Wired News lists what it considers to be the 10 greatest privacy disasters:
10. ChoicePoint data spill
9. VA laptop theft
8. CardSystems hacked
7. Discovery of data on used hard drives for sale
6. Philip Agee’s revenge
5. Amy Boyer’s murder
4. Testing CAPPS II
3. COINTELPRO
2. AT&T lets the NSA listen to all phone calls
1. The creation of the Social Security Number
See the Wired article for its explanations. It’s a good list, but there are a few problems. Although we still don’t know all the details of the NSA surveillance program, it’s not worse than COINTELPRO, which involved massive surveillance of a wide range of groups, the wiretapping of Martin Luther King, Jr., attempts to blackmail King, and more. The Social Security Number has indeed led a ton of problems, but the fault doesn’t lie with its creation. Rather, the problem is mostly the expanding use of the number and the failure of the government to reign in government agencies and business from using it. CAPPS II, while flawed in its conception, should not be so high on the list.
Some notable omissions: Where’s Total Information Awareness? What about Olmstead v. United States, 277 U.S. 438 (1928), where the Supreme Court held that the Fourth Amendment didn’t regulate wiretapping? Olmstead led to nearly 40 years of extensive abuses of wiretapping before it was overruled. There are countless other Supreme Court 4th Amendment cases that could arguably be listed, but I’d definitely include Miller v. United States, 425 U.S. 435 (1976), which created the third party doctrine which holds that the Fourth Amendment does not apply to personal records possessed by third parties. Another possible inclusion: The birth of J. Edgar Hoover.
Hat Tip: Bruce Schneier
Originally Posted at Concurring Opinions
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This post was authored by Professor Daniel J. Solove, who through TeachPrivacy develops computer-based privacy training, data security training, HIPAA training, and many other forms of awareness training on privacy and security topics. Professor Solove also posts at his blog at LinkedIn. His blog has more than 1 million followers.
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