Mexican, Nicaraguan officials demand investigation into sales of citizens' personal data to Washington

By Lisa J. Adams, Boston.com-Associated Press, 4/14/2003 18:09

MEXICO CITY (AP) Mexican officials promised Monday to investigate a report that the personal data of Mexican voters and drivers was being sold to the U.S. government, without Mexicans' knowledge or permission.

Nicaragua's president also called for an investigation of the sale of citizens' identity files to a suburban Atlanta company, ChoicePoint Inc., which provides it to U.S. government agencies as reported by The Associated Press. The story made headlines in the region on Sunday.

''This is a particularly grave action, to sell confidential information and what's even more grave is that it has been sold to a foreign government,'' said Rep. Ricardo Moreno Bastida, a Mexican congressional liaison to the Federal Electoral Institute, or IFE, which oversees voter records.

Alberto Alonso, executive director of the IFE's Federal Voter Registry, said that if the report proves true the agency would ask the attorney general to investigate.

The AP had reported that the driving records of 6 million Mexico City residents and the country's entire voter registry 65 million people were sold to U.S. government agencies, allowing officials to track Mexicans entering and living in the United States.

The Nicaraguan president, Enrique Bolanos, said he ordered the Interior Ministry to investigate ''if a crime is being committed, and if so, to stop it.'' He said anyone found to have sold the data could be subject to severe penalties.

The Nicaraguan and Mexican databases were just a portion of digital dossiers that ChoicePoint told the AP it has collected on hundreds of millions of residents of 10 Latin American countries and sold to the U.S. government in the past 18 months.

ChoicePoint maintains it bought the data legally, under contracts with subcontractors who certified they followed privacy laws. The company will cooperate with any investigations by Mexico or other Latin governments, said James Lee, ChoicePoint's chief marketing officer.

The company also buys identity files from subcontractors in Colombia, Venezuela, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador. It also sells some data from Brazil and Argentina. It refuses to name the sellers or say where those parties obtained the data.

U.S. officials say the data from Mexico and elsewhere could help law enforcers and the travel industry identify potential terrorists, or simply unmask fake identity documents. Immigrant advocates in the United States have said the files could make entering the United States more difficult for Latin Americans.

In Mexico, a similar accusation that private voter information was being sold to foreign governments arose in 1998, but an investigation was inconclusive, Alonso of the voter registry said.

Both federal and Mexico City laws prohibit public distribution of personal data contained on voter rolls and driver registration lists, noted Rep. Ranulfo Marquez, a congressional liaison to the IFE.

Marquez called for an investigation and a formal diplomatic protest with the United States. He said authorities of all of the Latin American countries involved should launch an international investigations.

Marquez said he suspected the United States leaked the information as ''part of a diplomatic strategy'' to pressure Mexico at a time when relations have been strained by Mexico's refusal to back the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, he said.

Moreno noted that later this week, Mexico will be watched when it votes on an annual U.N. resolution censuring the government of Cuban President Fidel Castro for its oppression of political movements.

In past years, Mexico, a longtime ally of Cuba, has abstained from the vote. But last year, the pro-U.S. administration of President Vicente Fox supported the resolution.

''This information (on personal data) has been made public precisely at a time when relations are difficult and when the vote on Cuba is approaching,'' Moreno said.

AP Technology Writer Jim Krane in New York contributed to this report.