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CNN Live At Daybreak
Multimillion-Dollar Settlement in Church Sex Abuse Scandal; President Bush Leaning on Members of Congress to Pass 9/11 Reform Measure
Aired December 03, 2004 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Straight ahead, a multi-million dollar settlement in the church sex abuse scandal. It's all new this morning. We're live out in California in two minutes.
Plus, your Social Security number, your salary, your private records, all online for the taking. We'll take you inside one of the businesses that's making money off of selling your information.
Also, U-2 and Apple -- both are winning big. So what's the next big mega music merger?
And where do you rent your movies, blockbuster, online, on demand?
It is Friday, December 3.
You are watching DAYBREAK.
And good morning to you.
Thank you for waking up with us.
I'm Carol Costello.
Let's check the headlines right now.
A settlement reached just four hours ago in a big clergy sex abuse matter. The Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange in southern California and attorneys for 87 victims have announced the settlement. Our correspondent there says the settlement exceeds $85 million. We'll take you there live in just a bit.
Two major attacks today in Baghdad, both in the same neighborhood. These are pictures from an attack on a police station. Nearby, four suicide bombers in a minibus targeted a mosque. The death toll from today's attacks, 29 were killed.
In Bhopal, India, thousands of demonstrators march on the anniversary of the world's worst industrial disaster. Twenty years ago today, poisonous gas leaked from a pesticide plant, killing at least 10,000 people and affecting more than half a million.
And in Redwood City, California, long time friend of convicted murderer Scott Peterson says it would be a tragedy if he was put to death. We'll talk about the penalty phase of the trial in just a few minutes with our legal analyst, Kendall Coffey.
To the forecast center now and Rob Marciano in for new dad Chad Myers.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hi, Carol.
(WEATHER REPORT)
COSTELLO: A grueling negotiation, apologizes and the priciest payout in the history of the Catholic Church. Finally, overnight, a settlement in the huge clergy sex abuse scandal.
For more details, let's head live to Los Angeles and Drew Griffin -- Drew, you've been up all night covering this story.
Tell us more.
DREW GRIFFIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carol, three long days of negotiations and this last day went from 9:00 in the morning until 11:00 last night. That's when this settlement was finally reached. And though the exact figures are not being released under a temporary gag order by the court, we are reporting from our sources that this amount will be the highest ever yet paid in one of these Catholic Church abuse scandals and will exceed the $85 million settlement that was paid out in Boston.
We want to show you some pictures from last night, just hours ago, as you said, Carol. The bishop of Orange, Todd Brown, reading a statement apologizing to the victims, many of whom were outside the courtroom waiting for this settlement to be announced. And then the bishop giving hugs and getting hugs from the sexual abuse victims themselves, a very extraordinary moment in the healing process for all of these people. And, in fact, the abuse victims are telling us that the apology that Bishop Brown read meant more to them than anything else in this case.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOELLE CASTEIX, ALLEGED ABUSE VICTIM: For once they have done the right thing. After two years of stalling and 30 years of cover- up, they're -- the right thing is happening here, and that is disclosing the documents, that is taking accountability and actually realizing that horrible things happened in the Diocese of Orange.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRIFFIN: As for those horrible things that happened in the Diocese of Orange, part of this settlement includes the release of documents which, Carol, we are told by the victims and their lawyers, are horrific, detailing the 87 victims' stories, victims of 43 different priests, nuns, teachers, counselors, even a choir director. Again, a major settlement here in southern California, exceeding $85 million, and it goes beyond that, but it was reached late last night here at Los Angeles Superior Court -- back to you.
COSTELLO: You know, Drew, what really struck me was the bishop of Orange County hugging the victims, apologizing to them and how much that meant to the victims.
GRIFFIN: And I think it meant to him, as well. It was an extraordinary moment and quite unexpected for me. I didn't anticipate seeing any kind of outward movement from either the plaintiffs, the sexual abuse victims, or the church itself. These two have been at odds ever since this case began two and a half years ago. And to see it end like this, in a hug and tears on all sides, it was quite an amazing moment after drawn out negotiations.
COSTELLO: Drew Griffin live in Los Angeles.
Thank you.
President Bush is leaning on members of Congress to pass the 9/11 reform measure. He's expected to send them a letter outlining his ideas today.
As CNN's Ed Henry reports, some hope it will be enough to sway those undecided Republican law makers.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
ED HENRY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Senior White House adviser Karl Rove called a top Republican senator Thursday to underscore President Bush wants to end the stalemate on intelligence reform. Senator Susan Collins says despite some claims the president hasn't pushed hard enough, Rove told her Mr. Bush wants Congress to finish the legislation next week.
SEN. SUSAN COLLINS, (R-ME), CHAIR GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS COMMITTEE: It's clear that the White House is working very hard to get this bill through. There is a full court press on.
HENRY: That includes a new round of phone calls from the president and vice president to Capitol Hill. Those follow previous calls to Republicans Duncan Hunter and James Sensenbrenner, who have refused to endorse the deal now on the table.
