ChoicePoint Will Now Inform You When They Tell People You're A Crook

from the how-nice-of-them dept

Despite claims from ChoicePoint over the past month that they were in compliance with all the various data security and disclosure laws... it turns out they weren't. A subsidiary they bought last year that does criminal background checks wasn't complying with a law that said the subjects of such background checks need to be informed whenever others are told about any criminal records. ChoicePoint has happily announced they're now compliant -- ignoring nearly a year in which it appears they were regularly breaking the law. Of course, they're taking the easiest way out, and only telling people after they've told others that you're a crook -- which certainly could put plenty of people in an awkward position if they're not a crook. Given the fact that many ChoicePoint reports are filled with errors (and they're not particularly willing to let you take a look and/or make corrections) -- including errors about criminal records -- this seems a bit problematic, and not much of a sign that ChoicePoint has turned over a new leaf in protecting anyone's (real or mistakenly criminal) privacy.

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