Database Used By Government To Spy On You… Hacked
from the as-expected... dept
There’s nothing particularly surprising about this. It’s exactly what plenty of people have been predicting since the government started their various projects to tie together various databases of personal info into one grand system. The latest version of such a database, dubbed the MATRIX, has been used for various things such as giving everyone a “terrorist quotient” to find out just how much of a terrorist you really are. Well, it turns out that much of the personal data used in the MATRIX system is from a company named Seisint, owned by Reed Elsevier Group’s Lexis Nexis (yes, it’s a company owned by a company owned by a company). Seisint is quite similar to Choicepoint, who is having their own problems with data leakage. In this case, though, it wasn’t the company handing out the info to crooks, but the crooks breaking in and taking it. In other words, if you were already worried about Choicepoint having leaked your data, get out to your mailbox and see if you’ve got a letter from Lexis Nexis telling you that they’ve leaked your data to identity thieves as well. Once again, this shows that no matter what you do personally to protect yourself against identity theft, you’re at the mercy of a bunch of big companies who are always going to leak data. Isn’t it about time we started to think of better ways to deal with this sort of thing? Obviously, what we’re doing right now isn’t working.
Comments on “Database Used By Government To Spy On You… Hacked”
Next generation terrorists?
In the case of Columbine, we had outcasts who shot up the tormenters. Could we see a counter-trend of high school bullies uniting to form a terrorist network?
a href = “http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200503/200503090020.html
“>http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200503/200503090020.html
Teachers say schoolyard gangs are organizing themselves into a nationwide network of violent youngsters who protect their patch through violence and intimidation…. A Seoul alliance of Iljinhoe recently organized a gathering at a local rock cafe involving about 1,000 students, during which members engaged in a public sex act known as the “sex machine.” The gangs spread a culture where violence is regarded as fun, with the “beating game” and “bullying game” overshadowed by crueler versions like the “strangling game,” in which gang members strangle a student until he or she passes out, or the “rape game.”
Re: Next generation terrorists?
The Japanese version of this article says they purposefully spread a nationwide outbreak of conjunctivitis, so it looks like they qualify for bioterrorism also.
http://japanese.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2005/03/09/20050309000089.html
Re: Re: Next generation terrorists?
And this has what to do with the article?
Oh, wait. Dourpus is back…and posting more crap.
Re: Re: Re: Next generation terrorists?
The government will want to track such movements if they occur, right? That will open a can of worms of ethical issues.
No Subject Given
I remember a proposition years ago that would have made individual’s “personal data” a “thing” that would be owned by the individual, and could be licensed to companies ala Choicepoint.
The idea was to give individuals a legal ownership of thier personal data: addresses, relatives, employment/criminal history, etc. This way, people would have an enforcement mechanism (via Federal courts) to ensure no one was using thier personal data in unlicensed ways.
Of course, a plan like that would require DRM for your data, and we all know how Techdirt feels about DRM….
Re: No Subject Given
Has anyone considered class action lawsuits against lexis-nexis & choicepoint ?
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