WHO IS HANK ASHER?

PHOENIX, AZ- Tuesday, May 9,2006:  Who is Hank Asher? Most people have probably never heard of him but few if any haven't had their lives touched by him. Whether they know it or not.

 Hank Asher is a high school drop out and former drug smuggler turned multi-millionaire who made his fortune mining data. Although Mr. Asher was never criminally charged with smuggling SEVEN plane loads of cocaine into Florida in the early 1980's, his history is well known and is often the subject of much scorn and discrimination for him, even to this day. He is the father of modern day digging into the private and personal lives of every American citizen.

After acquiring skills in writing algorhythms, Mr. Asher began "purchasing" databases from various companies and agencies throughout the country. Databases from Motor Vehicle Departments, insurance companies, banks, etc. Databases which he acknowledges were not all available to "the public" but that he was still somehow able to purchase for what he describes as very inexpensive.

Mr. Asher then formed DBT (DataBase Technologies) and marketed his new super sleuthing cyber creation as AutoTrack. Using as little information as a name, AutoTrack cross-references an enormous amount of data - addresses, driver licenses, property deed transfers, criminal and corporate information and within minutes unifies it into an easy-to-read report. Almost overnight insurance companies and law enforcement offices began subscribing to Mr. Asher's AutoTrack program. Many in law enforcement have publicly stated that this creation literally changed the face of law enforcement. Saving incredible amounts of time and legwork. Pointedly Mr. Asher contends he could have marketed and sold his creation to many other sources but felt morally obligated to limit them to law enforcement and companies with "legitimate" uses.  Especially after typing in his own name. He was so taken aback by what he had created, the information that poured out that he at one point asked himself, "What have I done?" Obviously recognizing the potential abuse and dangerousness of the program. However, he quickly recovered. Eventually either for moral or financial reasons, or both Mr. Asher donated one of his systems to the National Centers For Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) feeling that they may also benefit from it's power. An organization which got his attention from it's founder's son, Adam Walsh who was abducted from the same Sears store three blocks away from Mr. Asher's own home.

Mr. Asher now sits on the Board of Directors for the NCMEC and is very good friends with it's founder, Mr. John Walsh. The same John Walsh of the popular television series, America's Most Wanted. Additionally, Mr. Asher is the Centers' largest private financial contributor on record with single donations of up to $7.9 million at a time. It has been said that Asher's altruism is a kind of psychological redemption for his brief stint as a smuggler. John Walsh calls this "bullshit…That was long ago. It's irrelevant. He's a brilliant guy who genuinely cares and wants to give to society. A lot of people are jealous of what he's accomplished. They shouldn't be."

I find it ironic that Mr. Walsh can excuse this man's past with such eloquence and ease yet mark hundred's of thousands of others with what amounts to the mark of the beast for committing less significant crimes. In most cases for the rest of their lives.

I wonder how much of the cocaine that Mr. Asher smuggled into this country found it's way into the bloodstream of individuals who then committed a crime. Crimes like rape, robbery, murder and quite possibly the abduction and molestation of the same children he says is his goal to protect. How many wives, girlfriend's and children beaten? How many cops shot at or killed by someone high on his cocaine?

Still, Mr. Walsh can find forgiveness in his heart. He rationalizes that "that" was long ago and is therefore "irrelevant". Many on the sex offender registry,  could easily make that same argument Mr. Walsh.

Even more poignant and poetic, is Mr. Asher's take on the discrimination and scrutiny he sometimes receives based on his past. "What redemption I felt I needed for being an adventurous pilot doing a ridiculously stupid stunt SEVEN times, I think I've made up for it. I don't think we live in a country where we don't believe in redemption. I think maybe somebody's gotten a little too high and mighty. I think mostly, though, that law enforcement is scared to wind up with their name in a newspaper article with me." - Hank Asher Quote from an interview withVanity Fair

Breaking it down, Mr. Asher is a repeat offender. A seven time repeat offender. It wasn't just one stupid mistake, it was seven. If his crimes were a sex offenses, even consensual ones, DBT and AutoTrack would never exist because Mr. Asher would be serving a life sentence, or he would have "offed" himself shortly after being indicted.

I like what he says about redemption. It is a good question. Are we a country that no longer believes in redemption? Indeed it is apparent from all that I have read about him, that Mr. Asher not only actively seeks redemption but almost seems to crave it. Perhaps redemption is the one thing that money can't buy. So then, forget about redemption and just start digging up everyone else's dirt instead. At least that way he may be able to even the playing field.

Enter the MATRIX. The Multi-state Anti-Terrorism Information Exchange. So intense was this program that when Asher, along with Florida Governor Jeb Bush met with top officials immediately following 9/11 it was heralded as a state of the art terrorist tracking tool by Vice President Dick Cheney and Homeland Security Chief Tom Ridge. Senior law enforcement officials from around the country were astounded. So thorough and scrutinizing was this new program that it drew near instantaneous outrage from the ACLU as well as several members of congress. The threat to civil liberties and privacy rights was recognized immediately. Not only could the MATRIX give detailed information on it's subject, but it went even further giving information and even digital images of the subjects network of family, friends, and neighbors. It is instant access to a wealth of public and private data that no one else can match. For now, it is available only to law enforcement and only a few states are using it, some states have discontinued using it due to the nature of it's creator's past history. What's interesting and which definitely deserves mentioning here is that Mr. Asher sold his AutoTrack technology database along with another of his companies, CHOICEPOINT, to Lexis Nexis for a whopping $775 million!

Shortly thereafter Lexis Nexis made public the fact that the database had suffered numerous security breaches by individuals who were not authorized to access it and that said unauthorized access was done while under the ownership of Hank Asher. What the effects of those breaches may mean are anyone's guess. For now, it's just for finding terrorists. Or so we're told.

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