Information Handling at Choicepoint

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Information Handling at ChoicePoint Data Collection Major Benefits ChoicePoint’s data collection service was intended to be a public service to allow their customers the ability to have access to a wide variety of information gathered about individuals. The information offered by ChoicePoint according to Boatright included “motor vehicle records, credit histories, insurance claims, birth and death certificates, marriage and divorce decrees, criminal actions, civil judgments, and real-estate transactions” (2009, p. 160). This information was intended to be used by the customers of ChoicePoint to establish creditability of individuals. Possible Harms ChoicePoints’s data has been known to be used for identity theft. In 2005 ChoicePoint “notified 163,000 people that data thieves, posing as representatives of legitimate businesses, had gained unfettered, round-the-clock access to the company’s computerized records” (Boatright 2009, p. 161). According to Boatright “the thieves exploited gaps in the company’s verification procedures to register as customers” (2009, p. 161). Invasion of Individual Privacy The ChoicePoint identity theft issue shows that the information though public records should not be provided in such a manner that it is quickly accessible to individuals with questionable intentions. The data that is available through ChoicePoint is an invasion of individual privacy. According to Boatright “people’s privacy has been preserved in the past by the fact that the personal information from these scattered sources has been costly and time-consuming to acquire” (2009, p. 161). An individual who had a negative past in an area would be able to have a fresh start in a new area before data collection services such as ChoicePoint. References Boatright, J. (2009). Ethics and the conduct of business (6th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ : Prentice

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