Chicago Data Drop

Well, I don't know if Zelchenko will be elected as alderman this spring, maybe that's too much to hope for, but if not, he would be a good hire for the city or county. Right now he is working for them for free. After figuring out last October that voters' social security numbers were at risk on a government website, now he finds that a slew of CDs with the sensitive data have been handed out to alderman and candidates. Sun Times:

Zelchenko discovered voters' Social Security numbers on a so-called "Ward Work" CD, which is supposed to contain voter names and addresses and is given on request to anyone affiliated with an aldermanic campaign.

The board claims that only Zelchenko and one other aldermanic candidate mistakenly received the sensitive data since 2003. But in investigating queries from the Chicago Sun-Times, board officials found out about the other 100-plus CDs, spokesman Tom Leach said. Social Security numbers were inadvertently included on those discs, which were created by the board in the wake of the 2003 fire at 69 W. Washington, where it maintained computers with voter records.

"We couldn't maintain our voter-registration system, so they downloaded the whole file for committeemen and aldermen," Leach said.

Records on the CDs contain information about 2.2 million active and inactive voters, but only 1.3 million of the records contain Social Security numbers.

Only 1.3 million, well that's a relief!