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All Your Citizen Are Belong To Us
By Greg L | 1 November 2008 | National Politics, Crime | 18 Comments
You gotta love it when the federal government fails to protect their databases from rogue insiders and puts citizens at risk of identity theft, credit fraud, and the like. We provide a lot of information to the government, and there’s an expectation that the information we provide would be properly secured against theft and abuse. Unfortunately, that expectation isn’t always met, as four hundred passport applicants found out recently.
From the Washington Post:
The State Department has notified approximately 400 passport applicants in the D.C. area of a breach in its database security that allowed a ring of thieves to obtain confidential information so they could fraudulently use credit cards stolen from the mail, officials said.
The scheme, involving two major government agencies, came to light months ago through a fluke…
Unfortunately, the prevailing attitude in the federal government towards protecting citizen data from these kinds of breaches looks a lot more like “don’t worry, be happy” rather than any kind of systematic approach towards ensuring that only authorized personnel access sensitive information for legitimate purposes. The next time the government asks you for information, if you can avoid providing it, that might be the better choice. While they’re pretty tightly controlling access from outside the federal government, they sure do seem to be lagging when it comes to preventing unauthorized access from employees and insiders.
Just ask “Joe The Plumber” if this is important. He can tell you.
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18 Comments
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At least the Feds were able to keep tabs on Obama’s Aunt Zeituni, who was just discovered living as an illegal alien in a Boston public housing project after her request for asylum was rejected by an immigration judge four years ago.
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D945TEE01&show_article=1
Anonymous, are you not aware that this isn’t the first time that a government agency has compromised personal information? Missing laptops from the Veteran’s Administration ring a bell, among others? Wake up.
Emma…
It’s individual stupidity, not institutional largesse. Far more identity theft takes place as a result of breaches by credit card companies, social engineering, and “dumpster diving” than through data inadvertently release by the government. So are you equally ready to proclaim that the prevailing attitude in industry and commerce outside of government is also “don’t worry, be happy”?
Take a look at http://www.privacyrights.org/ar/ChronDataBreaches.htm#CP. Looks like SAIC, ChoicePoint (which ending up settling a class action suit for $10 million because of their negligence), Shell Oil, and Forever21 (among others) all have a “don’t worry, be happy” attitude as well.
Wake up. The problem of identity theft is not limited to government.
We need a threat on Obama’s aunt. Good grief.
I hope that this will put pressure on him not to work towards an Amnesty … but maybe not … Pelosi personally profits from illegal workers but she has the gall to promote it.
Wow, bad typo. I meant we need a “thread” on his aunt. Not a “threat”.
Hmmm… did I say identy theft was limited to government? I’ve already had two credit cards compromised. I think that the cavalier attitude toward privacy is endemic throughout industry and government, and it’s only going to get worse. Yet we still hand the waiter our credit card and let him/her take it out of our sight for 15-20 minutes.
And how many people dutifully write down their SSN when asked to do so at the doctor’s office? There is no reason in the world that they need that.
http://media.www.dailygamecock.com/media/storage/paper247/news/2008/10/31/News/NonCitizen.Immigrants.Assist.Polling.Despite.Voting.Ineligibilty-3517573.shtml
“Non-citizen immigrants assist polling despite voting ineligibilty”
http://www.wxix.com/Global/story.asp?S=9258543
“Illegal document ring busted in Butler Co.”
Oh….these people are “just trying to ‘earn’ a living” right liberals?
http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2008/10/31/news/coastal/oceanside/za2e0359bb4e9d285882574f3007bfd6e.txt
“On Thursday evening, agents stopped a Dodge Caravan at the checkpoint and directed it to secondary inspection, the release says. Agents determined that its three occupants, a Mexican man and two Columbian woman, were in the country illegally.”
These stories from around our ENTIRE nation are becoming tiresome! Enough already! We need legal enforcement action NOW!
Emma said on 1 Nov 2008 at 9:21 am: Flag comment
And how many people dutifully write down their SSN when asked to do so at the doctor’s office? There is no reason in the world that they need that.
I always leave the SSN line blank. I agree, no need for them to know.
And if the illegals can’t supply a SSN in the emergency rooms, or any valid identification, I’m not supplying squat!
I never give out my ssn
One of the worse offenses is the use of the SSN for the medicare number. Seriors are very vunerable to identy theft, They should remove the day of your burth from your drivers license keep the month and year when you are over 30 years of age. If you can not tell the police the real day of your birth they know there is a problem this will also help deture identy theft and especialy for the elderly who carry their medicare card as well as a drivers license. the police data base will have your day of birth which they can check. I use a PO Box for my drivers license so no one knows my address and of course the drivers license does not carry your SSN, There is no reason for anyone to ask for or for you to give your SSN. If you do not give your SSN your car insurance cost can go up if you are looking for a better rate as they check your credit rating to determin your driving insurance cost.
http://www.examiner.com/x-1494-Houston-Crime-Examiner~y2008m10d27-Houston-one-of-first-in-the-nation-to-test-automated-fingerprint-check-system
“Houston’s growing illegal alien population warrants new technology”
We need to start using this in Virginia. How do we get this started?
But it ook the ‘Times’ of London to report The Skunk’s Aunt living in Boston. The US Gov’t employees who were her minders, kept it covered up so the Skunk could continue to cruise. So much for integrity and honesty in Gov’t!
W E Stewart
Somewhere in the back of my mnd I thought you are a coal mining state.
If I’m wrong and someone know which states are please pass this on.
Isn’t Kentucky?
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This is on www.americanpatrol.com
This vid. is from a interview in SF in Jan. ‘08. He says that new coal plants can be built but it will bankrupt them because of the taxes they will have to pay for greenhouse gases. It cost a BILLION dollars per plant to add “carbon capture”. If you think your electric bill is high now, it’s going thru the ceiling.
Every coal producing state needs to see this asap!!
http://www.breitbart.tv/?p=211243&comments=1
ooops it’s on alipac not american patrol on the side of the homepage. sorry
my bad as the kids say.
www.obamacrimes.com links up to philip bergs website then links to
www.patriotbrigaderadio.com Philip Berg interview on a loop
Go check this station out to learn an introspective view of politics and what is happening and what we need to learn about today’s politics.