According to an article in the April 5 Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the newly hired Chief Privacy Officer at embattled data broker ChoicePoint will make a $500,000 annual salary, with guaranteed bonuses of nearly another half-million in the first year alone.

According to the article, the newly named CPO is Carol DiBattiste, formerly a deputy administrator for the Transportation Security Administration. Since the TSA has such a track record of competence, I’m sure ChoicePoint is on its way to curing all its past mistakes. :-S Of course it surely doesn’t hurt ChoicePoint that the TSA is a prime customer for its databases full of ill-gotten information about you. Revolving doors of government are nothing if not lucrative!

I have very mixed feelings about this news. On the one hand, having been the world’s first corporate Chief Privacy Officer, I am very proud that this position is being recognized for the kind of value it can bring to a company facing risk in the privacy arena. But at the same time, it’s a bit disconcerting that a company with such enormous problems would turn to a veteran of an agency that has distinguished itself as being befuddled, short-sighted, and singularly unimpressed with the privacy rights of the average citizen.

That said, I know nothing about Ms. DiBattiste and her career. For all I know, she could have been the only sane person in that whole organization and was single-handedly responsible for keeping TSA from being a bigger disaster area than it already is. I guess time will tell. So, for what it’s worth, congratulations to Carol DiBattiste! Great work if you can get it! :)