9/11 families who support Collins are holding vigils in major cities, like this one in New York, to urge Congress to act during the end of its lame duck session.
One idea floated to break the logjam, have the president commit to considering Sensenbrenner's immigration proposals next year. But Sensenbrenner aides say he's compromised enough and 9/11 families who support him fear if immigration reform is dropped now, the president will not follow through.
PETER GADIEL, 9/11 FAMILIES/SECURE AMERICA: We were very worried. We know that the president is supposedly supporting this defective bill. But, again, that comports with his usual position of not securing the borders.
HENRY: Hunter has cited warnings by Joint Chiefs Chairman Richard Myers that a new director of national intelligence could slow key information from reaching military troops in the field. But late Thursday, General Myers said congressional negotiators have allayed his concerns, which could boost the bill's fortunes.
Collins believes with the president fully on board, the legislation will get done with or without the holdouts.
COLLINS: I hope it'll pass with the support of Congressman Sensenbrenner and Congressman Hunter. But I think it will pass regardless.
HENRY (on camera): Some Republicans believe the president has staked enough credibility on this issue that he has to get a deal. These Republicans say the White House fears that if Sensenbrenner and Hunter win, this can embolden other Republicans to buck the president on key issues like Social Security.
Ed Henry, CNN, Capitol Hill.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
COSTELLO: Aides say President Bush will use an economic summit this month to study ways to overhaul Social Security. Aides say the president wants to move forward with his plan to allow younger workers to invest part of their Social Security taxes. The White House reportedly wants to lure Wall Street figures and industry leaders to the mid-December White House conference.
In other stories across America this Friday, in Tucson, police have charged a suspect in this purse snatching. You see it right there? This happened at a Kmart store. That was back on November 23. Well, during a traffic stop yesterday, police arrested a suspect, John Paul Flores. That's allegedly him. He's charged now with aggravated assault and robbery.
Wisconsin has announced a $750 million stem cell research project. As you know, the research is a divisive issue. Supporters say it may eventually help people with conditions such as Alzheimer's and cancer. Opponents argue it could be unethical because it involves cloning human embryos.
A United Methodist Church jury in Pennsylvania has defrocked lesbian minister Elizabeth Stroud. She'd been accused of violating the denomination's ban on actively gay clergy. Stroud said she's saddened by the jury's action, but has not decided if she will appeal.
Compassionate, sincere, caring, graceful -- far from the lying cad portrayed by both prosecutors and defense attorneys in the Scott Peterson case. The defense is now putting on witnesses sympathetic to Peterson in the hopes of sparing him the death penalty.
Let's head live to Miami and our legal analyst Kendall Coffey -- good morning, Kendall.
KENDALL COFFEY, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Hey, good morning, Carol.
COSTELLO: I want to read a quote from one of Peterson's friends who took the stand. This is Britton Scheibe. She says: "My heart just absolutely sank because I just thought this can't be. Of all the people I grew up with and I knew, he would be the absolute last person that I would ever expect to be involved in something like this."
Could the jury be moved by testimony like this?
COFFEY: Not by that kind of thing alone, because I think the jury knows going in that this is somebody who had a clean record and a good life up to this really horrible crime. But, Carol, isn't that like that sort of sad expression, other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play? Because this crime was so bad that I think it's going to be very tough for the jury to get past the incredible anguish and grief of Laci Peterson's mother, Sharon Rocha.
After she was finished testifying, I think the sense was might as well get a cell ready for Scott Peterson on California's death row.
But it's not over yet and the final witness the defense is going to call is going to be Scott Peterson's own mother. And there's going to be an absolute flood tide of anguish when she testifies.
COSTELLO: Oh, you're not kidding.
You know, during some of the testimony yesterday about Laci meeting him for the first time. A witness on the stand cried and so, too, did Scott Peterson. For the first time he shows emotion.
Why now?
COFFEY: Well, it's obvious that at the end of this ordeal, he is starting to really, I wouldn't say unravel, but a lot of these things are overwhelming. There were tears during his father's testimony. I think there are going to be very few dry eyes in that entire courtroom as Jackie Peterson testifies.
And one of the unspoken promises of that testimony, Carol, is how much more punishment do you want to inflict on the family of Scott Peterson? And one of the witnesses suggested that his parents may not survive if Scott Peterson is, in fact, subjected to the death penalty.
COSTELLO: Oh, well, especially his poor mother.
COFFEY: Exactly.
COSTELLO: I mean, you've got to feel for his parents.
Kendall Coffey life from Miami, thank you.
COFFEY: Hey, thank you, Carol.
COSTELLO: Ever hear of a small Irish band named U-2? That's what I thought. Well, they're getting even bigger now, if that's possible. That's thanks to a partnership that could be the wave of the future in music.
Plus, mining for gold -- not the real thing, but something equally valuable, your personal information. Does privacy even exist anymore?
And a boost for blockbuster or a sign of the times? The big business of watching movies at home.
But first, here's a look at what else is making news this Friday morning.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(STOCK MARKET REPORT)
COSTELLO: Your news, money, weather and sports.
