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Confidential visa documents sold to a recycling center by the San Francisco Consulate

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Came across this article on the SF Chronicle. What surprised me was the response of the Indian Consulate officer, who just said this outrage is a cultural issue. I guess he should know, in Indian everything is "Chalta hai". Did your car get stolen? Arre, bas chalta hai, ek aur car khareed le. Did your doctor operate on your kidney instead of your liver? Arre, chalta hai yaar, do kidney hain na tere paas? To ek ko bas rakh ke adjust kar le.

No wonder quality, honest, efficiency, responsibility are words which do not appear in the vocabulary of Govt officials because the very principle of merit has been compromised, and everything is politicized. I bet not a single person is going to lose his or her job, and Americans are going to be wondering that if this is the efficiency of the Indian consulate itself, what is going to be the quality of the work in India, particularly once private sector reservations kick in?

Really shameful.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/02/02/MNGHNNTLI81.DTL


Sensitive data dumped at recycling center

Indian Consulate tossed visa applications from business, political figures at S.F. facility


David Lazarus
Friday, February 2, 2007

David Lazarus




Thousands of visa applications and other sensitive documents, including paperwork submitted by top executives and political figures, sat for more than a month in the open yard of a San Francisco recycling center after they were dumped there by the city's Indian Consulate.
The documents, which security experts say represented a potential treasure trove for identity thieves or terrorists, finally were hauled away Wednesday after The Chronicle inspected the site and questioned officials at the consulate and the recycling facility.
Among the papers were visa applications submitted by Byron Pollitt, chief financial officer of San Francisco's Gap Inc., and Anne Gust, wife of California Attorney General Jerry Brown.
"It's shocking and totally unacceptable," Brown said when asked about the incident.
Information on the documents includes applicants' names, addresses, phone numbers, birth dates, professions, employers, passport numbers and photos. Accompanying letters detail people's travel plans and reasons for visiting India.
"As we see it, the documents are not confidential," said B.S. Prakash, the consul general. "We would see something as confidential if it has a Social Security number or a credit card number, not a passport number."
But security experts say it wouldn't be hard to obtain someone's Social Security number using the information available in the consular documents. They also point out that some of the Sept. 11 hijackers used false passports, which wouldn't be hard to obtain using data and photos from the documents.
"This is absolutely sensitive information," said Charles Cresson Wood, a Sausalito information-security consultant. "It needs to be safeguarded."
Pratik Sircar, deputy consul general for the Indian Consulate, said the office on Arguello Boulevard processes visa applications and other paperwork for 14 Western states.
"We have a shortage of space," he said. "We keep this material for a year, and then we have to destroy it."
However, the consulate didn't destroy the documents. Instead, it hired a hauling company in December to cart the boxes to the Haight Ashbury Neighborhood Council recycling center near Golden Gate Park on Frederick Street.
The open-air facility is accessible to the public seven days a week. Anyone can walk through the gate and poke around.
"We thought it was their job to shred the material as soon as they got it," Sircar said.
Andy Pugni, general manager of the recycling center, responded that he doesn't know where the consulate got this idea.
"We take in paper, put it in large containers and ship it off for recycling," he said. "That's all we do. We don't shred."
Pugni added: "We assume anyone who brings stuff over here will be smart enough to destroy any sensitive materials. I wouldn't bring any of my own materials here."
Alerted by The Chronicle to the presence of confidential documents in a corner of the recycling yard -- many of the white boxes were clearly marked "visa applications" -- Pugni had a truck brought in to haul the papers to an East Bay company that will boil them down and recycle them as blank pages.
All that remained in the yard Thursday were remnants of the boxes.
But a sampling of documents obtained by The Chronicle indicate that the boxes contained confidential paperwork for virtually everyone in California and other Western states who applied for visas to travel to India between 2002 and 2005.
They also contained thousands of documents submitted by Indian citizens and people of Indian background residing in the region.
"It's hard to believe that this is how confidential information is treated," said San Francisco resident Farah Champsi, who was born in Mumbai, formerly known as Bombay, and requested copies of her birth certificate in 2005.
Her application ended up at the recycling center. "This is terrible," Champsi said.
Visa applications were submitted by current and former executives of many of the region's leading employers, including AT&T Wireless Inc., Oracle Corp., Intel Corp., Microsoft Corp., Qualcomm Inc. and Williams-Sonoma Inc.
The documents illustrate the extent to which major U.S. companies have established operations in India or rely on India for key services.
A letter from Gap's then-CEO Paul Pressler accompanying the visa application for Pollitt says the company's CFO was heading to India for several days in April 2004 "for the purpose of visiting Gap Inc.'s sites and vendor facilities."
After the application surfaced this week, Pollitt said he found it "both astonishing and alarming to learn that basic safeguards were apparently not in place to ensure the privacy of my personal information.
"As a past victim of identity theft, I am painfully aware of how important it is to ensure personal information is well protected," he said.
Another Bay Area exec whose privacy was jeopardized is Rob Haragan, co-founder of NetDevices Inc., a Los Altos company that specializes in network security. Much of NetDevices' research is conducted at a facility in Bangalore.
Haragan, a former executive at Cisco Systems Inc., applied for a visa to travel to India in 2004. He estimates that he's since been to the country more than a dozen times.
He said he was surprised to learn that his application spent weeks at a recycling center.
"The consulate absolutely needs to correct this," Haragan said. "It's a breach of trust."
Brian Biega oversees storage of internal paperwork at Redwood City software giant Oracle, so he knows a thing or two about the proper handling of confidential documents. He, too, applied for a visa to visit India in 2004, and his application also ended up at the recycling center.
Biega didn't hesitate when asked how Oracle's famously truculent CEO Larry Ellison would react if boxes of sensitive information were left at a recycling center. "I'm sure I'd lose my job," he replied.
At the Indian Consulate, Consul General Prakash said there may be a cultural dimension to the level of outrage related to the incident among Western visa applicants.
"In India, I would not be alarmed," he said. "We have grown up giving such information in many, many places. We would not be so worried if someone had our passport number."
Deputy Consul General Sircar said that in other countries, Indian officials are able to go to the roofs of their offices and burn documents they're no longer able to store.
"In America, you cannot do that," he said.
Sircar said the consulate would find some other way to deal with its excess paperwork in the future.
Pugni at the recycling center said that shortly after he had the documents carted away, a representative of the consulate arrived at the facility.
"He apologized for everything," Pugni said. "Then he said he was on his way to Best Buy to pick up a shredder."
 
