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Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Tales From the Re-Registration

Now that we're a week into re-registration, are there any stories you have to share?
Posted by Save The School at 9:21 AM
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9 comments:

Jon said...

I haven't gone yet. I know this much - when I do go, I will not let an uncredentialed volunteer see any of my or my child's information. Using volunteers for this is just wrong on many levels.

And is it true that one of the volunteers is the spouse of a recently appointed school board member who tends to vote the way Bill "give me the names and addresses of the Special Ed kids" Hellmann, CPA does?

August 12, 2008 at 10:20 AM
Anonymous said...

I went to Grandview first, because the letter states any of the schools. There was a letter on the door that said to go to HS.
The spouse of which you speak was the one that took my info.
Also, I think the "excuse" is being used that the staff is here, but they just stepped away for the moment. She stepped away longer then a moment when I was there.
I highlighted all my information (easily visible)on the paperwork that was needed. ALSO, I don't like the fact that they write down your drivers license number.

August 12, 2008 at 11:48 AM
Anonymous said...

Were they wearing brown shirts and arm bands?

Did they goose-step into the room?

Was there a large portrait of the Emproer hanging on the wall, flanked by banners?

Is the following scenario familiar?

"In a highly structured and bureaucratic state, the government has installed extreme and highly counterproductive measures for which to track down [illegal students]. A "bug" in the system mixes up the last name of a[n illegal student] (Tuttle) and an innocent man (ironically enough Buttle). Thus, the wrong man (Buttle) is arrested and killed while Tuttle continues to roam free."

Watch Here

August 12, 2008 at 12:22 PM
Anonymous said...

My husband and I went one evening last week and were treated to Al Radosti himself and another woman that I didn't recognize sitting at the table. Two staff members were sitting at a table in the back corner. Upon completing our paperwork, we proceeded to walk right past the two volunteers. The woman called out "uh, hello?" to us as if to inquire what we were doing by bypassing them. My comment to them was "we are much more comfortable giving our personal information to staff members." The woman responded with an "oh, ok." We then gave our info to Midge, she put it in her pile and we were on our way. I urge parents to speak up and insist on having a staff member process the re-registration paperwork. Good luck and let us know how you make out!

August 12, 2008 at 6:37 PM
Jon said...

So now we've got sitting school board members involved in re-registration? Talk about yer "double-standards"!

August 12, 2008 at 8:03 PM
Anonymous said...

Got a driver's license number? Get the info.

Why would you give your info to people not bound by confidential agreements?

BestPeopleSearch.com

Abika.com

PublicPeopleFinder.com

Don't forget this

Pennsylvania Yanks Voter Site After Data Leak
A Web programming flaw on the State of Pennsylvania's Web site has exposed sensitive voter registration data.

Robert McMillan, IDG News Service
PC World, Wednesday, March 19, 2008; 10:19 AM

With voting in Pennsylvania's presidential primary just a month away, the state was forced to pull the plug on a voter registration Web site Tuesday after it was found to be exposing sensitive data about voters in the state.

The problem lay in anonline voter registration application formthat was designed to simplify the task of registering to vote. State residents used it to enter their information on the Web site, which then generated a printable form that could be mailed to state election officials. Pennsylvania's Department of State disabled the registration form late Tuesday after being informed of the vulnerability by IDG News Service.

Because of a Web programming error, the Web site was allowing anyone on the Internet to view the forms, which contained data such as the voter's name, date of birth, driver's license number and political party affiliation. On some forms, the last four digits of social security numbers could also be seen.
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"Upon learning of this situation, the Department of State acted immediately to disable the specific page," said Department of State Spokeswoman Leslie Amoros in an e-mail message.

"The Department is reviewing the facts to determine how this information became available," she said. "We are also taking all necessary steps to correct the situation and are implementing processes aimed to prevent future occurrences"

The flaw was firstreportedby a reader of Digg.com, who stumbled upon the bug after filling out a voter registration form.

"Being a security conscious programmer, I decided to test," wrote the reader, identified only as mtg169, "Very bad PA...very very bad!"

The bug did not expose all registration data, just the information supplied by those who used the Web site's online form. About 30,000 voter registration records appeared to be available on the site.

"That's bad, really bad," said Jeremiah Grossman, chief technology officer with Web security vendor WhiteHat Security. In an e-mail, he said he hadn't seen this type of error on a voter registration Web site before, but that it was caused by a common Web programming error. "We've seen a great many vulnerabilities like this in the course of doing out work.

Many counties offeronline accessto voter registration data, so that residents can check on their status, but these databases typically remove data that could be misused, such as date of birth, social security numbers and driver's license numbers.

The last four digits of a social security number are often used as a security question, required to access certain types of billing accounts, and a skilled identity thief could use a driver's license number, name and address in a check forging scheme, according to privacy experts.

"There are so many alarming things about this," said Kim Alexander, president of California Voter Foundation, which hasstudiedvoter privacy across the U.S. "It just seems to be a case where you have government agencies using sophisticated technology in thoughtless ways."

With an important presidential primary set to occur in Pennsylvania on April 22, it's particularly worrisome that this data could have been accessed by anyone, she added. "All kinds of dirty tricks could be played," she said. "In heated campaigns we've seen cases where someone will call a whole bunch of voters and tell them that the election date has been changed."

While states may make these databases available for political purposes, their use is strictly controlled and sensitive information like driver's license numbers is removed. With the data on the Web, this is no longer possible, Alexander said. "You lose all those protections when you have this data available on the Internet."

"It's unprecedented that this information would be so freely available on the Internet," she added.

Ironically, with many voters already avoiding voter registration because of privacy concerns, Pennsylvania's efforts to help voters may end up backfiring, said Beth Givens, director of the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse "When word gets out, it will be one of those things that will deter people from registering to vote," she said.

August 12, 2008 at 8:54 PM
Anonymous said...

Rumor has it that a volunteer for the re-registration was selling jewelry as well as taking parents' information. Anyone see that first hand? Seems improper.

August 15, 2008 at 1:32 PM
Jon said...

Isn't all solicitation within the borough supposed to be confined to Bridge St.?

August 15, 2008 at 2:16 PM
Peter said...

would that jewelry happen to be "eye candy"?

August 22, 2008 at 6:26 AM

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