It's 6:15 Eastern.
Here's what's all new this morning.
After two years of negotiations, a sex abuse case involving the Catholic Church is settled in California. The Diocese of Orange County reached an agreement with 87 victims who alleged sexual misconduct by priests, nuns and others. Terms have not been disclosed.
The retrial of former NBA star Jayson Williams on reckless manslaughter charges has been delayed until March 7. The retrial is necessary because of a split verdict last April in the shotgun killing of Williams' limousine driver.
In money news, IBM has reportedly put its personal computer business up for sale. The "New York Times" reports the deal could be worth $1 billion to $2 billion.
And in culture, Prince Charles has commissioned a piece of classical music to commemorate his late grandmother. His office says the piece will be a 27-minute work on the cello. The Queen Mother died in 2002.
And in sports, Dallas Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki was hot last night. He scored 53 points, pulled down 16 rebounds in a 113-106 overtime win over the Houston Rockets -- Rob.
MARCIANO: That big boy can shoot, too.
COSTELLO: Oh, yes.
MARCIANO: I mean from downtown.
(WEATHER REPORT)
COSTELLO: Those are the latest headlines for you this morning.
You can find a lot of things on the Internet. In fact, for a fee, you can find out almost anything about anyone -- their criminal history, unlisted phone number, even their Social Security number. And someone else can find out the same information about you.
Technology correspondent Daniel Sieberg takes a look at how one of these background services works.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
DANIEL SIEBERG, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): You might think of Wyoming as the perfect place in which to get lost. It's the tenth largest state in the union, yet it's dead last in population, a haven for many. However, the Cowboy State is where a lot of people are found, specifically, the basement of this house on the outskirts of Cheyenne.
This is the home of Jay Patel, founder of an Internet background search service called Abika.
JAY PATEL, FOUNDER, ABIKA.COM: I don't even believe in privacy too much. But first, like most people, when they discuss privacy, why do we need privacy? That's the question. Like why do people need privacy?
SIEBERG: He says most people agree, privacy isn't important. In fact, he says the world would be a better place if everyone knew everything about each other.
PATEL: Do you know what the root cause of hatred or intolerance is? It's because people don't know about other people.
SIEBERG: And Jay Patel says he's here to help. His company can track down a name from an e-mail address or instant message screen name, find an unlisted or blocked phone number, verify a person's salary. In fact, Abika has more than 300 ways for you to snoop on others and more than 300 ways for them to snoop on you.
(on camera): Do you ever worry that this information could fall into the wrong hands? People these days talk about terrorism or criminal activity? Is it -- do you worry about that.
PATEL: See, but for us it's not something we can even can not find it by going directly to the source. So it's not something which is like exclusive to us. It's right there. So we are only searching it. We don't create this information and we don't access anything which is restricted. We are just a small company in the basement here.
SIEBERG (voice-over): When Jay and his staff receive a request for information, they often get nothing more than a name and last known address. They send that information to private investigators, court researchers and keepers of various databases. Abika will even create a psychological profile of a person, all this usually without the subject knowing he or she is being investigated.
So, I decided to request a search on myself. At least I'd know about it.
(on camera): So, I mean you have my Social Security number. Is there the possibility that someone could steal my identity because this information is so easy to get?
PATEL: If you'll see, we don't release the Social Security number. The last four digits are Xed out. So in your whole profile? SIEBERG: Right?
PATEL: You'll see that it's not released to anyone, the Social Security number.
SIEBERG: But could someone else find that as easily as you did?
PATEL: Social Security numbers are the easiest thing to find, as such.
SIEBERG (voice-over): A scary thought. But Jay says Abika releases Social Security numbers only to qualified customers. However, we also ordered a general background search on another person and did get his Social Security number because it was the same as his driver's license number. And that's just one of the things that has privacy advocates concerned about services like Abika.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These new information brokers that have sprouted up on the Internet are really operating in the wild, wild West. There is no regulation or control. The information that these companies provide becomes the basis for decisions about whether you get a job, about whether you clear a background check, about whether you're able to lease an apartment, maybe even whether you get a home loan.
So the risk is very tangible that a mistake will be made, that you'll be turned down for an opportunity that you really are entitled to.
SIEBERG: Still, these data brokers have a lot of fans. Software executive Steve Kirsch uses Abika and other services to sue the senders of junk faxes.
STEVE KIRSCH, PROPEL SOFTWARE: Propel will get lots of unsolicited faxes and the only identification -- they'll be no identification of the company on the faxes. And so the only thing we'll have is an 800 number that we should dial. So we've used Abika to look up who owns the 800 number, because when we call the 800 number, of course, they just give us a phony company name and a phony location.
SIEBERG (on camera): As proof that Jay's approach to privacy can work for some people, Jay actually points to his own situation. Before moving here to Wyoming, he lived in South Dakota. One day he was at a store there and he saw a girl and read her name tag, then went home and did a background search on her. And when he returned to the store, he told her some things about her that he had found. Now, surprisingly, she didn't slap him. Instead, three weeks later, they were married.
