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City offers ‘free’ ID theft protection
The city will provide free identify theft protection to each of the 337,000 registered voters whose personal information may have been compromised when thieves stole two Davidson County Election Commission laptops, Mayor Karl Dean announced yesterday.
While Dean said Metro was paying one year of service to any voter who wants it, the city, according to Metro Finance Director Richard Riebeling, is using reserve funds, which means taxpayers are technically footing the bill since those funds come from property tax and sales tax.
The lowest estimated bill that the city would pay is just over $1 million, Riebeling confirmed Thursday.
“Really the taxpayers are going to wind up paying for it. However, I think it is a very wise and prudent use of the taxpayers’ dollars to do this,” said Councilman Jim Gotto, who represents the Hermitage area.
The city has contracted with Debix Identity Protection Network to provide the protection. Based on past experience, according to the mayor’s office, Debix expects 25 to 35 percent of affected voters to take advantage of the service.
The company will receive $9.75 per activated account for the first 20,000 users and $9.25 for all enrollees after that.
The regular average cost of this service is $99 for one year.
Councilman Michael Craddock has been vocal since the Dec. 23 break-in but said Thursday he was pleased with the mayor’s decision.
Craddock, who as the chair of the Public Safety Commission, has demanded answers from Election Commission and Metro government officials, and still wants to see the city pursue legal action against The Wackenhut Corp., the security firm that provides guards to several Metro buildings, including the Election Commission, to recoup the cost of providing the theft protection.
“I want us to pursue Wackenhut to recover these costs and I know we’ll do that — I’m sure we’ll do it,” Craddock said. “I’m tickled that the mayor has taken this step.”
It is unclear if the city has any plans to do this.
The city’s legal department sent a demand letter to Wackenhut’s Nashville office last week seeking at least $100,000 for damages caused by the burglary and subsequent left of the laptops.
It was discovered Tuesday that the city was being billed for time security guards were not present at the Election Commission and the city is asking Wackenhut for proof their employees were on duty. The city is also threatening legal action.
In addition, a local law firm last week filed a lawsuit on behalf of three voters.
Councilman Gotto, while in agreement with the mayor’s decision, said it was only one piece of a larger puzzle and that the next necessary steps are “finding out just how bad the problem is in Metro as far as security of data and security of buildings.”
Results of an internal full-scale data security audit of every Metro department are expected today. Dean called for the audit Jan. 2.
Gotto has requested an independent audit of the Department of General Services, Information Technology Services and the Election Commission.
IDENTITY THEFT PROTECTION FOR VOTERS:
- Mayor Karl Dean announced Thursday that all voters who wish to participate would be receiving a free year of identity theft protection through Debix Identity Protection Network.
- Voters should be receiving a letter no later than next week containing detailed instructions on how to enroll with Debix, a Texas based company, including an activation code to either mail in an enrollment form or register for the service online at debix.com/nashville.
- Voters can opt to renew coverage for an additional year at a discounted price of $9.50.
- For more information, contact Debix at (888) 332-4963 between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. on weekdays.
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What a mess. People need to be FIRED, to set an example for the other idiots we have working for us.
Election Commission was suppose to send out letters to all the registered voters. Anyone know what happened as I never got one.
Gotto is speaking out of turn to say taxpayers will pay for this. The cost of the ID theft coverage will initially be paid by Metro's insurance policy. Additionally, Metro will almost certainly demand that Wackenhut cover this cost and will likely get some kind of settlement.
Do you suppose they lost your address BAD? I got three of 'em, one for every member of the household.And an independent audit of every Metro Department is in order. There should be a top to bottom analysis of the entire government with an eye toward restructure.
