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Is Data Inspection Unconstitutional?

Posted on August 30, 2011 by Lina Maini
A partly disassembled Panasonic Lumix digital ...

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(Reprint of a Feb, 2011 article to which we had expected answers to the FOIL request we’d submitted to the TSA.   To date, we have not received a response so this article is being reposted to increase privacy awareness for travelers.)

Well, this is a new one on me but my cell phone was recently confiscated at an airport screening area, taken out of my sight and returned with all of my information wiped clean.  (I didn’t realize it until I had reached my destination.) Until then I did not know that customs has the right to a) copy your hard drives and scan them for security threats when traveling abroad and b) hold on to your electronic devices for days, even weeks.  This includes inspection and confiscation of any electronic device – cell phones, laptops, Ipads… 

I’m fairly certain that wiping my phone clean was an accident but the inspection was not. I wasn’t carrying anything out of the norm for any traveling businessperson. Laptop, phone and digital camera.  Additional screening selection is not unusual for me – I tend to have to arrange last-minute travels, usually within 48 hours of departure time, and that’s an automatic flagging. (A senior airline executive friend explained this to me upon my query as to the excessive second screenings I undergo.)

For the full article and commentary on the constitutionality of this very personal data inspection issue please read the NYT article.

My suggestion to those traveling with very sensitive information (call me paranoid but if I have proprietary data, client contracts, family pics, contact info… on my laptop, I certainly do object to this over the top intrusion), upload all of this private data (text docs, presos, pics, film…) into DropBox, an app that is the easiest way to store, sync, and even share files online.  (Later, you can retrieve your data easily from any computer, mobile,  info device… with your unique user name and password.)  Then wipe the data you’d like hidden, comfortable that your data is safe from prying eyes, securely stored and available to you at your convenience.

The need for intelligence gathering is understood but not the incessant invasion of privacy. We’ll keep you updated as this issue gathers more attention and perhaps a court challenge.

BNI Operatives: A step ahead.

As always, be safe.

Filed under: cyber law, data | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Thanks, Irene! New Post Will Be Up Shortly!

Posted on August 28, 2011 by Lina Maini

Filed under: General Information | 2 Comments »

The ICE-man cometh…

Posted on August 22, 2011 by Lina Maini

Ever have that pesky question in the back of your head, “Am I in this country legally?”  I don’t wonder at all in that I was forever teased as “The American” growing up; the last of 7 siblings, the only one born here.  Then again, I do have my actual birth certificate, Social Security card, driver’s license and US Passport. (Yes, all in my bag… well,  just in case is all that I’m saying.)

Anyhow, if that nagging doubt does exist in one’s mind, along comes the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to be of help.  On August 16, 2011, the USCIS implemented a program with which one can check his/her immigration work status online.

The program, Self-Check, allows an individual to review his information and check what information the feds have on them.

The USCIS has rolled out Self Check in 21 states and the District of Columbia thus far. (Check site link above for the authorized states.)

Self-Check comes on the heels of regulation being pushed by legislators that would require all employers to verify the immigration status of employees via an online program, called E-Verify.  (From an investigator’s perspective, I find E-Verify laughable in that there are so many ways to get around it and on a more serious note, making employers a de facto arm of law enforcement is an abhorrent concept.)

To review,  prior to an employee with a potential “glitch” in his employment status applying for a job, (wherein the employer would have to validate his legal standing to work), he can check his own status online by himself or with the help of a qualified potential employee and then determine the appropriate corrections and the validated employee will apply for a job. Obviously, this last comment was tongue in cheek.  There are enough loop holes in this 2-tiered program to run a circus through.

I had my assistant run me through Self-Check.  Of course she had access to my info.  I’m glad to know that I am hirable.  The second step, E-Verify, is equally as nonchallenging to wade through.  If a noncompliant employer or non-qualifying employee wants to game the system, just send in the qualifying potential employee for the job.  Once hired, who knows who really shows up for work?

The question then becomes how is information traded amongst the agencies.  E-Verify is to include a photo comparison, courtesy of Homeland Security. (Yes, they have EACH and every verifiable ones of us on file).  Will the Social Security Administration continue to issue TINs (Taxpayer Identification Numbers, for those who do not qualify for SSNs) and will the IRS check as to how many jobs a SSN will result?

Self-Check and E-Verify are good starts in the effort in ensuring non competition between legally hirable employees and undocumented immigrants for work but where we employers part with these government plans is on the issue of liability.  If a person desires, and they will, to “get over” on the system, they will.  If an employer has complied with E-Verify and other hiring regulations (which obviously to date have not really turned out all that well), why should the employer be held responsible to a system in which she had no input in designing?  The obvious work facility access requirement – a retinal scan , fingerprint, non-invasive DNA monitor, appears logical  but I don’t even want to consider the “privacy” issues these suggestions will undoubtedly raise.

Trust, but E-Verify.  We’ve reached that point.

BNI Operatives: A step ahead.

As always, stay safe.

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Asset Searches – How Far is Far Enough?

Posted on August 15, 2011 by Lina Maini

Generally, an asset search investigation is requested to determine a subject’s tangible assets (or, quite often, to satisfy the court that there are no other recoverable assets beyond policy limits, albeit the injuries sustained may be valued at a much higher award).

Balancing the public’s privacy with informational needs is challenging but ultimately, very doable.

A basic checklist for the legal professional is to:

1. Relay the need-to-know reason to your investigative specialist. A business partnership dissolution v. a medmal case requires a very different focus.

2. Obtain as much lead information from your client as possible. The more information the investigative specialist is given, quite often, the more she can return and in a more cost-effective manner.

