board77

I posted this as a bump to the Fascism thread over on Manwe, but I fear it will get lost.

I normally do not put a whole lot of faith in ABC News, but this story just had me horrified.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=1070565&page=1

I have always been somewhat suspect of any group of people that is given authority over the population at large, but, this article does so much to alarm me, given the stance that America seems to have taken since 9/11 and the computer age's reliance on what is in a given database. In this case, the compounding of errors and "well, it is not MY problem" and refusal to admit wrongdoing really has me up in arms. If I were this woman, I would be starting multiple lawsuits and ensuring that many people rightfully lose their jobs.

What would YOU do if this were you or one of your family members?

Edit for typos and clarity.

Disturbing? I'd say it is. And it will happen more and more as identity theft prolifirates and government agency rely on the erroneous information in their databases.

Here's a bit that I have posted over at Ethel's

Garbage In, Garbage Out of Control wrote:

The Real ID Act will usher in the nation's first national ID system, with little regard for the government's ability to deploy the technology in ways that would prevent citizens from being preyed on by identity thieves and with no regard for that fact that it relies on data from sources, such as state RMVs, that are increasingly targets for identity theft. And which, of course, contain typos, outdated information, etc.

The bill dictates that all states collect personal information from citizens before allowing them to obtain a driver's license, including—at minimum—name, date of birth, gender, driver's license or identification card number, digital photograph, address, and signature.

Collection of this particular information is not new. Linkage of states' databases is. The bill specifies that states link what are at present discrete databases, creating, in effect, one nationwide database with personal information pertaining to all citizens.
[...]

Do you trust the government to have the right information on you?

Do you trust the government to protect your data from thieves?

If you answered yes to either question, you're naive

[...]
Look at the metric of the FISMA—the Federal Information Security Management Act. It's legislation that mandates that government agencies be graded on their ability to protect data. The Department of Homeland Security has gotten four Fs in a row. If they're not securing data, do we really want to trust state RMVs?
[...]
we've got dirty data, and we've got unencrypted, unprotected data. But both problems wind up with the same result: people getting thrown into jail for other peoples' crimes. People getting stopped at the airport because they have Arabic names that look like terrorists'. Innocent people being unfairly persecuted.

It's worrying, but I haven't seen it happening day in, day out so I'm not going to don my tinfoil helmet just yet.

I think what is truly scary is that the same government who constantly mismanage our money, are supposed to be managing our identities. I'll manage it myself, thank you.

TED -

What alarms me is that if was apparant from the time that Mrs. Archulata got to the jail that she was the WRONG person, and noone would do anything about it. Aside from the fact that she was wrongfully taken into custody, noone is admitting that the system is flawed, that supposed safeguards that are in place are not being followed, and that this could happen to literally anyone. What if there were indeed a warrant out for a person, or a suspended driving license, which are IN error? Maybe it was already taken care of, and the person is indeed in the clear in spite of what the computer database states. Shouldn't the police and other law enforcement officials need to follow the same safeguards that protect our freedoms that everyone else needs to? I am certainly not talking about people who seem to be a threat at large because of their current actions - driving irresponsibly, threatening others, acting out in a violent manner, etc. But, too many times I have read, personally know of, or have heard of instances where innocent people doing nothing wrong are assumed to be doing the worst, and treated terribly because of it. It IS getting worse, they used to look things up, take the time to verify them, presume innocence, and file complaints if they were warranted followed up by valid complaints/charges/search warrants/ whatever. Nowadays, all they need is something to hold you on, no matter how unfounded and unreliable that information is. In this case, it was not even true identity theft, it was lazy follow up detective work, and is totally inexcusable. The way this woman was treated is equally abhorrent. Didn't anyone think anything was a bit wrong when she was found WITH her family and totally not meeting the physical description of the true wanted person? Yeah, they noted it and then said that there was NOTHING THAT THEY COULD DO.

Bullshit.

Be very scared, because it CAN happen to you.

Frelga wrote:

Do you trust the government to have the right information on you?

That reminds me of a little story that was on the news a while ago. There was a guy in Greece who, for some mix-up (probably a civil servant not doing his/her job properly because he/she was too bored and not bothered enough to check) was written off as dead. Now, this guy was unemployed and had a family of three kids so he was entitled to receive benefits from the social services. But he couldn't receive any of his money because, officially, he was dead.

So there he was, in the department of social services, screaming at them that he was not dead while all their computers said otherwise.

I think it took about a year for the mistake to be corrected and for him to return to the land of the living.

Stupid bureaucracy.

I'm afraid this type of thing happens all the time.

I remember when I didn't realize "Brazil" was a documentary.

That's horrible . Unfortunately, this kind of thing is happening more and more often. I guess it just goes to show how fearful people are getting, that the police seem to think that they can go to almost any means to arrest someone, even if it means treating a person as horribly as they treated the mother in this news story. Even if the person they arrested had not been a mistaken identity, that is no way to treat a human being.

It kind of makes you wonder if the government has any false information on you...maybe they think I'm a terrorist or something .