Metro is self insured
Identity theft protection is only an attempt to appease voters who are justifiably angry about having their identities stolen. Even worse, Nashville taxpayers will be paying for their own appeasement. Pursuing legal action against The Wackenhut Corporation appears to be an attempt to sidetrack attention away from the real issues. Since the records (or lack of records) show that Wackenhut had a long history of dereliction of duties, legal action should have been taken against Wackenhut long before the laptops were stolen.The person who failed to lock up the laptops after the test should be FIRED. Metro employees should be educated to expect severe consequences as a result of any future security breeches. The head of the Information Technology department should be FIRED for failing to set up even a marginal security policy. Also, no justification has been given for having this kind of information stored on easy to steal laptops. The head of General Services should be FIRED for allowing a nincompoop to be hired as head of the Information Technology department. The Election Commission is ultimately responsible for protecting voter information.
ID Theft Coverage? What are the benefits? There is so little that can be done, and so many restrictions (the Social Security Administration will not issue new numbers, and credit reporting agencies require a mountain of proof - have you ever tried to correct something on your record? It is almost impossible) - this type of "insurance" is a worse scam than than those "credit repair" criminals. This idea is just throwing good money after bad. The crooks who stole the laptop likely fenced it the next day, and chances are the hard drive has already been erased or some drug dealer who doesn't read the news is using it to play computer games now.
Does anyone know where I can get a check cashed with my new Karl Dean voter ID?
I took Gail Kerr's advice and called Equifax yesterday. All I had to say to the csr was "Davidson County!"
"11309
yeehaw... fraud alerts. now I am impressed. What happens if I am a victim of identity theft? what happens if hundreds of DC residents are victims of identity theft? who is going to pay for my time and effort to dig my credit rating out of the sewer? What if someone is arrested in KY using my id and I only find out about it when a warrant is issued for my arrest? what will Metro do then? who goes to court for me in KY? Metro is doing the bare minimum to help the citizenry. should we expect more? then again, now the mayor will have an excuse to raise taxes to pay for id theft coverage. how convenient!!!
Me Think..... this I D theft is a smoke screen.... what else was stolen ? the folks who broke in, knew what to get and how to get it..... Something is on one of those lap-tops, that someone does not want to be found ? !!!! i.e. poor ol` joe williams ( Oliver Stone )
All good points made here. Why was such vital information left on laptops which are so easy to conceal and mobilize? Why was there no encryption? Why Why?? The people that took "these" laptops knew what they were doing. I mean why go thru the trouble of taking laptops from a GOVERNMENT entity- I am sure theives know what store to get a good shop lift laptop from. I tend to think there are bigger issues behind this. Yes, people should be accountable and fired- no questions asked! The tax payers will pay for this big time in the end. Law suit for 100,000 and this surmounts to about a 3.3MIL expense??? LOL are they serious? lolAlso, WHAT IF- just WHAT IF my identity is compromised? The service metro is providing is for prevention- of credit (nothing else). So as the earlier reader wrote. What if they have done damage in other areas such as public records/criminal?? It is very very very difficult to fix this- especially if your identity was compromised in other states!! I have heard and read the stories! The prevention is ok- but once your identity has been hacked- it takes countless hours/years to fix everything! A mess- a real big mess and a shame!!!
TRHJR, they stole technology equipment of all types, including a large network router. They were after high-tech equipment. They probably wouldn't know what data they've got if not for the publicity.
The fact that one one's been fired speaks volumes about the integrity and caliber of our so-called leaders. They're in it solely to protect their racket: forcing taxpayers to fund their low-effort, high-benefit jobs that give us little to nothing of value in return.
I live in Davidson county and I received a letter about the potential identity theft because of the stolen information. All I can say is, if I have ONE problem because of this mess, I will be hiring an attorney to sue the sh!t out of the city.Why would they store that type of information on a freaken laptop? That's just dumb as hell.
I think the right thing has been done - all voters in Davidson County should be given protection BUT at the expense of Wackenhut!! Heads need to roll at Wackenhut and the Metro Election Commission so that this incident will not happen again - hope my county (Robertson) is taking note of this!!
I agree this should be paid for. However, it shouldn't come out of any tax fund. The only solution is for it to come out of some salaries.
