Topline
Data brokers that collect information from Americans’ phones, web browsers and cars have contracts with numerous government agencies to sell them that data, providing an increasingly large and intimate pool of intelligence about individuals that could “cause harm,” a new report from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence found.
Sensitive data like location and health information is increasingly available for purchase to a wide … [+]
Key Facts
The FBI, Department of Defense, U.S. Navy, Coast Guard and Defense Intelligence Agency all have contracts with data brokers, per the report—the DIA uses data to look at social media reports on individuals who are seeking security clearance, for example.
The Department of Homeland Security works with a data broker to gain leads on “threat actors and not innocent persons” because the information includes current location and contact information, DHS told ODNI.
The data’s widespread availability increases the power of the U.S. government and could easily be misused by government officials to “facilitate blackmail, stalking, harassment, and public shaming” or spy on romantic partners, the report says.
The report shows government regulation of personal data may not provide “sufficient protection” because the quantity of available data allows buyers to learn users’ locations and identities even when sellers say the information is anonymous, according to the report, which was declassified on Friday.
U.S. law bans enforcement agencies from acquiring detailed location information about one person since it is considered a violation of the Fourth Amendment, but the “same type” of data about “millions of Americans” is for sale.
Purchasers outside of U.S. government agencies include private-sector and non-governmental entities, along with governments worldwide, the report said.
What To Watch For
The report provided three recommendations for the U.S. intelligence community to improve governing policies surrounding commercially available data, as it is becoming “increasingly powerful…and increasingly sensitive.” It recommended cataloging the type of data it is buying and how it is using that information, creating a set of procedures to continually evaluate how data is being used and developing guidelines to protect sensitive data.
Key Background
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) requested the report, asking for the intelligence community to publicize how it uses commercially available data. Commercially available data can be obtained from cookies on web browsers and individual mobile apps that access location or other data, according to the report. Major data brokers like Thomson Reuters CLEAR, LexisNexis and Exactis advertise billions of data points and records collected from a variety of sources, per their websites. In the declassified report, DHS claimed it used CLEAR to track down criminals; in 2020, a Wall Street Journal report found DHS was paying for data on immigrants to help the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement identify, find and arrest undocumented immigrants. DHS has said it is “committed to protecting individuals’ privacy, civil rights, and civil liberties” and uses “various forms of technology” to fulfill its mission. Wyden and other Democratic senators introduced legislation in 2022 to ban data brokers from selling location and health information.
Crucial Quote
“Today, in a way that far fewer Americans seem to understand, and even fewer of them can avoid, [commercially available data] includes information on nearly everyone that is of a type and level of sensitivity that historically could have been obtained, if at all, only through targeted (and predicated) collection, and that could be used to cause harm to an individual’s reputation, emotional well-being, or physical safety,” the report says.
Further Reading
ODNI Senior Advisory Group Panel Declassified Report on Commercially Available Information (Office of Director of National Intelligence)
Federal Agencies Use Cellphone Location Data for Immigration Enforcement (Wall Street Journal)
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/katherinehamilton/2023/06/12/us-government-buying-intimate-data-about-americans-report-finds/