Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Knowing Your Neighbor

Here’s a reminder of just how much of your information is floating out there.

According to this recently published article by the Associated Press, a massive database maintained by Milwaukee-based WE Energies has been routinely accessed by employees looking for dirt on enemies or who are merely nosy.

“People were looking at an incredible number of accounts,” the utility’s vice president of customer service, Joan Shafer, testified in a sworn deposition last year. “Politicians, community leaders, board members, officers, family, friends. All over the place.”

Among the people caught up in the mass snooping was then-acting Milwaukee Mayor Marvin Pratt. In 2004, as he was running for that office, a utility employee helped leak information to the media that Pratt was often behind in paying his heating bills. Pratt lost the election.

[...]

The massive database at WE Energies contains credit and banking information, payment histories, social security numbers, addresses, phone numbers and energy usage. It sometimes also includes income and medical information.

 

(2) Comments
Posted by Owen at 0518 hrs
Culture + Technology

  1. This is an AP article about abuses in Wisconsin (once you go thru to The Register and click its link) yet jsonline.com seems to have nothing on its website about it.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on February 26, 2008 at 1136 hrs


  2. Being in the industry I have access to all sorts of such information. I confess to looking up my account and that of a friend, but never queried on details about payment histories or balances or similar.

    In one shop I used a dealer I know personally as a test dealer, I run into this guy every now and then but I have never mentioned it to him.

    Posted by Marcus Aurelius on February 27, 2008 at 1626 hrs


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