They most likely sue (and win) Wackenhut.They have the fraud charges to hang over their heads too.Unless it was for a future candidate I doubt that the info was the target, things to sell were.We need some fireing in that office, to give warning to other city employees that are stupid or setting up the theft.
btw conspicuiously absent with all this press coverage is super sluth slupass.
idgaf, is there anybody you like?
idgaf is right on the money about Serpas. Unless these laptops are driving around in a car on the major highways, Serpas isn't going to find them.
My identity, my election records, and my airports and ports are "secured" by barely trained, poorly paid part-time lackies. I feel safer already!In fairness, I did receive notice in the mail, even though I have moved since the last election.I guess maybe the GOP can use that information to question my status as a legitimate voter in the next election.
Remeber this story back in 2002- Phillip Cummings pulled off the biggest identity theft heist in HISTORY. I wonder ifit can happen again now that the theives have 337,000 peoples private information! ************************************ BBC story *************Philip Cummings, Largest Identity Thief Ever, Sentenced To 14 Years (2002)A 35-year-old help desk employee has been sentenced to 14 years for Identity Theft. Philip Cummings stole personal information from more than 30,000 customers and then passed that information onto criminals. Losses to the victims are estimated at $50-$100 million. BBC He would steal people's credit reports and pass them on to an accomplice, who would sell them on and share the profits with Cummings. The stolen identities, bought by intermediaries for about $60 per name, were then used to access the victims' bank accounts and use their credit cards. The criminals would buy expensive goods, including computers and electronic equipment, and resell them to other members of the network. By changing a customer's personal details, the thieves could even have new credit and ATM cards mailed directly to them If you think this is bad, wait until they find all the ID theft happening in India. With all the outsourced data they have access to -- including medical records, credit card data, bank account information, tax returns and US government data -- it wouldn't be hard. On top of that consider the average pay for a worker over there and the un-accountability and you have a recipe for disaster. It's bound to happen sooner or later and it will be on a much larger scale than you see above.
Wackenhut needs to step up to the plate and pay all the bills. They are responsible, they picked the subcontractor. Metro might want to do their homework when telling security companies to be sure to include the minorities-women owned---disadvantaged subcontractors. I sure there are some good ones out there, but Wackenhut sure picked the wrong one to team up with. Where is the owner of the subcontracting company Wackenhut picked? He is probably hiding somewhere in Siberia.
Sure...Wackenhut could have responded differently, but it is not their fault. The DATA should have been protected, and I blame the Metro IT/IS department for not protecting the DATA. That particular Metro Office Complex covers a lot of ground. The thieves knew what they wanted. They could easily and covertly sneak around several wide awake security guards that were making their rounds and be gone before being discovered. If the DATA was protected, then this would be just another simple property theft. Metro should pick up the tab for our ID protection for at least 5 years.
I think the over 300,000 + should do a class action. Maybe the city will think twice about security in the city when it hits them in their wallets. Where are all the attorney's???? They should be hoping all over this.
Badcops – A lawsuit has been filed. It has to be certified as a class action by the judge. But, that may not be the best bet, because as a class action, the whole incident is counted as one, and metro has a 1 million dollar limit for each case. The better tactic would be to file 337k suits, and have metro responsible for EACH ONE up to $1 million EACH. THAT WOULD GET THEIR ATTENTION!
I don't know if it has anything to do with this, but I've already been informed by my credit union that my debit card has been, "compromised."Now, I must get a new one and commit a new PIN to memory.All you voters best be checking your balances daily.
monitor...if you have trouble remembering a 4-digit number you really need to stay away from debit cards.
monitor – Your debit card number would probably not be given to the credit bureaus, so even with your SSN and your name/address, it would be hard for them to get your debit card number. I would be looking into this deeply to find out what the “compromise” is and where it came from.
John,The real problem is not remembering a new number, it is being without access to my account for two weeks unless I can visit the bank in person or pay big fees for advances on my credit cards.revo-lou,The credit bureaus have nothing to do with it. Information from that card can lead to access to my primary bank accounts.Now, it's off to deactivate all of my bill-paying accounts. Surely none of these private-sector firms could have compromised my number! Private sector equals perfect security, doesn't it?Just ask Wackeyhut!