Overheard on the Web, and other Web links From The Herald's Research Editor
Friday, February 18, 2005
It's your privacy
The more that comes out about the story that public records vendor Choicepoint was selling subscriptions to people who didn't have a legitimate use for the information, the scarier it gets. MSNBC has the details, and related stories. Robert O'Harrow is covering the story at the Washington Post (registration required); but O'Harrow has also been doing an investigative project on the whole topic of privacy and who gets access to your records; there's a book and a Website, No Place to Hide. On the Website: multimedia reports including interviews with key players like John Ashcroft. Choicepoint started in California, but bought a Florida company -- Database Technologies -- a few years back so their databases have a wealth of data on Florida residents. No word on whether any Florida folks had their information released, but at first they thought only California records had been stolen, and changed the story later. (Via Dan Gillmor.) posted by liz at 1:51 PM
Elisabeth (Liz) Donovan was a Herald librarian for 10 years, and Research Editor for 13 years. She came to The Herald in 1981, following several years at the
Washington Post. She started blogging in 2000, with a news research blog, followed by the blog at Herald.com in 2003. A frequent speaker and writer on news research, she was honored in 2004 by the
News Division of the Special Libraries Association for her contributions to
the field.
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