Alaska State Legislature

News From The Senate and House Majorities

Ken Freeman (907) 465-3804
Wendy Lindskoog (907) 465-4582
State Capitol
Juneau, AK 99801
web site at http://www.akrepublicans.org
Actuality line: 1-800-478-6540

For Immediate Release: April 30, 1997 Contact: Wendy Linskoog (907) 465-4582 or Ken Freeman (907) 465-3804

Lawmakers Require More Information Regarding Misuse of State’s Confidential Computer System

Answers to be Presented to Joint Judiciary Hearing

JUNEAU -- Legislative Leaders Wednesday asked Department of Public Safety (DPS) Commissioner Ron Otte to further investigate a recent DPS review regarding misuse of the State’s confidential computer system and asked for him to report back to a joint Judiciary Committee hearing scheduled for Wednesday, May 7th, 1997.

Commissioner Otte’s review investigated unauthorized inquiries made by public employees into the state’s criminal justice computer system to access protected confidential files of lawmakers. His report alleged that Department of Corrections employees made 12 unauthorized inquiries against seven legislators on the Alaska Public Safety Information Network (APSIN). The report submitted by DPS, however, indicated that the number of unauthorized accesses may be much higher, noting that questions remain concerning at least 37 other accesses.

Senate President Mike Miller and House Speaker Gail Phillips said the information provided by DPS was limited. The overwhelming majority of accesses to the APSIN system were unexplained, unknown or not associated with any official duties of the employee.

"We were left with many more questions than answers," said Senate President Mike Miller.

Legislators are also expressed concern that news report indicated that all information contained on APSIN is "public". However, a recent memo from DPS, indicated that "No information from APSIN is available to the general public". (memo attached) Lawmakers requested that Commissioner Otte clarify what is and is not available to the general public on the APSIN system.

"Why were state employees, using state equipment on state time to access numerous confidential computer files for no apparent official purpose," asked Speaker Phillips. "This seems to indicate that Alaskans’ constitutional rights are being violated. Government intrusion into the private lives of Alaskans is no small matter. For our sake, and to restore the public trust in what should be a secure and confidential system, we have no choice but to investigate further."

As a reason for accessing the files, most of the public employees said they were "curious." Miller and Phillips noted that the blanket response of ‘curiosity’ is not a valid explanation because the timing of many of the accesses are suspicious and deserve a closer look.

"We passed a law in 1994 to ensure that proper procedures were in statute to safeguard against this kind of abuse and to protect the integrity of the criminal justice system," said Miller. "The law was set up to discourage people from prying into citizens’ files by making it a crime punishable by termination of employment in certain cases."

Senator Miller noted that the majority of these "random acts of curiosity" occurred right in the middle of the heated 1996 election cycle. "The timing of these searches just before the election, and the fact that most of the targets of the illegal accesses were Republican, suggest that the accesses may have been coordinated and politically motivated," Miller said.

Miller also stated that based on the information provided to date by the DPS, the actual number of unauthorized inquiries could be more than 50.

In his "Citizen’s Guide to the Alaska Constitution", author Gordon Harrison notes, "In early 1970s, the Alaska Department of Public Safety was developing the Alaska Justice Information System, a computerized database of information on the criminal history of individuals. Fearful that such a system was the precursor of a "Big Brother government information bureaucracy, legislators responded with this constitutional amendment, which was handily ratified by the voters."

Under the Alaska Constitution, the right to privacy is one of the most fundamental rights of citizenship. This issue raises implications not just for the security of the criminal justice system, but doubts about the continued federal funding for the APSIN system.

"We hope to get to the bottom of this soon and respectfully ask Commissioner Otte to research our questions and report back to a Joint Senate/House Judiciary Committee Wednesday, May 7th," said Phillips.

Some of the questions legislators felt have not been answered are listed below:

• Exactly how many confidential computer files have been accessed illegally?
• Why do we need new APSIN procedures created when a law was passed in 1994 and new regulations adopted to prevent APSIN abuses from ever occurring again?
• Why weren’t the people who illegally accessed confidential records terminated as provided in 13 AAC 68.220.
• When dealing with a potential felony, AS 11.46.740, criminal use of a computer, why didn’t the level of investigation go far enough to determine whether a crime was committed?
• Did the DPS investigation consider the possibility that the illegal accesses were coordinated and politically motivated?
• How credible is it to believe that curiosity was the true reason for the unauthorized searches given that most of the targets were Republicans and the searches occurred just prior to the election?
• What are the implications for continued federal funding of APSIN? Do strict federal privacy protections apply since the APSIN system allows users to access FBI and other federal confidential criminal history systems.
• Employees are required to pass a test regarding APSIN security regulations prior to being granted APSIN access. Knowing that unauthorized searches were a violation of the law, is it plausible employees nonetheless conducted numerous searches out of "curiosity?"

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