U.S. Intelligence Has Amassed ‘Sensitive and Intimate’ Data on ‘Nearly Everyone’
from today's The Defender--and this is BEFORE the digital ID goes into effect.
When it comes to data privacy in our present, hyper-connected age, many of your worst fears and biggest anxieties are probably correct. Yes, smartphones and our manifold other devices collect an incredible array of information on our habits, choices, and movements at all times.
Yes, all of this information is compiled by companies to sell for profit. Yes, the U.S. government is among the many clients buying up that data. And yes, it represents a significant and persistent threat to your civil liberties and safety, as confirmed in a newly released report from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) — the top dog among all of our nation’s spy agencies.
The declassified document made public on Friday, was completed in January 2022, following 90 days of assessment. It was commissioned by Avril Haines, the director of national intelligence in the Biden Administration, at the behest of Oregon Senator Ron Wyden. Haines agreed to look into the issue of how U.S. intelligence uses commercially available data during her confirmation hearing, and now the result of that inquiry is fully on display.
The newly released report affirms a mounting bevy of evidence that government agencies — from Immigration and Customs Enforcement to the Pentagon — are compiling vast stores of for-sale data.
Taken altogether, the information that the government is easily able to purchase from data brokers rivals anything that’s been available to intelligence agencies in the past — even through warrants, wiretaps, and Fourth Amendment due process.