Terrorist support or mere fraud?

Opinion
Jan 23, 20065 mins

One of the last vestiges of critical infrastructure protection is apparently being scaled and destroyed. Companies are violating every common-sense security premise I have ever known, cracking (illegally or not) the people component of security, in ways that heretofore have only been in the hands of law enforcement and judicial overview.

Today, for a few dollars to LocateCell.com, an online data broker, I can identify every person you have spoken to on your cell phone. All of the private names and numbers you have acquired during your career, building your business or protecting the country. Then I map when you spoke to your contacts, for how long and what they did in response to your communications with them. Then I find their addresses, Social Security numbers, friends, relatives . . . you get the idea. Paris Hilton Hell at your front door.

Thanks to LocateCell.com, anyone with a credit card can suss out the most private dealings of anyone their little heart desires. Maybe it’s for competitive intelligence. (To whom is that company trying to sell? Which lawyers are they using? How often do Bill and Sally talk, when and for how long? How many people are on this project?) Why exhibit at a trade show when all of the good leads are in your competitors’ phone logs?

Winn Schwartau is the president of Interpact, Inc., a security awareness consulting firm, and the author of many books including " Information Warfare," " CyberShock," " Time Based Security" and " Internet and Computer Ethics for Kids." His popular speeches entertain government and commercial audiences on three continents.

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