Source: securityboulevard.com – Author: Richi Jennings
Warrant not needed if info bought from brokers.
An 18-month-old secret report—recently declassified—“raises significant issues related to privacy and civil liberties.” There have been “profound changes in the scope and sensitivity” of your information available from the shadowy world of data brokers. That makes the data “increasingly powerful for intelligence [but] increasingly sensitive” for individuals.
Some say the government shouldn’t buy it. Others say it shouldn’t be sold to anyone. In today’s SB Blogwatch, we see both sides.
Your humble blogwatcher curated these bloggy bits for your entertainment. Not to mention: Kalabi.
What Price 4th Amendment?
What’s the craic? Byron Tau and Dustin Volz report—“U.S. Spy Agencies Buy Vast Quantities of Americans’ Personal Data”:
“Loosely regulated”
The vast amount of Americans’ personal data available for sale has provided a rich stream of intelligence for the U.S. government but created significant threats to privacy. … Commercially available information, or CAI, has grown in such scale that it has begun to replicate the results of intrusive surveillance techniques … according to a newly released report … commissioned by Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines.
…
The report … represents the first known attempt by the U.S. government to examine comprehensively how federal agencies acquire, share and use commercially available data sets that are often compiled with minimal awareness by the public. [It] urged the intelligence community to develop better policies, procedures and safeguards around its acquisition of such information.
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Data brokers’ offerings have grown … to include the trail of information generated by smartphone devices and apps, social-media platforms, automobiles and location trackers such as fitness watches. … Virtually anyone can purchase the data, and the marketplace is loosely regulated.
O RLY? Dude, you’re getting Dell Cameron—“US Is Openly Stockpiling Dirt”:
“Surveillance state”
Haines had first tasked her advisers in late 2021 with untangling a web of secretive business arrangements between commercial data brokers and US intelligence community members. What that report ended up saying constitutes a nightmare scenario for privacy defenders.
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In the shadow of years of inaction … a surveillance state has been quietly growing in the legal system’s cracks [via] craven interpretations of aging laws. … The government believes it can “persistently” track the phones of “millions of Americans” without a warrant, so long as it pays for the information. … Evidentiary thresholds, like reasonable doubt and probable cause … are legal hurdles that no longer bother an increasing number of government agencies.
Feeling some déjà vu? shelbystripes has been banging this drum for some time:
I’ve said for years that the third-party doctrine has consumed one of our most basic privacy rights, which is privacy from the government. The notion that, by letting any other person or company know something about me, I also accept the government knowing and retaining it, is ****ing preposterous.
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We need a new way of … thinking about privacy in general, one that doesn’t start with the idea that you give up all right to privacy the minute you leave your house, or try to interact with a business. One that acknowledges that businesses shouldn’t be “free” to sell data about you, and governments shouldn’t be “free” to buy it, either.
With a more nuanced view, here’s James Joyner. He’s also no stranger to the question—“The 4th Amendment in a Zero Privacy World”:
I’ve argued for decades that the 4th Amendment has been construed far, far too narrowly by law enforcement agencies and the courts. But … what we’re talking about here isn’t “surveillance” or “search” in any traditional sense. We’re literally asking if government agencies should have the same ability to buy information legally held by commercial entities as anyone else.
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I agree that government agencies should not be able to bypass 4th Amendment guarantees by buying this information. … But isn’t the obvious solution to make it illegal to sell this information to anyone? To require companies collecting sensitive information to do so only to the extent required to provide the service for which they’re being contracted? To safeguard it properly under heavy penalty for failure?
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If [not] then I don’t know how we can complain that the government is violating our privacy. We either have privacy or we don’t. … Nobody is compelling us to carry tracking devices. We eagerly do so of our own volition.
tl;dr? Let Lima360 be blunt:
It’s more concerning to me that the big tech companies gather and sell this data than that the government is buying [it]. Stop the data collection as a commodity for these firms to profit off of.
¿Por qué no los dos? majormajor agrees:
Really you need a two prong solution:
1) Restrict this from being collected and compiled in the first place, eliminate the ability to default to this tracking unless someone opts out.
2) Restrict the government’s ability to use or acquire through non-market-based means.
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There are very really no companies that I trust to keep my data safe for 10, 20, 50 years. Leadership changes, ownership changes, etc. We have to cut it off at the source.
However, Shaitan disputes the assumption:
This isn’t public information. Just because it is in the hands of a third party doesn’t make it public. … These services should still require a warrant to purchase [it].
Meanwhile, C. Montgomery Burner shrugs and moves on:
Well I hope I’ve bored them silly with my uneventful life. Serves them right. Enjoy combing my Amazon orders for jam and T-shirts.
And Finally:
Hat tip: quackpipe
You have been reading SB Blogwatch by Richi Jennings. Richi curates the best bloggy bits, finest forums, and weirdest websites … so you don’t have to. Hate mail may be directed to @RiCHi or [email protected]. Ask your doctor before reading. Your mileage may vary. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Do not stare into laser with remaining eye. E&OE. 30.
Image sauce: Miquel Parera (via Unsplash; leveled and cropped)
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Original Post URL: https://securityboulevard.com/2023/06/odin-personal-data-sold-richixbw/
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