philosecurity

Governments store and gather a *lot* of private information about everyday citizens, in order to provide you with services such as health, transportation, safety, education, taxation, and much more. How much of this will be handed over to private IT companies such as Google in the rush to the “cloud”? What will happen to it from there? Absent regulation and routine inspections, it’s hard to tell.

Here are examples of the private information that state and local governments collect:

Health:

• Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs (PDMPs) in which “physicians and pharmacists… log each filled prescription into a state database to help medical professionals prevent abusers from obtaining prescriptions from multiple doctors.”
• Adult Medical histories (including sexual orientation, drug history, lists of medical problems, work history). Gathered for vaccinations and state health testing.
• Vaccine immunnization records (Children and Adults)
• Lists of people who are immunocompromised
• Lists of pregnant women and their doctors
• HIV/AIDS test results

Taxation:

• Income sources and levels
• Bill owed (doctors, lawyers, etc) for certain cases (see p.10)
• Bank statements
• Bank account numbers(see p. 14)
• Credit card numbers(see p. 14)
• Social security numbers
• Pension information
• Life insurance information
• Detailed employment records
• Deductions
• Value of assets (house, car, etc)
• Address, phone, extensive contact information
• Children’s names, Social Security numbers, ages
• Names of daycare providers

Unemployment:

• Names of people who have been unemployed
• Bank routing and checking account numbers
• Extensive personal details, including SSN, Driver’s license info, etc.
• Previous employment history
• Details regarding job search
• Salary records
• Records of unemployment funds received

Transportation:

• Detailed travel records (EZ-Pass, Fastlane, Subway passes)
• Dates, times, and locations that subway/EZ-pass cards were used
• Lists of senior citizens, contact information and photographs
• Lists of disabled people, contact information and photographs
• Credit-card and payment information
• Rider photographs and video footage

Motor Vehicle Services:

• Driver personal info:
• Height
• Weight
• Eye correction
• Address
• Social Security Number
• Payment information
• Violations (see p.3 for a list of info typically included in citations)
• Locations, dates, times
• Description and details
• Images (photographs, videos)
• Red-light camera images
• License-plate tracking

Government Employee records

• Social Security numbers
• Employee reviews
• Health insurance information

Education:

• Childrens’ standardized test scores

Police:

• Confidential informant records
• Confidential juvenile records
• Video surveillance footage of streets and intersections
• Rape victim statements and details
• Officer personal information and disciplinary records
• Investigative data

 
We conduct routine inspections of restaurant kitchens for public safety, and the public is entitled to see inspection certificates. Shouldn’t management of our public data be held to the same standards?

The public deserves to have input regarding what data is put into the hands of companies which are not controlled by the public. We deserve regulations which protect our private information from abuse, and which specify what types of information can or cannot be hosted by foreign companies and private companies.

Most importantly, we deserve assurance. Our government must routinely verify through inspection and public reports that confidential information is not being misused by private companies, and that only appropriate types of information are being shipped off-site. If private companies are to hold taxpayer information, the public deserves independent verification and reassurance that our data is well-managed.

For information about the specific data used by your state, check out your state’s web site and look at the services it offers. (Here’s a nice example from the State of New Mexico.) Then think about all the private information that your government needs to collect and process in order to support those services. You might be surprised.