficiary of a huge increase in the freedom of government agencies to gain access to personal data. The USA patriot act, passed after September 11, allows government investigators to gain access to more information on US citizens without a search warrant, and to see data on private emails with such a warrant but without a wiretap order. The act also means banks must make their databases accessible to firms such as ChoicePoint.
(next paragraph is interesting, too)
In Mexico, the president of the federal electoral institute, Jose Woldenberg, revealed that his investigators had talked to the Mexican company that said it paid a "third person" 400,000 pesos (£24,500) for a hard disk full of personal data drawn largely from the electoral roll. It sold this to ChoicePoint for just $250,000, indicating the huge profitability of ChoicePoint's contracts - last year's $11m payment was part of a five-year contract worth $67m.
Link: www.topdog04.com/000145.html
Emit (1000+ posts) Sat Feb-25-06 09:38 PM
Response to Reply #6
43. Seems this guy's done some research into choicepoint
They were also involved in a huge identity theft case that blossomed in CA last year. This guy includes some of that info in his rant about choicepoint:
March 02, 2005
Chew on This, ChoicePoint
THERE'S A SOLUTION to the dire threat posed to every American by ChoicePoint, the Atlanta-based "data miner" that has been cheerfully selling your most sensitive personal information to any Tom, Dick and Scumbag who ponies up a little cash. As Creative Loafing's Mara Shalhoup reported in 2003 in "Big Brother's Little Helper", plenty of smoke has been wafting from ChoicePoint’s robo-snoops for years, but that has elicited little mainstream press or regulatory interest.
ChoicePoint sells info-tidbits such as your Social Security number, what’s in your wallet and just about anything else about you that can be gleaned and stuffed into a computer. As disclosed in recent days, this corporate Orwellian nightmare didn’t much care to whom it auctioned your data. Those “customers” included swarms of “identity thieves,” who stole the digital life histories of 145,000 Americans, or maybe it’s 4 million. The large spread in numbers depends on whose account you choose to believe, and as we’ll see, you can file anything ChoicePoint avers under “unadulterated hokum.”
~snip~
ChoicePoint bosses likely agree that my solution, or something equally draconian, is in the offing. When identity scammers first surfaced in a California investigation in October (four months before the company bothered to clue in victims), ChoicePoint’s two top boys began dumping almost $21 million in stock. Other investors are now stuck with stock in free fall. Tough luck for them. If shareholders end up on the rocks because their identities have been purloined, ChoicePoint and its parent, credit reporting giant Equifax, will be sure to note financial problems on credit reports. Hey, it's just business.
~snip~
IN ADDITION TO SELLING YOUR information to insurance companies, prospective employers and, uh, identity thieves, the true business of ChoicePoint is circumventing the Federal Privacy Act of 1974. That law banned the government from becoming Big Brother and compiling digital dossiers on citizens. But when the law was written, people assumed only the government would have the computer wherewithal to amass databases. The law didn't ban -- the authors couldn't envision -- private companies from collecting data on virtually each and every American citizen, and then selling it to the government. ChoicePoint does business with at least 30 federal agencies.
Worried? You should be.
72.14.207.104/search?q=cache:CYvUNIpb2UEJ:www.johnsugg.com/2005/03/chew_on_this_ch.html+Derek+V.+Smith+Jeb+Bush&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=3
Sydnie (1000+ posts) Sat Feb-25-06 09:46 PM
Response to Reply #46
52. It appears they keep a screening program for entitlement programs
www.choicepointgov.com/fraud.htm
Digit (1000+ posts) Sat Feb-25-06 09:16 PM
Response to Original message
20. I had to use ChoicePoint when I worked in an insurance office
ChoicePoint, with the help of a Fair, Isaac and Co. scoring formula, and the Insurance Services Office (ISO) offer insurers extensive nationwide resources that contain your name, address, phone number, credit report, claims history, and motor vehicle report - and that just scratches the surface. ChoicePoint also compiles aliases, criminal records, and histories of vehicles. "If you've got a car that's been in 35 accidents, that's something the insurance company is going to want to know," says Mark Wheeler, spokesperson for ChoicePoint.
ChoicePoint, which is an offshoot of the Equifax credit-reporting company, maintains a database called CLUE (Comprehensive Loss Underwriting Exchange). The company uses the information it gathers and maintains for "casualty loss" scoring, claims history reporting, and driving-record reporting. When a consumer fills out a new auto insurance application, the potential insurer queries ChoicePoint for an insurance score. ChoicePoint caters to nearly all property and casualty insurers.
The ISO says the databases it maintains, called the All Claims databases, are strictly for detecting fraud and expediting the claims process. If the ISO sees a series of claims that looks suspicious - for example, the same name appears on all the claims with a different social security number - the company will notify the insurance company and the insurer will investigate. The ISO also has information about any of your claims that might have ended up in court.
