World › Passport snooping more widespread than thought in U.S.

Friday 04th July, 07:00 AM JST WASHINGTON — An internal State Department investigative report suggests that employees may have been snooping on the passport records of celebrities far more than previously disclosed and urges new action to secure the files. A report from the department’s inspector general, released Thursday, said a survey of the records of 150 notable politicians, athletes and entertainers found that 127 of them had been accessed, some multiple times. The report did not say whether they had been viewed for legitimate reasons but noted that the number seemed high. “Although an 85% hit rate appears to be excessive, the department currently lacks criteria to determine whether this is actually an inordinately high rate,” it said. Nonetheless, the report said investigators found numerous problems in the system that... [read full story]