(voice-over): But not all background checks have a happy ending. In 1999 in New Hampshire, Liam Youens used another Internet data broker called Docusearch to find out where a former high school classmate worked. He then shot and killed the woman, 20-year-old Amy Boyer, as she left work. He also killed himself. Boyer's family sued Docusearch, saying it should have told the woman she was being investigated.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She went to work not knowing that her personal private information was given by Docusearch, the defendants, to someone who had no legal right to have it.
SIEBERG: But Docusearch argued it has no duty to check a customer's background.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He premeditated his crime and he killed her. Telling him where she worked didn't foreseeably increase the risk of anything. It didn't proximately cause anything. It had nothing to do with Amy Boyer's death.
SIEBERG: The suit was settled out of court this year, with the Boyer family getting $85,000. But the background search industry is still going strong. As Youens wrote on his personal Web site, "It's actually obscene what you can find out about a person on the Internet."
Comments like that have many people searching for the balance between openness and the obscene.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
SIEBERG: And, incidentally, private companies aren't the only data miners. In a General Accounting Office report released earlier this year, dozens of government agencies were found to be sifting through massive amounts of data, some of it personal in nature. Now, most of the cases were related to counter-terrorism measures or preventing fraud or criminal activity. But some were designed to check on the behavior of certain personnel.
Now, as we pointed out, privacy watchdogs say the practice can be useful with the proper safeguards in place -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Yes, that's the key issue, proper safeguards in place.
SIEBERG: Yes. Exactly.
COSTELLO: Daniel Sieberg reporting live from Atlanta this morning.
Thank you.
SIEBERG: Thank you.
COSTELLO: A little U-2 this morning? Join the crowd. A masterful marketing ploy has made U-2 number one on the Billboard charts. We're going to talk to an expert about that after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Let's hear it for U-2. The classic mature rocking group scored big on Billboard. Their new album, "How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb," is number one, beating out acts like Eminem and Destiny's Child. Could it be because of a savvy partnership between U-2 and Apple? That is the big buzz this morning.
And joining us to talk about it all is "Billboard" magazine's senior writer, Brian Garrity.
Good morning, Brian.
BRIAN GARRITY, "BILLBOARD" SENIOR WRITER: Good morning.
COSTELLO: So, who made out more, the iPod and Apple or U-2?
GARRITY: Well, Apple, how big they win still is coming in the Christmas season. But clearly U-2 is a huge winner from this ad campaign.
COSTELLO: Oh, it's insane. I want to show people a bit of the ad, because it's so cool. I think this is their video on MTV. There it is.
GARRITY: And the thing to know about this is basically this is riffing on the, you know, the Apple commercials that have been running already -- the same color schemes, the same kind of silhouette imagery that you're seeing there. So it's kind of an effective -- it's a video but it basically meshes with the, you know, the promotion that Apple was already doing.
COSTELLO: Well, let's talk about this issue of selling out, because years ago, if a group like the Rolling Stones, let's say, did a commercial for a product, that would be selling out and their fans would be turned off. But this hasn't happened to U-2.
Why?
GARRITY: Well, once upon a time it was sacrilege to be featured in a commercial. But the way that the media has evolved over the years, exposure in TV commercials is actually an important way for bands to get their message out now because radio is so consolidated, because MTV doesn't play as many videos as they used to.
And so, you know, the marketing infusion into the music industry has really kind of made that less of a heresy. And therefore, you know, fans now are more -- are not nearly as turned off by that.
COSTELLO: Well, that's because they're exposed to great music. I mean on the radio, you just hear constant, you know, bubble gum pop music. I mean a radio station probably wouldn't play U-2. So this is a way to get the music out there, to get fans involved, to get them to buy CDs n the like.
GARRITY: Absolutely. I mean, yes, you listen to commercials now and they're almost a better radio station than radio can be in certain times.
COSTELLO: But isn't that pathetic?
GARRITY: Well, it does speak to the conservative nature of mainstream radio now. And it does tell you that, you know, if you are younger or more -- or even an older band -- if you don't hit into the target demographic of radio that you're not going to get on there.
Now, U-2 has really been able to rise above the fray and, you know, what we've seen here is really an unprecedented level of marketing on television for a new record coming out. You know, you see this with movies day in and day out, but the record industry doesn't normally promote its records this way. So this is what's, that was just so huge for U-2 and really helped -- I mean they essentially doubled -- when they came, when their last album came out in 2000, they sold about 400,000 copies. This is -- they've doubled their first week sales this time out.
COSTELLO: Yes, with more than 800,000. But, you know, just a thought struck me, if U-2 was singing for a product like, you know, hand lotion, maybe that would be different than singing for something like the iPod.
GARRITY: Matching brands and bands is a huge, you know, is a huge part of this. It has to be a right fit for the artist and for the marketer, as well.
COSTELLO: Fascinating stuff.
Brian Garrity from "Billboard" magazine.
Thank you for joining us this morning.
