ChoicePoint Inc., a national provider of identification and credential verification services, says it will send an additional 110,000 statements to people informing them of possible identity theft after a group of well-organized criminals was able to obtain personal information on almost 140,000 consumers through the company.

According to a statement on the ChoicePoint Web site, the incident was not the result of its systems being hacked but rather caused by criminals posing as legitimate businesses seeking to gain access to personal information. Read story…

Well, the whole world of data mining is a mixed bag, I suppose – I mean, I certainly appreciate that they’ve apparently “helped find 822 missing children.”

But with that kind of access and the power it entails comes an equally ferocious responsibility to the security of that data, and the idea that ChoicePoint could be tricked tells me all I need to know to shut them down. I don’t care how clever the criminals are – you know they’re coming for you, as surely as you would if you had gold bullion hidden in your basement, and there is simply no excuse, ever, for getting punked. Period.

I’m glad they’re helping in the fight against terrorists. I’m glad they’re helping in the hunt for serial killers. But if it turns out that their malfeasance results in my identify being stolen, I assure you I’ll be talking to the meanest lawyer I can find.