Awake

Lax security on Interior computers contributes to ongoing injustice toward Native Americans

WASHINGTON, July 30 — One of the longest evidentiary hearings in the recent history of U.S. District Court here has ended with strong calls for increased controls over government computers holding information on individual Indian Trust accounts.

Citing the ease with which computer consultants hacked into the computers, lawyers for Indians in a class action lawsuit over the government's acknowledged mismanagement of the accounts finished 59 days of hearings Friday afternoon with a plea to disconnect the computers from the Internet.

"It is not just a matter of computer security," said the lawyers. "It is a matter of the security of the Indian's trust accounts, the only money that many of the nation's poorest citizens have," they said.

— Cobell v. Norton 7/30/2005 Press Release: Lengthy Hearing Ends with Pleas for Controls on Interior Computers