| Sign up | Log in | Forgot Password |
Gaming Board inadvertently releases personal information of 1,200 citizens
By Ed Goppelt
Monday, 09/11/06
(1157988978802)
The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGCB), which has zealously guarded the privacy of the 22 casino applicants, appears to have inadvertently released personal information such as phone numbers and home addresses for 1,200 members of the public.
The PGCB posted public comments about the casinos on its web site, last Thursday September 7, as part of its public input process. The personal information of the public appeared to have been erased from the comments. However, a sharp eyed web designer noticed that the public's personal information, though covered, can be easily viewed using software available in most offices and alerted Hallwatch.
Using the full strength version of Adobe Acrobat software, Hallwatch was able to verify that the white rectangles used to obscure commentor's phone numbers and addresses could be easily deleted. The Board's attempt to cover up information in its computer files are the computer equivalent of using yellow post-it notes to conceal confidential information: anyone with any gumption can read what's underneath.
"I'm annoyed because it's a violation of privacy for me," said Barbara Tantaros of Emmaus. "When I sent in my comment I did not give them permission to put my name, address and phone number on-line of all things." View this page from Tantaros' comments with her personal information shown as blurred text.
"I feel that it's a bit of intimidation so if you make a comment you have no idea who's going to get your name and address," said Tantaros.
Tantaros, who attended the public input hearing for her community, didn't think the Gaming Board would consider her opinion when it decides where to locate the casinos. "To me that hearing was just for show. They didn't take our comments to heart. They've got their minds made up," said Tantaros.
David Henkelmann of Bethlehem said that as a retired person he didn't consider himself endangered by having his personal information posted on the Board's web site, but "People with a different opinion could contact me. I'm not against an exchange of ideas but it should be open and above board in the way it is set up."
It is unlikely that the PGCB's to failure to adequately safeguard the public's privacy amounts to anything more than bad manners by the Board. The Gaming Act makes it a crime to release confidential information about a casino applicant, but not about a member of the public. "ANY PERSON WHO VIOLATES THIS SUBSECTION SHALL BE ADMINISTRATIVELY DISCIPLINED BY DISCHARGE, SUSPENSION OR OTHER FORMAL DISCIPLINARY ACTION AS THE BOARD DEEMS APPROPRIATE," states section 1206(f) of the Gaming Act.
The Board appears not to have taken even the simplest measures to safeguard the public's privacy. Acrobat software allows users to lock down sensitive documents with a password, thus preventing changes. In Hallwatch's opinion turning on the security necessary to defeat unauthorized viewing of personal information would have probably taken Board staff an additional one minute per computer file to put in place.
Director of Communications Nicholas Hays is the official responsible for the PGCB web site. Hays did not immediately return a phone call and an email requesting his comment for this story.
The Board's carelessness with public information once again raises the question of whether the Board treats the public with the same care as it does the casino industry. According to the Board's mission statement it is supposed to put the safety of the public ahead of the state's need for money. Its first duty, according to the mission statement, is "to protect the citizens of Pennsylvania." The last duty listed is "to achieve the financial objectives of the Commonwealth."
However, the Gaming Board has a whopper of a conflict of interest which may prevent it from ever putting the needs of the public first: Pennsylvania's 54% tax rate has made it a partner in the very industry it is charged with regulating. And not just any partner, too. The state's tax rate, the highest in the nation, means that the state will make more money from the casinos than the majority partners of the casinos themselves. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania reportedly expects to take in $1 billion annually from the 14 casinos planned for the state.
Already there are indications that the PGCB may be putting the interests of the casino industry ahead of those of the public. The PGCB has a history of shielding the casino applicants from public scrutiny. It has withheld information about the casino applicants that would have been of great use to residents who must negotiate with the casinos proposed for their communities (e.g., the casino's previous record of meeting its commitments to community groups and municipal governments).
In mid-August, the Gaming Board declined to release ownership stakes in casinos arguing that its hands were tied by the confidentiality requirements of the Gaming Act.
"The statute has a fairly strict confidentiality requirement in it and the board is following the statute," Hays told the AP at the time.
The PGCB later reversed course and released the ownership stakes after editorial writers across the state lambasted the Board for its excessive secrecy. This led one newspaper columnist from the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review to suggest that the Board was lying when it initially said it couldn't release the ownership stakes because of confidentiality.
The PGCB has taken down the web page containing the written comments submitted as part of its public input process. As of 5:40 pm today this "under construction" page appears instead.
Webmaster's note 9/12/06 7:25 pm--The PGCB web page with citizen comments is back up. The agency apparently took Hallwatch's comments to heart: internal timestamps show new password protected versions of the files were created around 4:00 pm yesterday, or 3 hours after Hallwatch posted its story. The only problem: using ADF Password Recovery, a free program, it is possible to instantly defeat this new security.