US acquires hundreds of millions of Latino citizens' data
The Register reports today that database company Choicepoint, Inc, "has acquired personal data on hundreds of millions of citizens in ten Latin American countries without their knowledge or consent." According to an article in the Guardian, "Nicaraguan police have raided two offices suspected of providing the information. The revelations threaten to shatter public trust in electoral institutions, especially in Mexico, where the government has begun an investigation."
Why does this matter? Because Choicepoint has sold the data to, among others, the US Justice Department. They are working under a $67 million contract for data gathering granted on September 25, 2001 lasting through 2005. They have already received at least $11 million to supply the illegally gathered data.
Why are we not hearing about this? Nobody really knows but this isn't the first scandal involving Choicepoint to hit the foreign presses and not make a splash here at home. In the 2000 election, you remember the one where the winning candidate didn't win, Choicepoint had been contracted to maintain Florida's election rolls and incorrectly removed as many as 91,000 voters. Many voters removed were poor and black, likely voters for Gore in an election that turned on a few hundred votes.
Now the Justice Department is using this company to gather data that it cannot, through legal channels, gather on its own. By targeting Latin American countries it is suspected that this data will be used against illegal (and legal) immigrants much like the strategy being employed against people from the Middle East.
1 Comments
Leave a comment
Who is this guy?
Oh my god, this is all becoming just so disgusting. I want to say "Who the hell do we think we are?" because I'm an amreican, but I don't think I have the right to do this! So, who the hell does the government think they are? This is Bullshit!