Privatizing crime
Want revenge? Choicepoint is the place to buy!
A history in the guardian about Choicepoint getting private information data from Latin-American countries went mostly unnoticed because those actions were not affecting a mainstream population. Choicepoint acquired the ID data from Mexico, Colombia, Venezuela and a bunch of other countries, and sold that to the USA. The particulars of those transactions are unknown, as that was private data that no government could ever sell, much less to a foreign company. But, being foreign countries, nothing happened.
Then Choicepoint was directly involved in the disenfranchisement of Florida citizens in the 2000 elections, giving the Bush his fake victory. Again, since the voters were mostly poor black Democrats, nothing happened.
And now, Choicepoint has been caught selling your private data to fake companies, which are allegedly fronts engaged in identity theft.
Obviously, Choicepoint has a very sophisticated way of aggregating data, but when the business of intelligence is just that, your personal details can, and in this case, did, end in the hands of very sophisticated criminal organizations.
But that is not your only preoccupation: a very plausible scenario is the intrusion of political extremist organizations, and the use of this data to coerce and manipulate individuals. If somehow your political opponents have access to your private data, they can compromise you and your close ones. And it is oh so easily done!
As I said, identity theft is the least of your worries.
via monkeyfilter