Data Broker Vanguard Defends its Technology

Hank Asher has been called a lot of things, but trailblazer isn’t one of them.

Truth is, the blunt, gruff and combative software programmer extraordinaire-turned-multimillionaire inventor was front and center in the data brokerage industry when it was formed in the early 1990s.

He founded DBT Online in 1992 and Seisint in 1998 in Boca Raton, creating two cogs in the nation’s growing data broker industry. Now they are owned by Georgia-based ChoicePoint and British publishing giant Reed Elsevier Plc, respectively.

Asher, 53, with homes in Boca Raton and Naples, is the thread that connects these two data giants that identity thieves have recently infiltrated.

The digital consumer information breaches at ChoicePoint and Seisint in the past month compromised the personal records of 175,000 Americans, putting data aggregators on the defensive.

He took a paternalistic view Friday in defending the companies, saying they do far more good than bad and calling the hackers “idiots.”

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