Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Illicit Info Databases and Reaction to Them

Earlier this week, El Universal reported that enormous databases of personal information, ranging from phone numbers to vehicle numbers, are for sale in Tepito, the infamous Mexico City neighborhood that functions as a little slice of the Tri-Border Area in the middle of DF. The memory sticks on which the information costs around $12,000, according to the report. This provoked an apology yesterday from Leo Zuckermann, who last week had chastised Mexicans who didn't register their cell phones because they didn't have faith in the government's ability to handle the personal info responsibly.

He followed that up today with a column wondering why this isn't a greater scandal. I think Zuckermann's faith (and mine) that stuff like that this shouldn't and won't happen (at least, not often) is part of the explanation; I imagine for lots of Mexicans this just confirms their worst suspicions.

2 comments:

jd said...

Dark humor from Miguel Carbonell today:
"Ahora bien, dado el constante “trasvase” que existe entre los cuerpos policiacos y el crimen organizado, la posesión de las bases de datos en manos de la policía puede resultar la vía más corta para que se hagan con ellas grupos mafiosos de todo tipo. Costaría creerlo, si no estuviéramos en México."

pc said...

Yeah I think that's a pretty common reaction, especially that last part. It's hard to begrudge anyone their cynicism at this point.