ATF gave away my confidential information

B

BarrelBurns

Inactive
So the atf sent me an email about FEAM, and cc'd registered eform users email. Email addresses beginning g and ending with h. I thought this was supposed to be confidential information.
 
I don't know what FEAM is, but the confidentiality of information is governed by a variety of statutes. For example, I may not like giving out my home address, and I may consider it "confidential information," but that doesn't make it so. If I'm involved in an auto accident, the police report (which will ordinarily contain my home address) is public record. Almost anybody with even the vaguest of clues about public records can get a copy.

You haven't told us what information they gave out, other than probably your email address, so there's no way for us to tell if it's really "confidential information" yet.
 
Unless they gave away your social security number or proprietary information, your name and address is public information. The only reason CCW holders aren't released is a law says not to.
 
I got a letter from the Federal Office of Personnel Management informing me that all of the confidential background information the federal government had gathered on me in the course of two background investigations for government clearances had been stolen from their computer system.

Welcome to the world of federal government incompetence and lack of adequate computer security.
 
Last edited:
>I got a letter from the Federal Office of Personnel Management informing me that all of the confidential background information the federal government had gathered on me in the course of two background investigations for government clearances had been stolen from their computer system.<

Yeah, that happened months ago, my info included. If I remember right, it was the Chinese. You should get a paid for one year coverage from some company that monitors your private information to see if it's breached.
 
You should get a paid for one year coverage from some company that monitors your private information to see if it's breached.
Click to expand...

Actually, it's three years.

I'm still not feeling warm and fuzzy....what happens after three years? The data is still out in cyberspace possibly getting circulated and can be used at any time for the rest of my life.

I have to pay a monitoring service for the remainder of my life? Not quite a fair trade. I did the classified work for them and now I'm being penalized in perpetuity?
 
PPI can mean different things to different entities. To the guberment, your name & address is public, however, to a retailer, PPI is your name and home address. Many publicized data breaches aren't of CC or SS Numbers.
 
Many publicized data breaches aren't of CC or SS Numbers.
Click to expand...

Uh huh...well, in my case the letter stated all information they had collected including date of birth, place of birth, schools attended, all residence addresses, social security number, bank account numbers, etc. Everything I had to disclose for the clearances.

The data breach also included all of the information they had collected on my wife in the course of background investigations which involved the same type of information.

As I said...I'm not feeling warm and fuzzy...

Passwords, encrypted drives, port filtering, port blocking, etc. - standard things you'd do with computer systems storing sensitive information? Apparently too much work for the federal government.

Which is why the OP's consternation with his email being part of a group email is nothing compared to what can be disclosed due to government incompetence.
 
Last edited:
I got a letter from the Federal Office of Personnel Management informing me that all of the confidential background information the federal government had gathered on me in the course of two background investigations for government clearances had been stolen from their computer system.

Welcome to the world of federal government incompetence and lack of adequate computer security.
Click to expand...

I got nailed also. On top of all my personal info, the Chinese have my finger prints too.
 
I started a thread back in April concerning Your 4473. It was a poll inquiring about what I considered to be confidential information. Apparently the data on that form is not federally protected and as such can be dealt with however the holder sees fit.

As it turns out, there are a myriad of government forms that contain information that is not covered under the privacy act.
 
Passwords, encrypted drives, port filtering, port blocking, etc. - standard things you'd do with computer systems storing sensitive information? Apparently too much work for the federal government.
Click to expand...
Only stop a budding high schooler.
If it makes you feel better, I'd be surprised if the Chinese didn't already have access to that information in the first place.
 
You and me both Buckhorn. The problem with fingerprints, is someone will figure out how to scam the system, or put people at crime scenes etc.

the hackers are pretty creative.
 
Is this the letter you got, OP?

http://tacticalgunreview.com/atf-eforms-update/

FEAM = Firearms and Explosives Application Module

It is directly related to ATF, so I am not sure what you believe was given away or sold by ATF...

ADDING:

AHH!

I get it now...You are ticked because your eMail address is CC'd to other people...

There is no other identifier with the address, and no indication to the others on the email that your address is current, or in service...
 
I get it now...You are ticked because your eMail address is CC'd to other people...

There is no other identifier with the address, and no indication to the others on the email that your address is current, or in service..


^^ this. The email addresses (g-h at least) of everyone who has used eforms is now not so personal. 80% of which I'm sure have spendy nfa items they don't care for everyone to know about. Sorry, maybe I could have worded it to make a bit more sense. I had no idea things like this have happened before. Ten fold. I really don't care who has my email address, I don't open anything I don't recognize anyway. May seem petty to most, I just love how you feel so secure reading "Your personal information is confidential, and will not be shared with anyone" banners.
 
Don't feel badly.
Our state DMV records were sold to a marketing company, social security numbers included.
They don't do it any more thanks to the legislature, but it's out there, non the less.
Governments may be their own worse enemy.
 
"I'm still not feeling warm and fuzzy....what happens after three years? The data is still out in cyberspace possibly getting circulated and can be used at any time for the rest of my life.

I have to pay a monitoring service for the remainder of my life? Not quite a fair trade. I did the classified work for them and now I'm being penalized in perpetuity?"
Not to mention that these monitoring services don't actually work all that well (by which I mean, any breach still ends up being a pain, still ends up costing time & money, and still isn't a whole lot better than just dealing with the banks/creditors, which you'll be doing anyway if you want good results).

Also, exactly how is it not the fed's liability if I ever have any sort of loss as a result of this breach in the future? Screw the LifeLock nonsense; there should really be a big class action lawsuit brought over this (gross incompetence of administration, or something) as there would in any other scenario the government wasn't directly at the center of.

To the OP, emails aren't usually confidential; usually upstanding businesses agree not to give it away to everybody with dollars, but the ATF isn't exactly an upstanding business, as we all know.

Also, who the heck takes a self-evident name like 'eForms' and changes it to the meaningless anagram of a federal agency even more besmirched than the ATF (FEMA)?

TCB
 
Tell me about it. Making an entirely new system that states it's more user friendly isn't off to a good start when a person has to look up the acronym every time. I wonder how they define it as a "module" I bet they come up with the acronym first, then try to decide what it stands for.



"Also, exactly how is it not the fed's liability if I ever have any sort of loss as a result of this breach in the future? Screw the LifeLock nonsense; there should really be a big class action lawsuit brought over this (gross incompetence of administration, or something) as there would in any other scenario the government wasn't directly at the center of."

My thoughts exactly. I think of it like the hackers that divulged persons info from the cheating website. It's not just the email, it's where it came from. Now everyone might know that I'm an nfa item(s) owner. Haha. As if I haven't already told everyone I know.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top