OntheWilderSide

Full story from Democrat and Chronical here.

Security problems made evident by snooping case
Passport breaches show real weakness in data protection.

Perhaps the most troubling aspect of the snooping by U.S. State Department workers into the passport files of the three presidential candidates is that the information they got may already be running laps around the Web…

That there might be a pipeline from the bureaucracy to some partisan entity gained credence in the imbroglio over the fired U.S. attorneys last year. There are those who would like this investigation to end right where it is. That ought not happen.

Beyond the passport breaches, the Bush administration and Congress should be demanding a close look at the vulnerability of information held by the federal government. The fact that relatively low-level federal workers could even get into these records should prompt an investigation of security across the whole federal landscape, from passports to IRS files…

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from KW: I am surprised that the story about the privacy of the presidential candidate’s passports being violated, has not generated even more outrage. I guess that Condoleezza Rice did a good job of a spin and reaction that makes people not keep thinking of the possibilities and ramifications.

Well, the story above by one media outlet that is paying attention. And, here are my wilder thoughts:

-These breaches were done by employees of contract agencies. Maybe we should not have contract agencies do things for government, since government has so much power of us and our information.

-Everyone’s greatest fears about the government having too much information on citizen’s in too many places has now been realized. We need to slow down government information gathering. Also, maybe we should reconsider an idea I have heard articulated by Libertarians, that our social security numbers should not be used for anything but social security. In fact, that is how they were designed. It is dangerous that by having our social security numbers, people can then seek anything about us. And, how many low-level, government contract workers have access to your social security number?

-I can’t wait to see how this story turns out. This could be the grand conspiracy we are always told does not exist. The man who owned the one company is a former CIA worker, and he has given money to Obama’s campaign. Wonder if he is a double-triple-quadruple-secret agent. What side is he really working on? Is he for Obama in a bizarre way, or against Obama, and Obama considered him a supporter? Wonder if we ever get to find out??????

Filed under: Barack Obama, Political Websites, president, presidential race, rants, reform, US Politics Tagged: | Barack Obama, CIA, Government conspiracy, libertarian, social security number