In the midst of revelations
of NSA’s ferreting away loads of personal information and metadata
about Americans, those who were apathetic about the whole scandal
turned to the typical “I have nothing to hide” argument. I noted
why folks should be concerned anyway in a
piece a few months ago that was reprinted in our October
issue. In
short, one reason even the totally innocent should worry about who
is collecting their data is because even people in position of
authority may have dangerous plans that have nothing to do with
their job duties.

Case in point: A Miami officer used a police database to steal
the identities of 1,000 people in order to engage in tax fraud.
From the
Miami Herald:

A Miami cop who stole 1,000 identities from a police database to
score fraudulent income-tax refunds was found guilty in federal
court Thursday.

Malinsky Bazile, 28, collected about $140,000 from the scam in
2011-12.

Bazile, who joined the Miami Police Department in 2008, was
immediately taken into custody while he awaits sentencing.

No, it’s not the NSA, but it’s an important reminder that we
don’t have control over which government officials see private
information about us, but government officials are no more immune
to using that information for corrupt purposes than private
hackers.

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