GARRITY: Thanks very much.
COSTELLO: We're going to take a short break.
We'll be right back with much more on DAYBREAK.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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Aired December 3, 2004 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Straight ahead, a multi-million dollar settlement in the church sex abuse scandal. It's all new this morning. We're live out in California in two minutes.
Plus, your Social Security number, your salary, your private records, all online for the taking. We'll take you inside one of the businesses that's making money off of selling your information.
Also, U-2 and Apple -- both are winning big. So what's the next big mega music merger?
And where do you rent your movies, blockbuster, online, on demand?
It is Friday, December 3.
You are watching DAYBREAK.
And good morning to you.
Thank you for waking up with us.
I'm Carol Costello.
Let's check the headlines right now.
A settlement reached just four hours ago in a big clergy sex abuse matter. The Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange in southern California and attorneys for 87 victims have announced the settlement. Our correspondent there says the settlement exceeds $85 million. We'll take you there live in just a bit.
Two major attacks today in Baghdad, both in the same neighborhood. These are pictures from an attack on a police station. Nearby, four suicide bombers in a minibus targeted a mosque. The death toll from today's attacks, 29 were killed.
In Bhopal, India, thousands of demonstrators march on the anniversary of the world's worst industrial disaster. Twenty years ago today, poisonous gas leaked from a pesticide plant, killing at least 10,000 people and affecting more than half a million.
And in Redwood City, California, long time friend of convicted murderer Scott Peterson says it would be a tragedy if he was put to death. We'll talk about the penalty phase of the trial in just a few minutes with our legal analyst, Kendall Coffey.
To the forecast center now and Rob Marciano in for new dad Chad Myers.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hi, Carol.
(WEATHER REPORT)
COSTELLO: A grueling negotiation, apologizes and the priciest payout in the history of the Catholic Church. Finally, overnight, a settlement in the huge clergy sex abuse scandal.
For more details, let's head live to Los Angeles and Drew Griffin -- Drew, you've been up all night covering this story.
Tell us more.
DREW GRIFFIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carol, three long days of negotiations and this last day went from 9:00 in the morning until 11:00 last night. That's when this settlement was finally reached. And though the exact figures are not being released under a temporary gag order by the court, we are reporting from our sources that this amount will be the highest ever yet paid in one of these Catholic Church abuse scandals and will exceed the $85 million settlement that was paid out in Boston.
We want to show you some pictures from last night, just hours ago, as you said, Carol. The bishop of Orange, Todd Brown, reading a statement apologizing to the victims, many of whom were outside the courtroom waiting for this settlement to be announced. And then the bishop giving hugs and getting hugs from the sexual abuse victims themselves, a very extraordinary moment in the healing process for all of these people. And, in fact, the abuse victims are telling us that the apology that Bishop Brown read meant more to them than anything else in this case.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOELLE CASTEIX, ALLEGED ABUSE VICTIM: For once they have done the right thing. After two years of stalling and 30 years of cover- up, they're -- the right thing is happening here, and that is disclosing the documents, that is taking accountability and actually realizing that horrible things happened in the Diocese of Orange.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRIFFIN: As for those horrible things that happened in the Diocese of Orange, part of this settlement includes the release of documents which, Carol, we are told by the victims and their lawyers, are horrific, detailing the 87 victims' stories, victims of 43 different priests, nuns, teachers, counselors, even a choir director. Again, a major settlement here in southern California, exceeding $85 million, and it goes beyond that, but it was reached late last night here at Los Angeles Superior Court -- back to you.
COSTELLO: You know, Drew, what really struck me was the bishop of Orange County hugging the victims, apologizing to them and how much that meant to the victims.
GRIFFIN: And I think it meant to him, as well. It was an extraordinary moment and quite unexpected for me. I didn't anticipate seeing any kind of outward movement from either the plaintiffs, the sexual abuse victims, or the church itself. These two have been at odds ever since this case began two and a half years ago. And to see it end like this, in a hug and tears on all sides, it was quite an amazing moment after drawn out negotiations.
COSTELLO: Drew Griffin live in Los Angeles.
Thank you.
President Bush is leaning on members of Congress to pass the 9/11 reform measure. He's expected to send them a letter outlining his ideas today.
As CNN's Ed Henry reports, some hope it will be enough to sway those undecided Republican law makers.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
ED HENRY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Senior White House adviser Karl Rove called a top Republican senator Thursday to underscore President Bush wants to end the stalemate on intelligence reform. Senator Susan Collins says despite some claims the president hasn't pushed hard enough, Rove told her Mr. Bush wants Congress to finish the legislation next week.
SEN. SUSAN COLLINS, (R-ME), CHAIR GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS COMMITTEE: It's clear that the White House is working very hard to get this bill through. There is a full court press on.
HENRY: That includes a new round of phone calls from the president and vice president to Capitol Hill. Those follow previous calls to Republicans Duncan Hunter and James Sensenbrenner, who have refused to endorse the deal now on the table.
9/11 families who support Collins are holding vigils in major cities, like this one in New York, to urge Congress to act during the end of its lame duck session.
