Confidential FBI Data Gets Uploaded On File Sharing Networks

The haphazard usage of a well-known file sharing technology has eventually resulted in disclosure of critical government as well as personal details, a Congressional panel learned on Wednesday.

A bunch of sensitive details including FBI surveillance images of a Mafia hit individual, military rosters, IRS tax returns, lists of people with HIV, motorcade routes, as well as safe-house locations for then-first lady Laura Bush, has reportedly been revealed via file sharing software.

Experts claimed that the information is often revealed inadvertently by users who use the technology to share content, such as music and video files, without acknowledging that “peer-to-peer” also makes the content on their PCs accessible to other users on the network.

The issue has impinged upon the authorities to an extent that the chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee , Rep. Edolphus Towns, notified he would come up with a bill to forbid such sharing tools from all governments as well as contractor computers and networks.

Citing the same, Mr Towns said in a statement, “The administration should initiate a national campaign to educate consumers about the dangers involved with file-sharing software”.

He further went on to say that the Federal Trade Commission must investigate whether P2P application developers are infringing the law, and that the administration should “undertake a national campaign to educate consumers about the dangers of file-sharing software”.