3. Local is often more reliable than generalized information. The first step in recording any asset begins at a local level. Many information companies provide “nationwide” information, which can widen the asset search scope. The drawbacks to commencing an asset search on a nationwide basis first, however, are

a) record update lag (delays up to 18 months),

b) incorrect data collection errors (many nationwide databases can return results only with exact names – misspellings will often register “no hit” status) and

c) incomplete information.

So now you, the attorney,  have the subject’s tangible assets information. The subject owns a Chelsea duplex, a home in Hyde Park and a boat docked at the Bayside Marina. The next step, from an investigative standpoint, can range from determining if the subject has any liens, judgments, bankruptcies and other pending litigation to a full criminal background check.

In answer to our premise question then: Asset Searches: How Far is Far Enough? Assess the potential settlement/judgment and the likelihood of the subject having seizable assets. For a large settlement/judgment, request a full background and asset search (certain convictions can prohibit a person from holding officer position in a business); medium settlement/judgment: basic background and asset search and for a small judgment: a basic asset search.

BNI Operatives: One step ahead.

As always, be safe.

Related articles

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The FBI – Behind the Dark Suits, N-Dex

Posted on August 8, 2011 by Lina Maini
United States criminal justice system flowchart.

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There are approximately 18,000 law enforcement agencies across the United States – local, state, tribal, and federal— generally working independently,  each gathering clues, conducting interviews, solving crimes, and generating reports and information. Within their jurisdictions.

So the 2011 question is: in an age supporting a very mobile and transient number of people, obviously crime will cross many jurisdictions, how can we get these 18,000+ agencies connected rapidly and in an automated environment to share their information…not only to catch criminals and terrorists but also to spot crime trends and patterns and help prevent attacks?

After all, beyond a few national criminal justice systems like the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) and the Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS) , most information-sharing between police agencies today is still done on a case-by-case basis or through local and regional information systems.

In a three-year project (from 2008 – 2010), the FBI has been working on just such a system that incorporates all of the information maintained by all of these American law enforcement agencies and compiled this data into a single registry – the Law Enforcement  National Data Index, N-DEx.  N-DEx includes all of the traditional “hard” data: criminal backgrounds, parolee statuses, wants/warrants and can deliver highly effective reports connecting people, places and events by various methods such as MO comparisons, crime trends and familial DNA comparisons, to name several techniques.

It is the literal equivalent of each law enforcement agency, regardless of size, having its own CSI lab, forensics psychiatrist, anti-terrorism expert and other crime solving capabilities generally affordable only by large cities and the national l.e. organizations. N-DEx brings this  broader scope, more tightly focused physical and psychological database to a one sheriff town and to the Homeland Security Administration. The final implementation of N-DEx occurred quietly at the end of 2010. It is this tireless work by our security and law enforcement expert that allows the FBI (and now many others in the field)  to track and more often than not, stop terrorists, cult members and violent criminals before they commit additional heinous crimes.

It is expected that the N-DEx will become available to state and local district attorneys, (all need to know requests are recorded) and may be accessed via FOIL, albeit, for attorneys and private investigators, probably with highly redacted/limited information and very specific rules monitoring the N-DEx’s use.

That this crime information and trend data has finally all come together in one registry is a good thing.  Too often, too many criminals have slipped through the cracks, knowing how to work the “systems” and normal time delays.  Now, we’ll have the ability to access relevant aggregated information to solve cases quickly and effectively and aggressively deter potential threats.

BNI Operatives: A step ahead.

As always, be safe.

Related articles

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Safest Seat/Cabin On A Train, Plane Or Cruise Ship

Posted on August 1, 2011 by Lina Maini
140 px

Image via Wikipedia

In sticking with the summer vacation season,  we’ve rounded up statistics regarding travel safety.

The safest seat on a:

Railroad Passenger Train:  Is any one outside of the train.  Seriously, a car or two ahead of the rear car.  According to the U.S. government’s transportation accident review authority, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), a  majority  of passenger rail mishaps damage the front cars; secondly, the middle in derailment situations; with the least damage occurring to the near to end cars.  Of course, in the case of a front to rear collision between two trains, the first train will suffer rear car damage, obviously, the first car(s) of the second train will suffer the most damage but these are the rarest collision types.  Final tip: choose a rear facing seat (in the direction of travel).  In a crash, you won’t be thrown forward.

Airplane:  A recently published Popular Mechanics study concludes that, in an airplane crash, 69% of rear cabin passengers are more likely to survive than those in the front rows (generally the first and business classes or in all-coach flights, the first 15 rows).  In the same situation, over the wing seat passengers experience a 59% survival rate, which then drops dramatically to 49% for those in the aforementioned front rows.

The safest cabin on a:

Cruise Ship:  From the Cruise Critic, mid to upper cabin, facing outward, in the ship’s aft (rear) section.  Cruise line accidents, while extremely rare, tend to damage the hull (usually in the  front part) first, thereby exposing the lower and inner cabins to immediate flooding as well as by positioning alone, these cabins have more restricted avenues of escape.  Overall, we recommend staying away from any cruises along the Somalian coast, regardless of cabin choice.

Enjoy your vacation.  According to Rebirth of Reason, staying at home is not an option.

The most recent statistics from the National Safety Council show that death by falling from a bed, chair or other furniture is almost as likely as death by air transport.  As of 2008, your odds of dying from an in-home fall are about 1 in 379,000 while your risk in an airplane is about 1 in 484,000.  You are safer hurtling through the air at 530 mph in a  metal container than you are standing on a chair in your own home reaching for a can of tuna.

BNI Operatives: Street (air & sea) Smart: Web Savvy.

As always, and especially when traveling, stay safe.

 

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