Today's NY Times has a long article about how easily personal information can be extracted from various kinds of computers and networks. (URL below) This snippet illustrates nicely one of the dangers of trusting information to "legitimate" law enforcement. -- Begin quoted text: -- [...] In a 1997 New Year's letter to "friends and clients" of Investigative Group International Inc., one of the best-connected Washington investigative agencies, the chairman, Terry Lenzner, noted "increasing interest by clients seeking to protect themselves from negative campaigns," including those by "so-called 'whistle-blowers,"' unions and regulatory agencies. [...] The promotion brochure features veteran investigative reporters who now work for IGI. Their role adds a new dimension to the long-revolving door between law enforcement and private investigations. IGI's staff, for example, includes former top officials of the Drug Enforcement Administration, the FBI and Germany's national police force. Meanwhile, Ray Kelly, who had been chief of police in New York City before joining IGI to run its New York operations, now heads the Secret Service, the Bureau of Customs and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. Such ties, along with IGI's assignment from the Democratic National Committee to probe its campaign-finance mess, inspire some critics to liken it to President Clinton's private CIA -- a characterization that Lenzner, who was a lawyer for the Senate Watergate committee, vigorously rejects. [...] full article is at: http://www.nytimes.com/library/cyber/week/091597privacy.html