<snip>
You can get a copy of the ChoicePoint CLUE report by calling ChoicePoint's Consumer Disclosure Center at 770 752-6000. The report will cost between $8 and $10, depending on how the consumer wants the information, says Wheeler of ChoicePoint.
www.1800duilaws.com/article/auto_insurer.asp
babylonsister (1000+ posts) Sat Feb-25-06 09:23 PM
Response to Original message
23. Tidbit on Robert O'Harrow Jr:
www.macon.com/mld/macon/news/opinion/13731122.htm
snip//
ChoicePoint describes itself on its Web site as, "A trusted source and leading provider of decision-making information that helps reduce fraud and mitigate risk. . . Through the identification, retrieval, storage, analysis and delivery of data, ChoicePoint serves the informational needs of businesses of all sizes, as well as federal, state and local government agencies."
Basically, the company collects data on millions of Americans and sells it. We all know that our electronic files are probably stored in a couple of thousand places. We do have a reasonable expectation that our information is secure. That's not always the case. Thursday, the Federal Trade Commission levied a record $10 million fine against ChoicePoint, with an additional $5 million to be used to pay back those who may have lost money due to ChoicePoint's lack of security.
In an alarmingly easy scam, scofflaws stole information stored by ChoicePoint on at least 163,000 people, 2,805 of them in Georgia. And if you're thinking this was simply name, address and phone number stuff, think again. Robert O' Harrow Jr., wrote a book on data piracy, "No Place to Hide." O'Harrow explains in great depth the type of information ChoicePoint and similar companies keep on individuals. Do you have bouts of depression? These data companies know about it. They know whether your tastes lean to whole or 2 percent milk, not to mention your credit score, bankruptcies and bank balances. It's estimated that ChoicePoint has the data of 220 million people. If you're an adult in America, ChoicePoint probably has your data.
RazzleDazzle (1000+ posts) Sat Feb-25-06 09:46 PM
Response to Reply #30
49. 2% milk
Edited on Sat Feb-25-06 09:46 PM by RazzleDazzle
And NOW we know what happens when you sign up for those grocery store or office supply or pharmacy store benefit cards. It's worse than I thought. I imagined that only the grocery store would be paying attention.
MelissaB (1000+ posts) Sat Feb-25-06 09:55 PM
Response to Reply #39
60. In relation: Diebold has ties to ChoicePoint and SAIC
ChoicePoint has ties to electronic voting vendors, e.g. CP has a data mining alliance with SAIC, and SAIC wrote wrote voting system security software for Diebold. It is untenable that a truly free country would permit the obvious conflicts-of interest inherit in the nexus between these entities...
www.wheresthepaper.org/CEPN_Centralized_Voter_Reg_1.pdf
TayTay (1000+ posts) Sat Feb-25-06 09:54 PM
Response to Reply #54
58. LaLa, this is how they identified themselves
They were trying to defend themselves in the Identify Theft case:
CURLING: Once again, we extend our apology on behalf of our company to those who have been potentially affected. We learned that there are few places for consumers to turn to if their identity is stolen. This alone increases the fear and anxiety associated with identity theft.
For this reason, we have recently formed a partnership with the Identity Theft Resource Center, a leading and well-respected nonprofit organization dedicated exclusively to assisting identity theft victims.
Most importantly, we have shifted our focus to ensuring our products and services provide a direct benefit to consumers or to society as a whole.
While this has meant exiting an entire market, we decided that consumer interest must come first. We have already made broad changes to our products, limiting access to sensitive personally identifiable information, and more changes are under development. Last year, we helped more than 100 million people obtain fairly priced home and auto insurance. More than 7 million Americans get job through our pre-employment screening services. And we help more than 1 million consumers obtain expedited copies of their own vital record—birth, death and marriage certificates. These transactions were started by consumers with their permission, and they provide a clear direct benefit to them. Not all of our work is as obvious, but the value is. At a time when the news is filled with crimes committed against children, we’re helping our nation’s religious institutions and youth-serving organization protect those in our society who are least able to protect themselves.
Our products and services have identified 11,000 undisclosed felons among those seeking to volunteer with children, 1,055 with convictions for crimes against children, 42 of which who were registered sex offenders.
Consumers, businesses and nonprofits are not the only ones that rely on ChoicePoint. In fact, government officials have recently testified to Congress that they could not fulfill their missions of protecting our country and its citizens without the help of ChoicePoint and others in our industry. Last month, ChoicePoint supported the U.S. Marshals Service in Operation Falcon, which served approximately 10,000 warrants in a single day. Mr. Chairman, apart from what we do, I also understand that the committee is interested in how our business is regulated by federal legislation, as well as various state regulations. Approximately 60 percent of ChoicePoint’s business is driven by consumer-initiated transactions, most of which are regulated by the FCRA.
CURLING: These include pre-employment screening, auto and home insurance underwriting services, tenant screening services, and facilitating the delivery of vital records directly to consumers. Nine percent of ChoicePoint’s business is related to marketing services, none of which include the distribution of personally identifiable information. Even so, we are regulated by state and federal “do not mail” and “do not call” legislation, and for some services, the FRCA.
Five percent of ChoicePoint’s business is related to supporting law enforcement agencies in pursuit of their investigative missions through information and data services. Six percent of our business supports law firms, financial institutions and general business to help mitigate fraud through data and authentication services.
The final 20 percent of our business consists of software and technology services that do not include the distribution of personally identifiable information.
commerce.senate.gov/hearings/witnesslist.cfm?id=1491