WTF is this??: U.S. data mining investigated - Latin America

[never cry wolf]

From today's Chicago Tribune.

snip------------

MANAGUA, Nicaragua -- For a people who have grappled with American meddling for more than a century, Nicaraguans were surprised to find that Uncle Sam's long reach may now extend right into their private lives.

The latest intrusion was by information companies rooting out identity documents, driver's license numbers, phone records and other personal data, all of which were made available to the U.S. government for screening.

Prosecutors in Nicaragua, Mexico and elsewhere across Latin America have opened investigations into the business of private information mining after discovering that the U.S. Justice Department hired a Georgia company to collect personal information on up to 300 million people throughout the region without their knowledge.

The company, ChoicePoint Inc., in turn hired local subcontractors to dig out the information. Company officials said they only collect data from the public realm and never deal in sensitive information such as bank records. But investigators across the region want to know who is collecting what information and how it might be used.

The project is part of the U.S. government's attempt to expand its intelligence sources in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. U.S. officials say the data are being used by the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security and other agencies to verify the identities of foreign-born criminal suspects, illegal immigrants and suspected terrorists.

more----------------

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/printedition/chi-0310120336oct12,1,6916846.story?coll=chi-printnews-hed

If they are doing this in Latin America, what the hell are they doing in this country???

:mad:

[La_Serpiente]

1. ChoicePoint?

ChoicePoint? Isn't that interesting.

[never cry wolf]

3. Anyone have any info on the company??

I'll google and see what I can find.

[Ellen Forradalom]

5. Can you say Florida 2000

and the scrubbing of the voter rolls? Oooh, they have a history, all right.

[never cry wolf]

7. From their website

they apparently are a spin off from Equifax. I am new to this stuff so I am not familiar with the people involved.

[Jackpine Radical]

8. FYI it was Choicepoint

that created the infamous (and "color-coded" and highly inaccurate) Felons List Katherine Harris used in FL to exclude thousands of (mostly) black voters from the 2000 election.

[never cry wolf]

10. I see, said the blind man

I wonder what other gov't work they are involved in.

[scottxyz]

11. Choicepoint illegally disenfranchised voters in Florida 2000

They were overpaid by Fla Sec'y of State Katherine Harris's office (several million dollars) to write a crummy, buggy, secret computer program to match names of ex-felons in Florida and Texas and take away their right to vote.

Many legal voters lost their right to vote because the program made so many mistakes - including a judge and a poll supervisor. It is assumed the goal of the Choicepoint computer program was to favor depriving black people of their right to vote, on the theory that they would be likely to vote Democratic.

ChoicePoint refuses to divulge how the program works, saying their crummy piece of erroneous software is somehow "proprietary".

See, for example:
http://www.gregpalast.com/detail.cfm?artid=55&row=1
http://www.gregpalast.com/printerfriendly.cfm?artid=4

Also:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,949709,00.html

Spanish:
http://www.rebelion.org/cibercensura/point220403.htm

[sistersofmercy]

2. WTF is right, are we turning into the former Soviet Union?

[Nottingham]

4. Didn't anybody tell ya that Bush wants control of the World

Their looking for the ones who have money! and trying to findout how they get it! :bounce:

[demnan]

6. I worked on a contract where we did data mining of

Nigerian white collar criminals - this was when Reno was AG under Clinton. That was a legitimate use for this technology because of the many numerous scams that these intelligent, hardworking criminals perpetrated.

Ironically it was only after Janet Reno was out and Ashcroft was installed that the internet was inendated with these stupid Nigerian spam letters.

These people (in DOJ) are stupid I tell you! It's not just a matter of sneaky data mining - that will always take place. Just data mine the people who are perpetuating the Internet crimes. DUH!

[cosmicdot]

9. this was reported 6 months ago (tho' it seems longer ago)

http://www.americas.org/news/nir/20030907_choicepoint_erases_mexican_data.asp

Choicepoint Erases Mexican Data

In June, the U.S. data company ChoicePoint reportedly blocked access to its database containing the personal information—including home addresses, passport numbers and even unlisted phone numbers—of 65 million voting-age Mexican citizens. The company, based in the Atlanta suburb of Alpharetta, Georgia, removed the data from its computers after the Mexican government complained that it probably came from the federal voter rolls, obtained illegally by a Mexican company and sold to ChoicePoint.

Choicepoint had already stirred controversy in the United States for its role in removing thousands of African American voters from the Florida voter rolls before the 2000 elections. But a major scandal erupted in Latin America after Associated Press reported last April that ChoicePoint had collected personal information on citizens of 10 Latin American countries and was selling it to U.S. law enforcement agencies.

Mexican authorities launched an official probe, and in May investigators asked ChoicePoint to send representatives to Mexico City. According to data analyst John Jordan, who was laid off from Choicepoint in June, the company refused, fearing its employees would be arrested. Instead, ChoicePoint met with officials at the Mexican consulate in Atlanta, where they handed over the electoral data.