The FBI's Use of Data Brokers
Although the federal government and local law enforcement agencies nationwide use private data brokers, the FBI said that practices used by these companies to gather private phone records without warrants or subpoenas is illegal, according to an Associated Press article on Chron.com.
A senior FBI lawyer, Elaine N. Lammert, told lawmakers the bureau was still surveying agents around the United States, but so far has found no “systemic” use of data brokers by the FBI.
That’s from the CSO Blog, “Data Brokers May Act Illegally.” [link to http://www2.csoonline.com/blog_view.html?CID=22388 no longer works] In other news, “ChoicePoint-FBI Deal Raises New Privacy Questions.” [link to http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2006/05/fbi_choicepoint.html no longer works]
So what are we paying for?