EarthLink calls the cops

C/Net News ^ | March 6, 2003 | Ben Charny

[softengine]

EarthLink said Wednesday that it has a new strategy for its wireless division: selling to law enforcement and other emergency-services agencies.

Representative David Blumenthal said that on April 1 EarthLink will begin offering BlackBerry pagers loaded with software that lets emergency-services workers tap a database of private information on 98 percent of the U.S. adult population. The database, run by LocatePlus, includes names, addresses, phone numbers, prior addresses, dates of birth, social security numbers, real estate holdings, bankruptcies and criminal records.

The new EarthLink effort is meant for police, firefighters, paramedics and other emergency-services workers. The emergency-services industry generates a more than $100 million a year demand for wireless equipment and services. Companies including wireless providers Nextel Communications and equipment maker Motorola are all vying for the dollars.

The EarthLink equipment augments the older generations of radios that are part of the daily life of a police officer or firefighter, Blumenthal said. For instance, a police agency that's currently testing the gear is using it to more quickly find out who's supposed to be living inside a home that officers are staking out, he said.

Under the EarthLink plan, the BlackBerry is free, but the service costs $99 a month, Blumenthal said.

EarthLink sells several different wireless data-only services. For example, it resells wireless access inside more than 1,000 Boingo Wireless Wi-Fi-enabled locations and also has wireless linkups for laptops and personal digital assistants.

Two weeks ago, EarthLink announced a wireless service for the real estate industry.

[softengine]

Let's see. There's ChoicePoint Systems, ChexSystems (if you've ever had a bank account), LocatePlus......

Exactly how many private entities are there that hold complete files on me WITHOUT my consent? And who gave them my permission?

I really don't want to go off on a personal rant here but it's no secret that the more places in which your personal information resides, the less secure it is. But above and beyond that, it really bugs me that every few months a new company appears out of the woodwork, possessing a remarkble depth of info on all of us, and we are not allowed to opt-out.

[Abcdefg]

Can we sue them? Would we have a case?

[eno_]

You can however obfuscate: use real estate partnerships, etc. It is getting to the point where renouncing citizenship and moving your official residence to a country with less-capable domestic surveillance might be worth it.

[Robert A Cook PE]

Way COOL!

See, now we can automatically check EVERY POLLING PLACE for duplicate entries by dead democrats and illegal alias'ed aliens and duplicate democrat voters from other states and fraudulent voter registration from empty buildings and cemetaries.......


Just the thought of that ought to get the People Against the American Way and NOW and the DNC out fingthing this thing.

After all, they want to arbitrarily ADD 10% to their minority (black) neighborhoods (by "statistical sampling" the census) just to get more demo Reps in congress and more money to black politicians......

[FF578]

take the rest of the libertarian slugs with you.

[SSN558]

"Can we sue them? Would we have a case?"

Collect all your own personal information and copyright it. Then sue for infringment if any company or agency uses it without permission. Some would be forced to make out of court settlements.

[HairOfTheDog]

Well, the information is all public record.... phone books, public filings... it is just that someone has taken the time to collect it. The police databases have that already, just not on a pager. They get it through their laptops, or from dispatch.

[Cold Heat]

Yah, I normally don't rant about this privacy stuff, but this is over the top!

We should not let this stuff out over a blackberry network.

[meyer]

See, now we can automatically check EVERY POLLING PLACE for duplicate entries by dead democrats and illegal alias'ed aliens and duplicate democrat voters from other states and fraudulent voter registration from empty buildings and cemetaries.......

I suspect that it would be used for just about everything except that. You know, important things like locating every white male (particularly of German descent) that owns a white van. Who's bought guns with a credit card (backdoor registration). Things of that nature. God forbid that we should prevent liberals from voting more than once per election - that would violate something.

[softengine]

Sounds good. I suspect though, that it wouldn't hold water.

[meyer]

Quite a few things bother me about this. One is the fact that they can access a Social Security number. I can see address and such as its most likely pulled right out of the phone book, but SS# isn't public record, is it?

And, how would Earthlink get hold of peoples' criminal records? I think its time to start petitioning Washington for a privacy amendment.

[billbears]

loaded with software that lets emergency-services workers tap a database of private information on 98 percent of the U.S. adult population

It is getting to the point where renouncing citizenship and moving your official residence to a country with less-capable domestic surveillance might be worth it

Might be? To heck with might be, I want to know what information is on that database, why the police (government officials of the sovereign states granted but what's to stop the FBI from having these) need this information handy, and what cities are not involved in this 'information gathering' so I can move to one of those

Of course I'll be told it's for our 'safety', to help prevent voter fraud, and if I'm obeying the law it shouldn't matter to me. Well, I'm obeying the law now, but ten years from now when every armed FBI agent has one of these and more government mandates from the office of 'Homeland Security' are in place, what will it take to obey the law then? Giving up our guns and the right to protect our homes from unreasonable searches and seizures?

Oh well, the Empire marches on. Hope all the subjects are happy and safe. Because we know that's so much more important than freedom

[Freedom2specul8]

"Collect all your own personal information and copyright it."

dang, that's clever..are you an atty?

[eno_]

And price the license to the copyright info at just under the small claims limit so you can drag every database vendor into small claims court.

I bet you could make enough suing these worms to buy a nice car.

[ResultsNetwork]

While I realise that the information is in public records, I'm not sure that public record means that anyone can complie the data and do whatever they want with it. I'm not an attorney, but these are different acts (availability, compliation, publication, sales, promotion, etc.) and may not all be covered by public record laws.

[eno_]

Why does valuing my privacy bother you so?

I am just pointing out that, if one is so unfree as to have such databases so commonplace, then what is one's citizenship worth?

[HairOfTheDog]

I don't *know* either, I would just assume legality if someone is doing it and marketing it to the police.

If I started keeping all my old phone books, I would have half the information they report to have. Addresses and past addresses anyway.

And the police already have access to this information through their laptops, and through dispatch. When they call in a plate, they already know who you are, or at least, who your car belongs to, where you live, and your criminal history. The only thing new here is bringing it to a Blackberry.

[eno_]

Go to their Web site and run the online demo. If I hang out my shingle as a bill collector, I get access to this database, too.

Might be useful if I decide to find out if any of my local LEOs' relatives have any any legal or debt problems. Could be useful leverage.

[softengine]

Quite a few things bother me about this. One is the fact that they can access a Social Security number.

Yeah, that bothered me too. Since that magic number is key to facilitating ID theft, I would like to think that its not public info. Nor any criminal records. Not that I have one (unless a speeding ticket counts). But that wouldn't be public record too, would it?

[HairOfTheDog]

I understand your distress... but you are trying to close the barn door after the horses have run out. The information is already out there, on the internet, at anyone's fingertips.

Enter your phone number into Google. They will give you directions to your house.