Daily updates on privacy stories in the news.

« Increasing Criticism of RFID Technology Use | Main | France Plans to Screen Visa-Seekers' DNA »

Federal Agent Charged With Using Federal Database to Track Girlfriend

A special agent with the Department of Commerce has been charged with unlawfully accessing a database within the Department of Homeland Security to stalk his former girlfriend and her family. Benjamin Robinson, 40, of Oakland, Calif., was indicted by a federal grand jury in San Jose Wednesday in connection with allegations that he accessed a government database known as the Treasury Enforcement Communications System (TECS) at least 163 times to track a woman's travel patterns. He is being charged with making a false statement to a government agency, and unlawfully obtaining information from a protected computer.

Federal Agent Indicted For Using Homeland Security Database To Stalk Girlfriend, InformationWeek, September 20, 2007.