Kashmir Hill reports:
This week’s news of a U.S. State Department clerk snooping in passport records of celebrities is, sadly, a repeat story.
Just two years ago, the State Department was embarrassed by the disclosure that workers had inappropriately accessed passport information of then-presidential candidates Barack Obama, Hilary Clinton and John McCain. To assess the depth of the problem, the State Department’s inspector general looked at the passport records of 150 politicians, actors, musicians and athletes. The investigation found that the celebrities’ passport data had been looked at thousands of times, raising concern over the privacy of high-profile Americans, and everyone else whose passport information is ripe for peeking by irresponsible government employees. The database in question contains names, addresses, Social Security numbers, date and place of birth, and passport numbers–prime fodder for identity fraud.
Read more on Forbes.