This really gets my goat
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Disclaimer - This is not about SQL so for the SQL Obsessed: there is nothing for you to see here, please move along now.
But anyway I just needed a place to vent. My consternation is over an article posted on ComputerWorld yesterday that you can view here: http://www.computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/story/0,10801,110389p2,00.html
For those that don't have time to read the article, the upshot is that my fine county government has for years been posting documents containing sensitive personal data including Social Security numbers, bank account information addresses and other data on a public web site. Basically, if you're an identity thief, it's a nice one-stop shopping place to set yourself up with a whole lot of useful info. To make matters even worse, the ComputerWorld story was posted on Slashdot yesterday.
If you take a look at the Slashdot posting, you'll find that quite a few people were able to gather a great deal of information on individuals with minimal effort. I contacted several officials in my county government expressing my concerns and to date, the only reply I've received is that I can request that they dedact (remove) personal information on an individual basis. You only have to reference the page number, and file a separate request for each record.
Okay, that's fine for me but what about everyone else in the area that doesn't even know this stuff is out there?This kind of thing just drives me nuts. Especially since it's my tax dollars being used. Ironically, the web site even has a page advising residents on the importance of protecting their personal data. Another fine example of Government in Action (maybe that should have been two words instead of three
).My hovercraft is full of eels.
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Yeah - that's scary! Don't blame your goat for being thusly got!
Maybe there's hope in that since so few know of this the id thieves fall into the category of the "unaware & the ignorant" and have to get their IDs the hard way (whatever that is)!!!
ps: And yes - that SHOULD'VE DEFINITELY been two words in the end...
**ASCII stupid question, get a stupid ANSI !!!** -
The issue at hand is the "Freedom of Information Act" which is why all court documents (unless sealed) fr the most part are public. You can even request any information the FBI may have on you (which you may or may not get but I hav never tried even for fun as it might make you a suspicious person of interest in their minds). But the basics for your concern is actually a fault of the banking and credit industry alon with several other venues. I was speakin wit a friend who happens to be an ex-Attorney. Social Secuirty Numbers are no actually a secrect and never were meant ot be becuase they can be reissued after a period of time once a holder has passed away (I forget what the cooling priod is but it is similar in nature to how phone numbers are reassigned). In fact if you look up the laws on SSN it clearly states the number cannot be used for identification purposes bu the banks and creditors rely o this number quit a bit. Eventually it will come to it that each person has a secret identity number assigned or gt a big brother chip implanted, but that is a bigger issue for privacy concern. But alas it is a catch 22 as to how to properly handle this matter without the religious aspect coming into play.
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"big brother chip implanted"...omg - are we in Oceania ?!
**ASCII stupid question, get a stupid ANSI !!!** -
It only gets better. This quoting from their own 'Scam Alert' section:
- Do not give out your social security number.
- Do not provide your credit card or bank account number.
- Do not provide personal information not related to work.
I don't need to, thank you very much. You've already done it for me!
Oh, and another thing while I'm on this. In my once great and proud state it also seemes that certain of the elite are automatically excluded from the public records laws. These are (please hold your surprise until the end):
"Exemptions apply to certain personal information about *:
Current or former law enforcement officers and their families
Current or former judges and their families
Current or former prosecutors and their families
Current or former firefighters and their families
Current or former human resources managers and their families
Current or former code enforcement officers and their families "
How nice that the lawyers, politicos, and gendarmme (sp?) have exempted themselves from this mess leaving us poor serfs who are not part of the ruling class to deal with it. My God what has happened to this country?
My hovercraft is full of eels.
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This is all true... however, I can personally attest to the fact that my organization was required to ensure no personably identifiable information of this sort was allowed out. Since I worked contracts during my time in the USAF I saw a few of these FOIA requests come through. And we didn't go the dumb route where they think they are masking the number by editing a PDF (which leaves the info retrievable). We broke out the black marker and then scanned the documents afterwards.
K. Brian Kelley
@kbriankelley -
If you are really looking for a solution to your problem...
My local community's news stations have "Investigative Reporting" Teams that run around and cause all manner of problems for ht elocal lawmakers and such when they do something rather ummm.... dumb like this. Most places I've been to these days have some sort of section of thier news crews that take care of these types of things. Pass it on to them and get them to make a big fuss about it. You'd be surprised how quickly something like that could be changed when the local news media really startws to get on them about it. Exspecially if it happens to be an election year.
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Funny you should post that. By means of an update, one of our local news stations got hold of this and aired a report last night. Now the county ruling elite has changed their tune since the issue has been brought to light and they've promised to hire a tech firm to dedact all personal info from the site. So now more of my tax dollars will be spent to remove data which should never have been there in the first place, but at least they're addressing the issue. Seems like you either have to hire an attorney, or contact the press before you can actually get anything done here anymore.
If you live in Florida you may want to see if your county is doing anything similar, and do what you can to protect your information. ComputerWorld and several other sources have stated that this problem is not unique to Broward County.
I agree with Antares's point that the SSN should not be used as a unique identifier but the fact of the matter is that it is used a great deal especially by the banking and credit industry. And I also concur that any Big Brother type solution such as RFID's or chip implants is not going to sit well with voters and church goers particularly in the US. But until such time as this all changes, we'll remain in this quandary.
Thanks for the responses and for allowing me to vent. Now I have to get back to work as today is my Friday....woooohoooooo!
My hovercraft is full of eels.
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Today ComputerWorld is saying the problem is across the U.S., not just your county, not just your state.
-SQLBill
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Indeed, it's just sad that the focus was on us. Maybe I'm a little oversensitized since my whole area seems to be the butt of jokes (most times deservedly) and banana republic political antics dating back to before the 2000 elections.
From ComputerWorld today: "Aptitude Solutions provides its aiRedact software to Broward and Hillsborough counties in Florida, as well as to counties in other states."
Man, that was fast. Funny how a little media heat gets things going. I just wish I'd bought stock in Aptitude before this story broke.
My hovercraft is full of eels.
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I don't know why everyone is so upset? What is new?
Did not we hear about Boston Globe using printouts with personal information to wrap papers? Did not we hear about the stolen laptops?
Here is another one: until very recently at least 2 banks used Social Security as a user name for the telphone banking and the last 4 digits of Social Security for the password. Every doctor's or dentist's office has your social security and most of us send checks (with account numbers) when billed.
Yet another one: your mom's maiden name: serves as a "security" feature when you call your bank. As well as recently questions where did you graduate your high school etc. Guess what: half of your town has this information.
Consider also that you send your checks for donations etc., so a lot of people will know your name and account number. Don't forget if someone is sending you a check: the cleared checks has a recipient account numbers. I am not even talking about a consumer group obtaining our governor's Social Security for $25 just to prove how easy it could be done.
There was a line from a well-known Russian song from the old movie: ".. The one who searches he will always find..."
Regards,Yelena Varsha
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We have something called the data protection act in the UK which is a toothless attempt to block this sort of thing.
Why toothless? Because the government decided to allow the vehicle licensing agency to sell the details they hold on individuals to any group of thugs willing to stump up the cash.
It is another example of a badly written, badly implemented law being applied in a bloody minded way by a bunch of legal parasites in order to fund their mistresses next BMW. Not that I'm bitter or twisted in any way.....or jealous.
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