It’s no secret that privacy has been under serious attack this year. I have documented numerous cases here, and now we have a new one for the files:

In a breach of privacy, the Republican National Committee erroneously e-mailed a list that contained the names, races, and Social Security numbers of dozens of top Republican donors — and that identified two of the contributors as Muslim — to this reporter.

In the course of preparing for a Washington fund-raiser on Friday headlined by President Bush, an RNC staffer, Dee Dee Lancaster, intended to e-mail a security list of confirmed guests to other event planners and the Secret Service. But Ms. Lancaster mistyped one of the addresses, and the e-mail wound up in the Gmail account of this reporter.

The RNC confirmed the slip-up, which raised questions about how the committee handles sensitive personal information and what records it keeps of its supporters.The e-mail was sent to four other addresses, including one with the Secret Service.

These so called “slip ups” are amazing. If the people at the RNC, as well as other companies that have had similar problems, are so overworked that they can not ensure the privacy of their own donors, then how can they be trusted to ensure the privacy of our nation? These type of incidents must be followed up by strict criminal investigation that can be pursued with serious punishments.