One idea floated to break the logjam, have the president commit to considering Sensenbrenner's immigration proposals next year. But Sensenbrenner aides say he's compromised enough and 9/11 families who support him fear if immigration reform is dropped now, the president will not follow through.
PETER GADIEL, 9/11 FAMILIES/SECURE AMERICA: We were very worried. We know that the president is supposedly supporting this defective bill. But, again, that comports with his usual position of not securing the borders.
HENRY: Hunter has cited warnings by Joint Chiefs Chairman Richard Myers that a new director of national intelligence could slow key information from reaching military troops in the field. But late Thursday, General Myers said congressional negotiators have allayed his concerns, which could boost the bill's fortunes.
Collins believes with the president fully on board, the legislation will get done with or without the holdouts.
COLLINS: I hope it'll pass with the support of Congressman Sensenbrenner and Congressman Hunter. But I think it will pass regardless.
HENRY (on camera): Some Republicans believe the president has staked enough credibility on this issue that he has to get a deal. These Republicans say the White House fears that if Sensenbrenner and Hunter win, this can embolden other Republicans to buck the president on key issues like Social Security.
Ed Henry, CNN, Capitol Hill.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
COSTELLO: Aides say President Bush will use an economic summit this month to study ways to overhaul Social Security. Aides say the president wants to move forward with his plan to allow younger workers to invest part of their Social Security taxes. The White House reportedly wants to lure Wall Street figures and industry leaders to the mid-December White House conference.
In other stories across America this Friday, in Tucson, police have charged a suspect in this purse snatching. You see it right there? This happened at a Kmart store. That was back on November 23. Well, during a traffic stop yesterday, police arrested a suspect, John Paul Flores. That's allegedly him. He's charged now with aggravated assault and robbery.
Wisconsin has announced a $750 million stem cell research project. As you know, the research is a divisive issue. Supporters say it may eventually help people with conditions such as Alzheimer's and cancer. Opponents argue it could be unethical because it involves cloning human embryos.
A United Methodist Church jury in Pennsylvania has defrocked lesbian minister Elizabeth Stroud. She'd been accused of violating the denomination's ban on actively gay clergy. Stroud said she's saddened by the jury's action, but has not decided if she will appeal.
Compassionate, sincere, caring, graceful -- far from the lying cad portrayed by both prosecutors and defense attorneys in the Scott Peterson case. The defense is now putting on witnesses sympathetic to Peterson in the hopes of sparing him the death penalty.
Let's head live to Miami and our legal analyst Kendall Coffey -- good morning, Kendall.
KENDALL COFFEY, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Hey, good morning, Carol.
COSTELLO: I want to read a quote from one of Peterson's friends who took the stand. This is Britton Scheibe. She says: "My heart just absolutely sank because I just thought this can't be. Of all the people I grew up with and I knew, he would be the absolute last person that I would ever expect to be involved in something like this."
Could the jury be moved by testimony like this?
COFFEY: Not by that kind of thing alone, because I think the jury knows going in that this is somebody who had a clean record and a good life up to this really horrible crime. But, Carol, isn't that like that sort of sad expression, other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play? Because this crime was so bad that I think it's going to be very tough for the jury to get past the incredible anguish and grief of Laci Peterson's mother, Sharon Rocha.
After she was finished testifying, I think the sense was might as well get a cell ready for Scott Peterson on California's death row.
But it's not over yet and the final witness the defense is going to call is going to be Scott Peterson's own mother. And there's going to be an absolute flood tide of anguish when she testifies.
COSTELLO: Oh, you're not kidding.
You know, during some of the testimony yesterday about Laci meeting him for the first time. A witness on the stand cried and so, too, did Scott Peterson. For the first time he shows emotion.
Why now?
COFFEY: Well, it's obvious that at the end of this ordeal, he is starting to really, I wouldn't say unravel, but a lot of these things are overwhelming. There were tears during his father's testimony. I think there are going to be very few dry eyes in that entire courtroom as Jackie Peterson testifies.
And one of the unspoken promises of that testimony, Carol, is how much more punishment do you want to inflict on the family of Scott Peterson? And one of the witnesses suggested that his parents may not survive if Scott Peterson is, in fact, subjected to the death penalty.
COSTELLO: Oh, well, especially his poor mother.
COFFEY: Exactly.
COSTELLO: I mean, you've got to feel for his parents.
Kendall Coffey life from Miami, thank you.
COFFEY: Hey, thank you, Carol.
COSTELLO: Ever hear of a small Irish band named U-2? That's what I thought. Well, they're getting even bigger now, if that's possible. That's thanks to a partnership that could be the wave of the future in music.
Plus, mining for gold -- not the real thing, but something equally valuable, your personal information. Does privacy even exist anymore?
And a boost for blockbuster or a sign of the times? The big business of watching movies at home.
But first, here's a look at what else is making news this Friday morning.
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COSTELLO: Your news, money, weather and sports.
It's 6:15 Eastern.
Here's what's all new this morning.
