Choicepoint - What you are not hearing

*This article updated since original posting.

By now, most of you should have heard about Choicepoint discovering that over 145,000 consumer data records have been compromised and obtained illegally. The original release of the information stated only 35,000 people were affected. Today, we learned it was much worse.

I have taken a particlar interest in this story for several reasons: (1) I am an executive in the credit/collection industry (2) I am an American citizen.

As a member of the industry, I do not find it at all shocking to learn that Choicepoint has failed to properly vet the companies they are selling consumer data to. I have always known that fraudulent companies were finding ways to obtain credit reports. How have I known this you may ask? Simple. One of the major bureaus issues a list of companies they have banned for improperly obtaining credit reports each month. This list is sent out to all resellers of credit reports letting us know not to do business with these companies.  This indicates that this practice has been going on for years. Everyone knows there are identity thieves out there, this is not new, but it alarms me as a consumer.

As an American citizen, why am I appalled at Choicepoint's lack of 'screening' of potential new buyers of consumer data? Well, for those who don't know, Choicepoint is a company the United States government contracts to compile and furnish data for Homeland Security and Here.

Choicepoint's website (Here for Homeland Security, Here for Governmental Contracts) state's it "recognizes our customers efforts to combat terrorism and provides a wide range of solutions to support them." Among those solutions are:

1. Identify links between individuals
2. Locate persons of interest
3. Find links between individuals and businesses
4. Screen vendors and employees for evidence of terrorist links

This should alarm every person reading this. The company we depend on to "find links between individuals and businesses" has just announced they are unable to do so properly. They have just announced they have been allowing criminals to access their data. We know this may have lead to the identity theft of up to 145,000 people. We do not know who else accessed that data and why.

1. Have terrorist accessed Choicepoint data to determine whether or not the government was aware of them?
2. Have terrorist used this data to elude or evade capture?
3. Have terrorist used this information to obtain fraudulent identities?
4. How can we trust a company to link terrorist to businesses that can't even determine if the businesses they sell these reports to are legitimate?

I think it is time for citizens to closely examine Choicepoint. Can we trust this company with protecting our national security interests if we cannot trust them with protecting our identities?

UPDATE: HERE for yesterdays post: Choicepoint - Round 2