--- From: Georgeat_private To: "Paul Wolf" <paulwolfat_private>, "Declan McCullagh" <declanat_private> Subject: Ordering pizza using a credit card Date: Sun, 28 Jul 2002 15:50:21 -0400 http://villagevoice.com/issues/0230/baard.php # # Your Grocery List Could Spark a Terror Probe # Buying Trouble # by Erik Baard # July 24 - 30, 2002 # # They thought they were making routine purchases-the innocent, # everyday pickups of charcoal and hummus, bleach and sandwich # bags, that keep the modern household running. Regulars at a # national grocery chain, these thousands and thousands of shoppers # used the store's preferred-customer cards, in the process putting # years of their lives on file. Perhaps they expected their records # would be used by marketers trying to better target consumers. # Instead, says the company's privacy consultant, the data was # used by government agents hunting for potential terrorists. # # The saga began with a misguided fit of patriotism mere weeks # after the World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks, when a # corporate employee handed over the records-almost literally, # the grocery lists-to federal investigators from three agencies # that had never even requested them. In a flash, the most quotidian # of exchanges became fodder for the Patriot Act. # # When the company's legal counsel discovered the breach, she turned # for advice to Larry Ponemon, CEO of the consulting firm Privacy # Council and a former business ethics professor at Babson College # and SUNY. "I told her it's better to be transparent," Ponemon # recalls. "Send a notice to loyalty cardholders telling them what # happened. She agreed and presented that to the board but they # said, 'No, we don't want to hand a smoking gun to litigators.' # " The attorney, who has since resigned from the grocery chain, # declined through Ponemon to be interviewed or to identify herself # or her former employer. To this day, the customers haven't been # informed. # # "It wasn't a case of law enforcement being egregiously intrusive # or an evil agency planting a bug or wiretap. It was a marketing # person saying, 'Maybe this will help you catch a bad guy,' " # Ponemon says. [snip --DBM] To read the full article, pull up the URL. What happens when the FBI is "pressed" to succeed: http://foxnews.com/printer_friendly_story/0,3566,58900,00.html # # Mob Informant Scandal Involved Highest Levels of FBI # # Saturday, July 27, 2002 # # BOSTON - For more than 20 years, FBI headquarters in Washington # knew that its Boston agents were using hit men and mob leaders # as informants and shielding them from prosecution for serious # crimes including murder, the Associated Press has learned. # # Until now, the still-unraveling Boston FBI scandal has been # portrayed largely as the work of a handful of local agents - # mavericks willing to deal with the devil to bring down a Mafia # family. # # But documents obtained by the AP directly connect FBI headquarters # to a pattern of collusion with notorious killers. # # The AP found 20 memos from Boston agents to the FBI director's # office, along with six replies, showing that headquarters was # told of the abuses and condoned them. # # Written between 1964 and 1987, the memos made it clear to # Washington that the informants had killed and were likely to # kill again, describing one of them as "the most dangerous # individual known" in the Boston area. The memos also alerted # headquarters that two of the informants were crime bosses, active # "at the policy-making level" of criminal enterprises in Boston. [snip] ------------------------------------------------------------------------- POLITECH -- Declan McCullagh's politics and technology mailing list You may redistribute this message freely if you include this notice. To subscribe to Politech: http://www.politechbot.com/info/subscribe.html This message is archived at http://www.politechbot.com/ Declan McCullagh's photographs are at http://www.mccullagh.org/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Like Politech? Make a donation here: http://www.politechbot.com/donate/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------
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