After two years of negotiations, a sex abuse case involving the Catholic Church is settled in California. The Diocese of Orange County reached an agreement with 87 victims who alleged sexual misconduct by priests, nuns and others. Terms have not been disclosed.
The retrial of former NBA star Jayson Williams on reckless manslaughter charges has been delayed until March 7. The retrial is necessary because of a split verdict last April in the shotgun killing of Williams' limousine driver.
In money news, IBM has reportedly put its personal computer business up for sale. The "New York Times" reports the deal could be worth $1 billion to $2 billion.
And in culture, Prince Charles has commissioned a piece of classical music to commemorate his late grandmother. His office says the piece will be a 27-minute work on the cello. The Queen Mother died in 2002.
And in sports, Dallas Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki was hot last night. He scored 53 points, pulled down 16 rebounds in a 113-106 overtime win over the Houston Rockets -- Rob.
MARCIANO: That big boy can shoot, too.
COSTELLO: Oh, yes.
MARCIANO: I mean from downtown.
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COSTELLO: Those are the latest headlines for you this morning.
You can find a lot of things on the Internet. In fact, for a fee, you can find out almost anything about anyone -- their criminal history, unlisted phone number, even their Social Security number. And someone else can find out the same information about you.
Technology correspondent Daniel Sieberg takes a look at how one of these background services works.
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DANIEL SIEBERG, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): You might think of Wyoming as the perfect place in which to get lost. It's the tenth largest state in the union, yet it's dead last in population, a haven for many. However, the Cowboy State is where a lot of people are found, specifically, the basement of this house on the outskirts of Cheyenne.
This is the home of Jay Patel, founder of an Internet background search service called Abika.
JAY PATEL, FOUNDER, ABIKA.COM: I don't even believe in privacy too much. But first, like most people, when they discuss privacy, why do we need privacy? That's the question. Like why do people need privacy?
SIEBERG: He says most people agree, privacy isn't important. In fact, he says the world would be a better place if everyone knew everything about each other.
PATEL: Do you know what the root cause of hatred or intolerance is? It's because people don't know about other people.
SIEBERG: And Jay Patel says he's here to help. His company can track down a name from an e-mail address or instant message screen name, find an unlisted or blocked phone number, verify a person's salary. In fact, Abika has more than 300 ways for you to snoop on others and more than 300 ways for them to snoop on you.
(on camera): Do you ever worry that this information could fall into the wrong hands? People these days talk about terrorism or criminal activity? Is it -- do you worry about that.
PATEL: See, but for us it's not something we can even can not find it by going directly to the source. So it's not something which is like exclusive to us. It's right there. So we are only searching it. We don't create this information and we don't access anything which is restricted. We are just a small company in the basement here.
SIEBERG (voice-over): When Jay and his staff receive a request for information, they often get nothing more than a name and last known address. They send that information to private investigators, court researchers and keepers of various databases. Abika will even create a psychological profile of a person, all this usually without the subject knowing he or she is being investigated.
So, I decided to request a search on myself. At least I'd know about it.
(on camera): So, I mean you have my Social Security number. Is there the possibility that someone could steal my identity because this information is so easy to get?
PATEL: If you'll see, we don't release the Social Security number. The last four digits are Xed out. So in your whole profile? SIEBERG: Right?
PATEL: You'll see that it's not released to anyone, the Social Security number.
SIEBERG: But could someone else find that as easily as you did?
PATEL: Social Security numbers are the easiest thing to find, as such.
SIEBERG (voice-over): A scary thought. But Jay says Abika releases Social Security numbers only to qualified customers. However, we also ordered a general background search on another person and did get his Social Security number because it was the same as his driver's license number. And that's just one of the things that has privacy advocates concerned about services like Abika.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These new information brokers that have sprouted up on the Internet are really operating in the wild, wild West. There is no regulation or control. The information that these companies provide becomes the basis for decisions about whether you get a job, about whether you clear a background check, about whether you're able to lease an apartment, maybe even whether you get a home loan.
So the risk is very tangible that a mistake will be made, that you'll be turned down for an opportunity that you really are entitled to.
SIEBERG: Still, these data brokers have a lot of fans. Software executive Steve Kirsch uses Abika and other services to sue the senders of junk faxes.
STEVE KIRSCH, PROPEL SOFTWARE: Propel will get lots of unsolicited faxes and the only identification -- they'll be no identification of the company on the faxes. And so the only thing we'll have is an 800 number that we should dial. So we've used Abika to look up who owns the 800 number, because when we call the 800 number, of course, they just give us a phony company name and a phony location.
SIEBERG (on camera): As proof that Jay's approach to privacy can work for some people, Jay actually points to his own situation. Before moving here to Wyoming, he lived in South Dakota. One day he was at a store there and he saw a girl and read her name tag, then went home and did a background search on her. And when he returned to the store, he told her some things about her that he had found. Now, surprisingly, she didn't slap him. Instead, three weeks later, they were married.
