Privacy Breaches Pay Off for Someone

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! :)