The Associated Press reports the loss of a mere terabyte of data recording the Clinton era from the National Archives. An investigation has been launched with the hope of recovering the data. The dates during which the data went missing — “October 2008 and March 2009” –may provide a clue as to the perpetrators. Just saying.
WASHINGTON (AP) – The National Archives lost a computer hard drive containing massive amounts of sensitive data from the Clinton administration, including Social Security numbers, addresses, and Secret Service and White House operating procedures, congressional officials said Tuesday.
One of former Vice President Al Gore’s three daughters is among those whose Social Security numbers were on the drive. Other information includes logs of events, social gatherings and political records.
The FBI is conducting a criminal investigation of the matter, according to Rep. Edolphus Towns, D-N.Y., chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, and senior committee Republican Darrell Issa of California.
The lawmakers said they learned of the loss from the inspector general of the National Archives and Records Administration. The drive is missing from the Archives facility in College Park, Md., a Washington suburb. The drive was lost between October 2008 and March 2009 and contained 1 terabyte of data – enough material to fill millions of books.
Towns said he would have the FBI and inspector general brief committee members so they can “begin to understand the magnitude of the security breach and all of the steps being taken to recover the lost information.”
Some people say that the power of the scribe is to allow people to remember. But you could argue equally that his real power is to make people forget so nobody ever figures out what is going on. Poof! It never happened!. We’ve heard this story before. It’s a classic tale and begins this way:
I was born ten days ago. A full-grown man, born ten days ago. I woke on a street of this city. I don’t know who I am, or where I’ve been, or where I’m going. Someone wiped my memories clean. And they tracked me down and tried to kill me. Why? Who are you? I ran. I managed to escape them the first time. Then the hand, my hand, told me what to do.
Too bad it’s from the Outer Limits, but maybe that was set in Washington, DC. Or maybe the story is a continuation of the video below.
[youtube 5-_Y_4rHY8U]
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