NYT - Some Sympathy for Paris Hilton

Clipping

In fact, Ms. Hilton's data woes were one of two privacy scandals that hit the media last week. The other involved ChoicePoint Inc., one of the largest buyers and sellers of personal data. The company, which is based in Alpharetta, Ga., announced that criminals posing as legitimate buyers of data had purchased sensitive financial information on about 145,000 people. Hundreds of cases of identity theft have already been documented, and law enforcement officials have made at least one arrest in the case. The flood of illicit data is especially embarrassing for ChoicePoint, which happens to offer other companies services to help determine whether potential business partners are legitimate.