Police on Tuesday said they have arrested a worker at the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) on Staten Island, for allegedly trying to use the work computer to get a customer’s personal information and ask her out on a date.
According to the New York State Inspector General’s office, Peter Grosseto, 29, has been charged with the felony charge of Computer Trespass and the misdemeanor charges of Unauthorized Use of a Computer and Official Misconduct.
Investigators claim that Grosseto used the work computer system to look up the name and phone number of a customer – without her knowledge – who was being served by another DMV staffer.
He allegedly did it 3 times. Then, police say, Grosseto called the woman at home, pretending to be a DMV quality assurance rep.
He ultimately admitted he was calling to ask her out on a date.
Inspector General Leahy Scott said that Grosseto’s alleged behavior was unprofessional:
This defendant set aside any semblance of professionalism and illegally accessed State resources to satisfy his own interests and harass a customer with unwelcome advances. I will not tolerate any government employee’s violation of the public trust or violation of any citizen’s privacy and dignity.
Grosseto’s bosses aren’t too happy about it, either.
DMV Executive Deputy Commissioner Terri Egan:
There is no responsibility we take more seriously at DMV than safeguarding the personal information of our customers. When personal information is compromised, we take swift action – especially when a DMV employee is involved.
Grosseto’s been suspended without pay “to ensure he can no longer abuse his position,” Egan said.
He is, of course, innocent until proved guilty.
If Grosseto is guilty, he’s sure not alone. After investigating cops who misuse access to personal information, the Associated Press on Wednesday published a report finding that police across the US run unauthorized searches on confidential databases for purposes that include revenge and stalking.
Calling a stranger for a date, using a phone number and a name she never agreed to give you, might sound kind of cute. Harmless. Easy to laugh off.
But the AP story about police who abuse their positions to dig out data on people makes clear that government employees who do this aren’t just unprofessional: they can be downright dangerous.
One example is an Ohio officer who pleaded guilty last year to having looked up information on an ex-girlfriend and to stalking her.
The AP quoted Alexis Dekany, the woman he stalked:
It’s personal. It’s your address. It’s all your information, it’s your Social Security number, it’s everything about you.
And when they use it for ill purposes to commit crimes against you – to stalk you, to follow you, to harass you… it just becomes so dangerous.
Law enforcement officials have tried to stem the number of times that these betrayals of trust occur. Unfortunately, it’s well-nigh impossible to differentiate between legitimate database inquiries and those that are self-serving.
What can they do?
Some departments have tried increasing field audits.
The Miami-Dade police department is now conducting quarterly audits in which officers can be randomly asked to explain searches. Also, a sergeant’s duties have been expanded to include daily reviews of proper usage and troubleshooting, Maj. Christopher Carothers of the professional compliance bureau told the AP.
But at the end of the day, for better or (often for) worse, it looks like we’re relying on professionals acting like professionals as we trust them with our personal information.
Billy Reuben
This is one of the major concerns with allowing authorities a back door into encrypted communications. Fallible human beings will have access to seemingly benign personal information that they can abuse in their positions of trust and authority, often without consequences. And all for a demonstrably repeated proven insignificant to non-existent benefit.
George Orwell, call your office.
Matt
But did he get the date!?!?
Rick
Well, not the one he was hoping for. Got one with his boss and law enforcement, to be followed by one with the judge and then the warden.
delayedthoughtengineering
Trust is a funny thing. It’s rarely kept on measure, but frequently assumed. Really, only those who have been taken or those who take advantage of others understand the implications of broken trust. We see this importance in security, and yet, it’s very difficult to help someone understand the vitally important issue of trust.
ejhonda
It happens all the time and probably far more frequently than folks realize. The challenge is to put auditing in place that alerts on record access outside of one’s duties, but depending on the job duties of the individual, they may have the need for wide access to PII as part of their job. The stories I could tell…
Tom
In the US, IRS employees cannot look at tax returns unless they are directly involved in a case involving those returns (probably the reason Trump’s tax returns have not been leaked). I have a friend who works for the IRS, who told me doing this is a pretty serious offense. Meanwhile, US voter registration files are public information; the records include DOB, address, and party affiliation. That should be enough to help you decide if you want to date someone.
Mark
I think this isn’t just an issue with catching staff who abuse access though. It’s also about taking organisations to task for not adequately training staff on Information Governance policies including inappropriate access to information systems. A lot of employers including Civil Servant/Central & Local Government managers don’t seem to appreciate that this is their responsibility and it’s not difficult to implement a training regime along with review dates and training uptake auditing.
You’d probably be very surprised at how many staff who misuse these systems honestly reply “I didn’t know that I was doing anything wrong” or “well nobody told me I shouldn’t do that” and that’s a management failing as well as being a defence that defence/employment lawyers would take advantage of
Anonymous
In life there’s always one bad apple but here in the United States he still has to be proven guilty in civil service every year you get updates on all policies involving these things