(voice-over): But not all background checks have a happy ending. In 1999 in New Hampshire, Liam Youens used another Internet data broker called Docusearch to find out where a former high school classmate worked. He then shot and killed the woman, 20-year-old Amy Boyer, as she left work. He also killed himself. Boyer's family sued Docusearch, saying it should have told the woman she was being investigated.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She went to work not knowing that her personal private information was given by Docusearch, the defendants, to someone who had no legal right to have it.
SIEBERG: But Docusearch argued it has no duty to check a customer's background.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He premeditated his crime and he killed her. Telling him where she worked didn't foreseeably increase the risk of anything. It didn't proximately cause anything. It had nothing to do with Amy Boyer's death.
SIEBERG: The suit was settled out of court this year, with the Boyer family getting $85,000. But the background search industry is still going strong. As Youens wrote on his personal Web site, "It's actually obscene what you can find out about a person on the Internet."
Comments like that have many people searching for the balance between openness and the obscene.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
SIEBERG: And, incidentally, private companies aren't the only data miners. In a General Accounting Office report released earlier this year, dozens of government agencies were found to be sifting through massive amounts of data, some of it personal in nature. Now, most of the cases were related to counter-terrorism measures or preventing fraud or criminal activity. But some were designed to check on the behavior of certain personnel.
Now, as we pointed out, privacy watchdogs say the practice can be useful with the proper safeguards in place -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Yes, that's the key issue, proper safeguards in place.
SIEBERG: Yes. Exactly.
COSTELLO: Daniel Sieberg reporting live from Atlanta this morning.
Thank you.
SIEBERG: Thank you.
COSTELLO: A little U-2 this morning? Join the crowd. A masterful marketing ploy has made U-2 number one on the Billboard charts. We're going to talk to an expert about that after this.
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COSTELLO: Let's hear it for U-2. The classic mature rocking group scored big on Billboard. Their new album, "How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb," is number one, beating out acts like Eminem and Destiny's Child. Could it be because of a savvy partnership between U-2 and Apple? That is the big buzz this morning.
And joining us to talk about it all is "Billboard" magazine's senior writer, Brian Garrity.
Good morning, Brian.
BRIAN GARRITY, "BILLBOARD" SENIOR WRITER: Good morning.
COSTELLO: So, who made out more, the iPod and Apple or U-2?
GARRITY: Well, Apple, how big they win still is coming in the Christmas season. But clearly U-2 is a huge winner from this ad campaign.
COSTELLO: Oh, it's insane. I want to show people a bit of the ad, because it's so cool. I think this is their video on MTV. There it is.
GARRITY: And the thing to know about this is basically this is riffing on the, you know, the Apple commercials that have been running already -- the same color schemes, the same kind of silhouette imagery that you're seeing there. So it's kind of an effective -- it's a video but it basically meshes with the, you know, the promotion that Apple was already doing.
COSTELLO: Well, let's talk about this issue of selling out, because years ago, if a group like the Rolling Stones, let's say, did a commercial for a product, that would be selling out and their fans would be turned off. But this hasn't happened to U-2.
Why?
GARRITY: Well, once upon a time it was sacrilege to be featured in a commercial. But the way that the media has evolved over the years, exposure in TV commercials is actually an important way for bands to get their message out now because radio is so consolidated, because MTV doesn't play as many videos as they used to.
And so, you know, the marketing infusion into the music industry has really kind of made that less of a heresy. And therefore, you know, fans now are more -- are not nearly as turned off by that.
COSTELLO: Well, that's because they're exposed to great music. I mean on the radio, you just hear constant, you know, bubble gum pop music. I mean a radio station probably wouldn't play U-2. So this is a way to get the music out there, to get fans involved, to get them to buy CDs n the like.
GARRITY: Absolutely. I mean, yes, you listen to commercials now and they're almost a better radio station than radio can be in certain times.
COSTELLO: But isn't that pathetic?
GARRITY: Well, it does speak to the conservative nature of mainstream radio now. And it does tell you that, you know, if you are younger or more -- or even an older band -- if you don't hit into the target demographic of radio that you're not going to get on there.
Now, U-2 has really been able to rise above the fray and, you know, what we've seen here is really an unprecedented level of marketing on television for a new record coming out. You know, you see this with movies day in and day out, but the record industry doesn't normally promote its records this way. So this is what's, that was just so huge for U-2 and really helped -- I mean they essentially doubled -- when they came, when their last album came out in 2000, they sold about 400,000 copies. This is -- they've doubled their first week sales this time out.
COSTELLO: Yes, with more than 800,000. But, you know, just a thought struck me, if U-2 was singing for a product like, you know, hand lotion, maybe that would be different than singing for something like the iPod.
GARRITY: Matching brands and bands is a huge, you know, is a huge part of this. It has to be a right fit for the artist and for the marketer, as well.
COSTELLO: Fascinating stuff.
Brian Garrity from "Billboard" magazine.
Thank you for joining us this morning.
GARRITY: Thanks very much.
COSTELLO: We're going to take a short break.
We'll be right back with much more on DAYBREAK.
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