Data Mining Project Benefits Investigators, Scares Privacy Experts

At any one time, some 750,000 pedophiles are prowling the Internet, the United Nations says. They might be lurking in chat rooms. Or swapping images of adults having sex with kids.

It's a virtual epidemic of child pornography, and to fight it, law enforcement officers from all over are converging on a cavernous building in South Florida. Here they have access to the most advanced technology for finding pedophiles.

But this isn't run by any government agency. The desks, computers, technology — all are provided free by a former drug smuggler named Hank Asher.

Called a "mad scientist'' by one employee, Asher has made a fortune collecting public records — deeds, lawsuits, voter registrations — and combining them into databases that can be invaluable in locating people. Plug a name into Accurint, Asher's best-known product, and you'll see addresses, possible relatives, licenses held.

It was Asher's technology that helped police find the Washington, D.C., snipers.

Now he is building a super computer and a database "a thousand times more powerful" than anything he has developed yet.

It's a project that worries privacy-rights advocates and other critics. They wonder if Asher's real reason for donating some of his technology to government agencies is to get access to confidential data like firearms registries, tax information, even health records — information that could be a boon to businesses and an unprecedented intrusion into the lives of millions of Americans.

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Houston Computer Forensics Expert Reinvents Career as "New Age" PI

A Houston computer forensics expert has changed his career in a surprising way. Gary Huestis is now a licensed private investigator for the state of the Texas.

Huestis, who is well-known in local computer IT circles, represents the new face of an old profession. “My new career path was literally born of the computer and Internet age,” said Huestis. “I am the last person in the world most people think would ever become a private investigator.”

The Private Security Board of the Texas Department of Public Safety recently licensed Huestis as a private investigator. He owns Houston-based EDiscovery Forensics, Inc. Since 1995, Huestis has also owned Houston Computing Services, a computer repair company.

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DOMINO'S SAYS CUSTOMER DATABASE TOO PRIVATE TO SHARE

Having an enormous database of customers, cell phone numbers and addresses from around the country, Domino's Pizza LLC is subject to speculation about abuse of that personal information.
One such article was in a CNET news article, The Internet, a Private Eye's Best Friend. A Brooklyn private investigator, Steven Rambam, observes in the article that the Internet is a goldmine for getting personal information. The article elaborates, "Rambam also gets information from marketing databases that gather information on people's buying habits and preferences from frequent-customer cards, surveys, product registrations, actual transactions, and other activities." It then quotes Rambam, saying, "Domino's has built the biggest consumer database in America, and the U.S. Marshals Service, the New York Police Department and collection agencies are using it to track people down."
Responding to a phone call from Blue MauMau and a follow-up email, Mr. Tim McIntyre, Vice President of Communications at Domino's, issued this statement a few minutes ago that such claims are simply not true.
"We do not sell or give away our customer lists to anyone, despite what this individual claims. He's grossly misinformed. Our customer lists are too important to us, and the trust we have with our customers is too valuable to break. There is no upside for us at all in sharing the information.
There have been a few instances in which our legal department has received subpoenas from law enforcement agencies who want to tie a specific address to a cell phone number. In those cases, we only provide that information - we do not share entire lists. Any business receiving a subpoena from a law enforcement agency is going to cooperate, of course. In the cases in which we have cooperated, the information has led to the arrest of drug dealers and murderers.For that, we will not apologize.
As for the accusation that we share information with collection agencies: again, false. Do we use this information to collect money owed to us? Yes, occasionally. That is the only time we would use that kind of information. We do not sell or share it with others.

Companies Keep Watch, Covertly

A blend of advanced technology, increased litigation and rising fears about trade secret theft and financial fraud is driving law firms and corporate counsel to the doors of former FBI agents and ex-prosecutors with a knack for solving crimes.

These private investigators report that calls for help from law firms and corporate general counsel have increased substantially in recent years.

Attorneys are looking for assistance on a wide range of problems, including: corporate espionage, intellectual property theft and workplace discrimination claims.

At the core of many of these problems, lawyers note, is a mountain of computer evidence too technical and too overwhelming for attorneys to dissect on their own.

"Most lawyers do not have the technological experience or the accounting expertise to do almost any of the stuff that these guys do," said attorney Alan Brudner, head of litigation and investigations of the U.S. division of UBS Securities LLC, an international financial services firm.

Brudner said that his reliance on former federal agents has grown in recent years. In his 13 years with UBS, he's gone from calling on private investigators only rarely to calling them once a month. He said that's largely the result of increased government regulation, investigations and inquiries into the banking industry.

"They're credible," he said of the hired help. "They've got experience. They know their way around the courthouse and understand how evidence is used and presented in court. There's always a value in talking to these guys."

Do Computer Snoops Need PI Licenses?

By now, we all know how the Recording Industry Association of America nabs alleged file sharers, more than 20,000 lawsuits and counting: Hired snoops from MediaSentry -- aka SafeNet -- log onto Kazaa, Limewire or other file sharing programs, peer into open share folders, take screen shots, download a few files and obtain the offending IP addresses.

But in a few states – Michigan, Texas, Florida, New York, Massachusetts, Oregon and Arizona -- the RIAA's investigators have come under attack by state governments or RIAA defendants. Reason: they are not licensed private investigators in their respective states. Michigan recently told (.pdf) MediaSentry it needed a license to continue practicing.

But demanding a private investigator's license doesn't make such sense for computer forensic work, according to the American Bar Association. In a recent report, the country's largest legal lobbying group urges the states to jettison the idea of, or licensing requirement for computer forensic specialists, especially since most state licensing boards don't demand education in such work

Houston Computer Forensics Firm Launches Partnership with Private Investigator to Uncover ‘Infidelity Secrets’ for Clients Facing Divorce

A Houston computer forensics firm has joined forces with noted private investigator Otis Owens to help desperate married clients find an answer to the painful question:

“Is my husband (or wife) having an affair?”

The new alliance between Owens and eDiscovery Forensics, Inc., “allows us to better service people who are going through the agony of a divorce,” says eDiscovery co-owner Gary Huestis. “We get to the truth by using the 21st century science of computer forensics – the recovery of deleted, damaged and otherwise hidden computer information,” says Huestis.