Privacy Digest

News that can impact your privacy.
Login/Register
What is OpenID?
  • Log in using OpenID
  • Cancel OpenID login
  • Create new account
  • Request new password
Home Blogs MacRonin's blog
    • FAQ
    • Wishlists
    • Contact
    • Categories/RSS

Bookmark Us

Bookmark Privacy Digest 
Bookmark This Page 

Syndicate

Syndicate content
more

Advertisements

Tracking System
GPS Tracking
Tracking System
Private Detectives
Quality Security Services in California
Fleet Management
Hosting

Popular content

Last viewed:

  • ISP filches open WiFi in fight against three-strikes law
  • NewYorkCountryLawyer Debates RIAA VP
  • Fairpoint Pledges To Violate Net Neutrality
  • Domestic human rights for the next president [ACS]
  • Development of the Right to Privacy [ACS]
  • CIA Invests in Social-Network Datamining (Schneier)
  • Rulings Leave Online Student Speech Rights Unresolved

tags in Topics

Activists Alert Companies Congress Copyright Court (US) Databases Data Mining Editorial EFF Entertainment Exploits Fourth Amendment Government Hmmm ID Infrastructure Law Enforcement Laws Politics Privacy Remember Reports Rights Security Software Spin Zone Surveillance Telecommunications Tracking
more tags

View blog authority
Congressional Research
Broadcast Flag

Ethics Committee Staffer Leaks Secrets On File-Sharing Network

Submitted by MacRonin on November 2, 2009 - 2:38pm
  • Activists
  • Congress
  • Data Breach
  • Government
  • Hmmm
  • Law Enforcement
  • P2P
  • Politics
  • Privacy
  • The Washington Post
  • The Washington Post

Ethics Committee Staffer Leaks Secrets On File-Sharing Network: Via Threat Level.

A staff member of the House Ethics Committee is being blamed for accidentally leaking a sensitive document over a peer-to-peer network from her home computer.

The 22-page, confidential document, listing the names of more than 30 lawmakers who are under investigation by the Ethics Committee and the Office of Congressional Ethics, found its way to the Washington Post after a now ex-employee inadvertently placed it in a file-sharing folder on her home computer, according to Politico.com.

Some of the probes involve congressional representatives linked to a now-defunct lobbying firm that was under criminal investigation by the Justice Department for issues related to defense spending and influence peddling. For example, seven lawmakers on the House Appropriations defense subcommittee are being looked at for steering federal money to the lobbying firm’s clients.

The document also revealed that the committee authorized subpoenas to the Justice Department, the National Security Agency and the FBI for “intercepted communications” regarding Rep. Jane Harman (D - California). As previously reported, Harman was allegedly caught in a 2005 wiretapped phone call discussing a quid-pro-quo arrangement. An unidentified Israeli operative allegedly asked her to influence an FBI investigation of two pro-Israel lobbyists in exchange for the agent’s help in helping Harman secure the chairmanship of the House Intelligence Committee, which Harman ultimately failed to get.

Rep. Maxine Waters (D - California), a high-ranking member of the House Financial Services Committee, was named in the Ethics Committee document as well in relation to her involvement with OneUnited Bank of Massachusetts.

In September 2008, Waters arranged for the bank to get a meeting with the Treasury Department to seek government money. OneUnited was subsequently a beneficiary in the Department’s bank bailout program. Waters’s husband owns about $250,000 in stock in OneUnited Bank.

The Committee referred to the document leaker as a “low-level” employee, and has launched an internal investigation into the handling of sensitive documents.

But as the Washington Post, sees it, the Ethics Committee should be grateful for the leak because it provides evidence that the committee doesn’t entirely ignore every ethics violation alleged against lawmakers.

“The ethics committee is one of the most secretive panels in Congress, and its members and staff members sign oaths not to disclose any activities related to its past or present investigations,” writes the Post. “Watchdog groups have accused the committee of not actively pursuing inquiries; the newly disclosed document indicates the panel is conducting far more investigations than it had revealed.”

Read Original Article:(Via Threat Level.)

Bookmark/Search this post with:
  • Twitter Twitter
  • Digg Digg
  • StumbleUpon StumbleUpon
  • Technorati Technorati
  • del.icio.us del.icio.us
  • Facebook Facebook
  • Furl Furl
  • LinkedIn LinkedIn
  • Yahoo Yahoo
  • MacRonin's blog
  • Add new comment

Recent blog posts

  • EFF Asks Court to Suppress Evidence Illegally Gathered From Password-Protected Phone
  • Google Superbowl Ad Explains The Need for Search Privacy
  • EFF Fights for Cell Phone Users' Privacy in Thursday Hearing
  • Identifying John Doe: It might be easier than you think
  • ShmooCon: Inside FarmVille's sinister underbelly
  • More Details on the Chinese Attack Against Google (Schneier)
  • The top 5 mistakes of privacy awareness programs
  • ShmooCon: P2P snoopers know what's in your wallet
  • Can you trust Chinese computer equipment?
  • Authors Guild: ‘To RIAA or Not to RIAA’
more

Performancing Metrics

Compilation © Copyright 1997-2010 Paul Hardwick, with Web Hosting provided by MacRonin.com.