Current:Home > ContactU.S. intelligence acquires "significant amount" of Americans' personal data, concerning report finds -Elevate Capital Network
U.S. intelligence acquires "significant amount" of Americans' personal data, concerning report finds
Charles H. Sloan View
Date:2025-04-07 07:17:12
The U.S. intelligence community routinely acquires "a significant amount" of Americans' personal data, according to a new report released this week by a top spy agency.
The report outlined both privacy and counterintelligence concerns stemming from the ability of U.S. government agencies and foreign adversaries to draw from a growing pool of potentially sensitive information available online.
Absent proper controls, commercially available information, known as CAI, "can reveal sensitive and intimate information about the personal attributes, private behavior, social connections, and speech of U.S. persons and non-U.S. persons," the report, compiled last year by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, found.
"It can be misused to pry into private lives, ruin reputations, and cause emotional distress and threaten the safety of individuals," it said. "Even subject to appropriate controls, CAI can increase the power of the government's ability to peer into private lives to levels that may exceed our constitutional traditions or other social expectations."
Dated January of 2022, the report was written by an expert panel convened by Avril Haines, the director of national intelligence. It was declassified earlier this month and publicly released this week.
Redacted in places, the report noted that the market for online data is "evolving both qualitatively…and quantitatively," and can include meaningful information on American citizens and be acquired in bulk. Even when anonymized, agencies can cross-reference data sets to reveal information about specific individuals.
"Today, in a way that far fewer Americans seem to understand, and even fewer of them can avoid, CAI 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 said.
Information from social media, digital transactions and smartphone software for medical, travel, facial recognition and geolocation services are among the types of data widely available for purchase. It can be used to identify individuals who attend protests or participate in certain religious activities. Adversaries can use it to identify U.S. military or intelligence personnel, or build profiles on public figures, the panel wrote.
The report recommended that the intelligence community develop a set of standards for its purchase and use of online data, noting it would be at a "significant disadvantage" --- to those such as foreign adversaries --- if it lost access to certain datasets.
"CAI is increasingly powerful for intelligence and increasingly sensitive for individual privacy and civil liberties, and the [intelligence community] therefore needs to develop more refined policies to govern its acquisition and treatment," the panel wrote.
In a statement, Haines said the intelligence community was working on a framework governing the use of such data. Once finalized, Haines said, "we will make as much of it publicly available as possible."
"I remain committed to sharing as much as possible about the [intelligence community]'s activities with the American people," she said.
Haines first promised to evaluate the intelligence community's use of commercial data during her confirmation hearing under questioning by Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon in 2021. She again committed to publicly releasing the findings earlier this year.
"If the government can buy its way around Fourth Amendment due-process, there will be few meaningful limits on government surveillance," Wyden said in a statement this week. "Meanwhile, Congress needs to pass legislation to put guardrails around government purchases, to rein in private companies that collect and sell this data, and keep Americans' personal information out of the hands of our adversaries."
- In:
- Central Intelligence Agency
- United States Military
- FBI
veryGood! (2)
Related
- Jay Kanter, veteran Hollywood producer and Marlon Brando agent, dies at 97: Reports
- An Inevitable Showdown With the Fossil Fuel Industry Is Brewing at COP28
- Jacky Oh's Partner DC Young Fly Shares Their Kids' Moving Message 6 Months After Her Death
- Tuohy family claims Michael Oher of The Blind Side tried to extort $15 million from them
- Immigration issues sorted, Guatemala runner Luis Grijalva can now focus solely on sports
- Lawyers for woman accusing Dani Alves of sexual assault seek maximum 12-year sentence for player
- Two separate earthquakes, magnitudes 5.1 and 3.5, hit Hawaii, California; no tsunami warning
- European soccer body UEFA pledges at UN to do more to promote human rights and fight discrimination
- Off the Grid: Sally breaks down USA TODAY's daily crossword puzzle, Hi Hi!
- Lawyers for woman accusing Dani Alves of sexual assault seek maximum 12-year sentence for player
Ranking
- What to watch: O Jolie night
- Wisconsin governor signs off on $500 million plan to fund repairs and upgrades at Brewers stadium
- Grand Theft Auto VI trailer is released. Here are 7 things we learned from the 90-second teaser.
- Wisconsin judge reaffirms July ruling that state law permits consensual abortions
- Intel's stock did something it hasn't done since 2022
- House explodes as police in Arlington, Virginia, try to execute search warrant, officials say
- Why Savannah Chrisley Hasn’t Visited Her Parents Todd and Julie in Prison in Weeks
- Two separate earthquakes, magnitudes 5.1 and 3.5, hit Hawaii, California; no tsunami warning
Recommendation
Person accused of accosting Rep. Nancy Mace at Capitol pleads not guilty to assault charge
Former top staffer of ex-congressman George Santos: You are a product of your own making
New Forecasting Tools May Help Predict Impact of Marine Heatwaves of Ocean Life up to a Year in Advance
Coast Guard suspends search for missing fisherman off coast of Louisiana, officials say
US auto safety agency seeks information from Tesla on fatal Cybertruck crash and fire in Texas
Selection Sunday's ACC madness peaked with a hat drawing that sent Notre Dame to Sun Bowl
Fantasy football Start ‘Em, Sit ‘Em: 15 players to start or sit in Week 14
Biden calls reports of Hamas raping Israeli hostages ‘appalling,’ says world can’t look away