VerifyME: The sleazy data mining company that benefits from the new porn tax/avs bill

[Matt D]

I just wanted to shine a light on this subject because it's been overshadowed by the 25% tax. VerifyME, the age verification service that gets a free plug in The Third Way's porn report, is owned by a Washington-based political technology company called Aristotle International.

Aristotle collects information on registered voters and suppliments its database with information collected from other data sources. This information would include marital status, estimated income, home ownership status, voting history, the make and model of your car, and even the ethnicity of your surname. Aristotle sells this information to politicians so they can craft a more effective campaign.

Back in 2000 Aristotle claimed that 90% of the U.S. Senate used its services. Now it's being rewarded with legislation that makes the use of one of its products manditory. If this proposed legislation passes, Aristotle will soon be able to add sexual orientation -- and other hangups -- to the dossiers it creates on U.S. citizens.

Here are a list of links that discuss Aristotle and its questionable (and occasionally illegal) business practices:

About Aristotle's illegal purchase of voter information
http://fairfaxcountyprivacycouncil.o...20041.html.htm

Pop-up Politicos
-- OR --
Privacy Peeping-Aristotles
http://www.lowbrowlowdown.com/9.14.shtml

Data Mining of Voter Information
http://www.ombwatch.org/article/arti.../255?TopicID=1

For Sale: The American Voter
http://www.wired.com/news/print/0,1294,61543,00.html

So read and discuss. But more importantly spread the word to anyone willing to listen.

[Doctor Dre]

Woah this is ... not cool at all New world order comming into place

[Lee]

Thats definately a worrying thing, i just curious though, wouldnt this break any privacy protection laws? (the registry thing i talking about not the tax).

Regards,

Lee

[Matt D]

Thats definately a worrying thing, i just curious though, wouldnt this break any privacy protection laws? (the registry thing i talking about not the tax).

Regards,

Lee

I think it varies from state to state and country to country. But if we don't already have privacy laws on the books, we should create them. That Fairfax link describes how easy it is to get a SS# using public records. And the Wired article says they were able to purchase two sets of voter lists from Aristole using the names Condolezza Rice and Britney Spears. This law would make us all more vulnerable to identity theft by creating a new market for a service that collects personal information.

If credit card companies would put an "over 18" or "over 21" designation in our account info we could solve the age verification problem without having to set up invasive registries containing sensitive information.