Americans should be alarmed at how easy it is for private data brokers to get their hands on anyone’s personal banking and telephone information. The data peddlers’ aggressive tactics, including impersonation and trickery, are almost certainly illegal, according to the FBI.
But that hasn’t stopped federal and local law enforcement agencies — including the FBI — from paying millions to data brokers for the private information, according to a congressional investigation, in the process sidestepping warrants and subpoenas and violating citizens’ rights.
One ex-data broker’s testimony about how easy it is to get any information about anyone astonished lawmakers and prompted Rep. Cliff Stearns, R-Fla., to remark, “I don’t think we have any privacy at all.”
It’s another example of how our government is literally selling out our civil liberties.
Posted by Randy Scholfield
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