Here is some information that will be of interest to those who work primarily insurance defense. Also would be of interest for those among us who put out newsletters. Permission to reprint granted to any member with acknowledgement given to author.
Privacy group complains to FBI about insurance industry database
By Nate Lenow
copyright 1996 (Written June 10, 1996)
A privacy advocate group named American Privacy Watch took issue by letter with FBI Director Louis Freeh for allowing one of his agents to serve on the board of the National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB. The agent is Charles L. Owens who is chief of the Financial Crimes Section.
American Privacy Watch (APW) is against the NICB plan to include in it's database "every property and casualty insurance claim made by every American citizen". APW's concern is that individuals will not have access to this database to correct any errors. "This means that every American who files a property and casualty claim is automatically entered into a crime bureau database in which they would not have access to their own files," according to APW Executive Director Steve Richards. Richards predicted the NICB plan would "frighten innocent policyholders from making rightful claims, resulting in a windfall of fear for insurers. Policyholders already do not report millions of dollars in claims for fear of having their policies canceled; imagine what effect the fear of being wrongly arrested - or worse - will have." The privacy group believes that law enforcement agencies will also have access to this database.
In the letter APW claims that allowing an active duty FBI agent to serve on this board may violate ethics regulations set up by the federal government. Copies of the letter were also sent to Attorney General Janet Reno, Senator Orrin G. Hatch (R-UT), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and Stephen Potts, director of the Office of Government Ethics.
American Privacy Watch is a division of Credential Services International and between the two groups reports to have a membership of 600,000 in every state of the United States.
Here is a followup on the previous article written June 25, 1996.
Privacy group reports removal FBI official from NICB board.
By Nate Lenow
copyright 1996
The privacy advocacy group American Privacy Watch is reporting that a FBI official serving on the board of the National Insurance Crime Bureau has resigned as a result of their actions taken with the US Dept. of Justice.
The privacy group now applauds FBI Director Louis J. Freeh for removing his chief of the Financial Crimes section from the NICB board. Citing this action as "a welcome affirmation of government ethics policy".
American Privacy Watch(APW) is opposing the NICB plan to expand and improve upon it's internal database. APW makes a comparison with the NICB database and the current "filegate" scandal of the Clinton White House by asking how the FBI can "feel `victimized'" by that incident and not the NICB database expansion plan. "Why should a private `crime' database have access to files on more citizens than the FBI -- without any public oversight whatsoever or accountability under such laws as the Privacy Act?" states the group's Executive Director Steven Richards.