I can't even think of a comment about this article that doesn't contain "adult language" hence, I am not going to bother making a comment. Read and draw your own conclusions.

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Can consumer data profile terrorists?

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Top financial companies are working to figure out how to use public and private consumer databases to catch possible terrorists -- and whether the information banks are up to the task.

The group, holding its first organizational meeting Wednesday, is to explore how to use credit reports, marketing databases and other information for domestic security.

"We have to think about how to use information to create profiles about what a bad guy might look like," says Marty Abrams of the Center for Information Policy Leadership at the Atlanta law firm Hunton & Williams.

Representatives of the credit card companies American Express and Visa, investment firms JP Morgan and Fidelity Investments and lender CapitalOne are expected to participate.

Abrams says the consortium was started to combat identity theft but became interested in using the vast amounts of consumer data held by financial companies to benefit the nation's domestic security.

Information in such consumer databases includes whether an American is a homeowner, has a job, owns a car and subscribes to certain magazines.

'That's how business works' The group will not push for particular laws, Abrams says, and focuses instead on helping companies agree how best to use data. He doesn't rule out the idea that companies might lobby on their own.

"This is business folks coming together to talk about how we think about these issues," Abrams said. "If companies go off and do advocacy based on what they learn here, that's how business works."

Abrams says the group will try to figure out how the companies' information can be used in a way that's both reliable and respectful of privacy, then take their findings to government officials in about six months.

'Anything but sending you a catalog' Privacy advocates question whether consumer databases would be useful.

"The history is that large data aggregation and integration is not done well," says Larry Ponemon of the Privacy Council, a company that counsels corporations on protecting privacy.

"If it's used for anything but sending you a catalog, we may not be able to do the things we want to do," he says. Ponemon's firm is part of the Authentication Program group.

Abrams' consortium has confirmed 17 companies attending this week's meeting. Two of those listed, however -- computer maker IBM and Internet service provider Earthlink -- say they're still debating whether to join.

http://www.cnn.com/2002/TECH/industr....ap/index.html