California Association of Licensed Investigators
908 21st Street Sacramento, CA 95814
916-441-5444 � 800-350-CALI Fax: 916-441-5468 email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
www.cali-pi.org
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 9, 2005
FOR INFORMATION: John Eppick, CALI Legislative Chair, 818.274.6690;
Clarick Brown, CALI President, 510.812.3704; Jan Tucker, CALI-PR Chair &
Chairman of the Board, 310.618.9596 or Cell: 818.720.3719
PI GROUP SAYS CONTINUING DATA THEFT
DISCLOSURES POINT TO NEED FOR INDEPENDENT
ACCOUNT MONITORING
A massive hemorrhage of personal data by Lexis-Nexis, a major
provider of data resources to the legal industry, following disclosures of
similar problems at Atlanta based Choicepoint that has many scrambling
nationwide to determine whether their identities were stolen and credit
histories compromised is being touted by the California Association of
Licensed Investigators (CALI) as "underscoring the need for independent
account monitoring of data base company clients."
According to Berkeley Private Eye Clarick Brown, President of
CALI-the world's largest organization of private investigators-"CALI has
been proactive in combating identity theft for a long time and we are no
stranger to this battle. Several years ago, the theme of our entire
legislative program was 'Help Stamp Out Identity Theft' and this year we
are dubbing it 'PI's For Privacy.' At our state educational conferences
and at our district educational meetings, we have repeatedly held seminars
on identity theft that have included speakers from the United States Postal
Service and other agencies that our members interface with on a daily basis
when confronting I.D. theft and fraud."
At the same time, Brown emphasized that "the collection of data is
not inherently bad and in fact serves many important purposes. If data
bases like these did not exist, it would be far more difficult for
custodial parents to track down 'deadbeat dads' to collect child support,
courts would suffer endless delays while investigators went back to archaic
and time-consuming methods of locating witnesses, and in the long run, it
would make it far more difficult to fight fraud." Brown also said that
"it is important not to lose sight of the fact that companies like
Choicepoint and Lexis-Nexis are themselves victims of criminal acts by the
people who stole their data and used it for purposes for which the data
bases weren't intended."
John Eppick, CALI's Legislative Chair, indicated that a long term
policy goal of the organization is to insure that laws designed to combat
identity theft by restricting access to data bases includes exemptions for
legitimate uses of information by Private Investigators. "Without
exemptions for private investigators," said Eppick, "well intended
legislation has the effect of cutting off the nose to spite the face.
Frequently, police departments simply do not have the staff or the time to
combat identity theft when they are faced with priorities like combating
violence and street crime, effectively requiring private investigators to
take up the slack. This is why our profession is often at the forefront of
the efforts to track down identity thieves and other white collar
criminals."
According to Eppick CALI is calling for stricter enforcement of
protocols originally established in Federal Trade Commission (FTC) consent
decrees established with Trans-Union and other credit reporting companies
that require on-site inspection of companies that they provide data to.
"If these companies adhered to onsite inspection through independent
monitors, such as licensed private investigators, it would make it far more
difficult to steal data and misuse it. CALI and other state associations
of private investigators stand ready to engage in a national dialogue to
create appropriate guidelines to make that level of data base security a
reality."
CALI, and its national affiliate, NCISS (National Council of
Investigation & Security Services), are seeking amendments to a series of
bills introduced by Senator Dianne Feinstein and others designed to
regulate the usage and availability of private data base information, to
insure that investigators will continue to be able to track down criminals
with these sources. Last year, delegations of CALI members and active law
enforcement personnel met with representatives of Senator Feinstein at
several meetings in an effort to hammer out amendments to insure continued
access.
In April, CALI will hold its annual legislative day in Sacramento
with visits to legislators in support of a wide array of bills designed to
enhance privacy for Californians.
-30-
Jan B. Tucker-PI 10143
P.O. Box 433
Torrance CA 90508-0433
Tel: 310.618.9596 Fax: 1950
Chairman of the Board of Directors, Ca Assoc of Licensed Investigators
Co-President, SFV/NELA Chapter, Natl Org. For Women
Member of the Board of Directors,
Alameda Corridor Jobs Coalition
....etc., etc., etc.....
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/janbtucker
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