ChoicePoint is not a household name, nor do we aspire to be. What we do seek is to help create a safer, more secure world through the responsible use of information.

- Derek Smith, CEO, ChoicePoint1

In late January 2005, Derek Smith was pondering his next steps. As CEO of ChoicePoint, a leading U.S. personal "data broker," Smith was a vigorous advocate of using information technology to combat fraud, crime, and terrorism in an increasingly dangerous society. In one of two books published in 2004, he had argued that information technology, properly used, could help restore what America had lost-the community of small-town life and the security that comes from knowing one's neighbors.2 With this vision, ChoicePoint had amassed data on "nearly every adult in America"3 that it then sold, in various forms, to a wide range of corporate, government, and individual clients.

Now, however, Smith was on the defensive. Once the public learned that ChoicePoint had mistakenly released data on thousands of Americans (the company would later put the number at some 162,000), critics would portray ChoicePoint not as the protector of American security but as one of its biggest threats. The breach had exposed thousands of individuals to potential identity theft and would no doubt generate another flurry of congressional proposals to regulate the largely unregulated personal data industry.4 Before the news broke (disclosure was required by California law), Smith needed a plan to strengthen data protection within the company and a clear position on data-protection regulation-an increasingly important issue throughout the world.

Attachment:- Choice Point.rar