Choice excerpts from the above:

"As we see it, the documents are not confidential," said B.S. Prakash, the consul general.

At the Indian Consulate, Consul General Prakash said there may be a cultural dimension to the level of outrage related to the incident among Western visa applicants.
"In India, I would not be alarmed," he said. "We have grown up giving such information in many, many places. We would not be so worried if someone had our passport number."


A visa application is not confidential?!??!! How did this guy become a consul general? Members who are in Silicon Vally need to tear this imbecile apart and file a complaint with the Indian govt.

And the second statement, which says in India people would not be worried about confidential information is absolutely horrifying. I think the entire Govt machinery needs to be overhauled and as much as possible privatized so such baboons do not get to high places.

I am sure the Americans/British/Europeans/Japanese etc would be overjoyed to know that information like visa applications, pasport details are not considered confidential information when negotiating outsourcing contracts with companies based in India. As I mentioned, the concept of privacy and private rights is becoming rarer with the proliferation of communist entities in all spheres of life in India.
 
Can someone call the Washington embassy to see what their policy is regarding confidentiality? I am not able to locate their email address, for some reason I cannot connect to the site. Help.
 
Can someone call the Washington embassy to see what their policy is regarding confidentiality? I am not able to locate their email address, for some reason I cannot connect to the site. Help.

My dear mrifan:
Ha! Good luck! young man! I live in the metopolitan area of Washington DC. Over the years, I have tried to call their numbers but ended up in frustration. By the way, you can see their address and phone number (sic!) also. Also the site URL.
http://www.indianembassy.org/newsite/default.asp

Please read my recent letter to them (in July 2006).
Embassy of India


Consular Wing
2536 Massachusetts Ave., NW
Washington, DC - 20008
Phone: (202) 939-9806
Fax:
(202) 797-4693/ (202)387-6946



Dear Visa Officer:

I have been trying to get some simple information from your office but without any success at all. To begin with, I tried to send an email, using your website. I have so far sent FOUR emails; however, as of date, no responses. In the meantime, I also have been calling all those numbers listed for VISA queries. One of three things happens when I call these numbers:
(202) 939-9861; (202) 939-9865; (202) 939-9866; (202) 939-9868

  • The phones keep ringing but no one picks up the phone and there is no voice mail.
  • After ringing a voice message comes on asking us to leave a message and our contact phone number. Here is the clincher: As I was about to leave a message, the system goes on to say that we cannot leave messages because the mailbox is full!!
  • I do get thru and have left messages; but God knows, where all those messages are going!!

The information I am looking for is this: I am an Indian-American holding 10-year Visa to India. However, my US passport expired recently and I had to renew my passport. Naturally I was looking for the process of how to transfer the visa from the old passport to the new passport. Your website doesn’t say anything on this except stating that a fee of $25 will be charged. My question is: Should I just send the two passports and the fee? Is there a form that I need to fill out? What exactly are the steps?

Finally, I am sending this letter by fax, hoping someone will see this letter at least.

HELP!!

Sincerely,
Ranga Nathan
 
Business as Usual

At the Indian Consulate, Consul General Prakash said there may be a cultural dimension to the level of outrage related to the incident among Western visa applicants.
"In India, I would not be alarmed," he said. "We have grown up giving such information in many, many places. We would not be so worried if someone had our passport number."

Ha ha ha, True, in India we are NEVER alarmed....why about someone having our passport number, we will NOT be alarmed even if someone has OUR IDENTITY CARD (!!!!) and casts OUR VOTE......The helpful soul was only trying his best to help us isn't it ?

Callousness thy name is India !!!

Hey how about 'outsourcing' the visa processing to India ?

VPO - Visa Process Outsourcing ?
 
Ok, guys; I don't know much about this Prakash, except when I read an article by him on Gun controls (how bad it was in the USA) I sent him an email in April of last year and he responded. Please see below.


_________________________________________________________________________________
Thanks for your coomments and response.


Best wishes,


B.S. Prakash
Consul General
________________________________________________________________
----- Original Message -----
From: Ranga Nathan
To: [email protected]
Sent: Saturday, April 01, 2006 6:27 AM
Subject: Guns and Roses


Dear Consul General Prakash:

I happened to read about your article in REDIFF. Bravo! I am an Indian-American and I have been speaking out strongly against the guns every chance I get. I doubt very much if I am going to change the minds of the average American, who thinks it is his birth right to own a gun, guaranteed by the Constitution. Nevertheless, I press on.

It was very nice to read about you talking about the gun craziness.

Best regards,

Ranga Nathan

 
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