As if the identity theft crisis wasn’t bad enough, federal and local police have found a new way to evade Constitutional search and seizure limitations by hiring crooks to steal the personal records of innocent citizens.
Numerous federal agencies, including the departments of Justice, Homeland Security, the FBI, the U.S. Marshal’s Service, and Immigrations and Customs, as well as police departments around the country have taken to using so-called “data brokers” to gather personal information, such as phone records, to aid in investigations. This allows them to bypass pesky subpoenas and search warrants, which are considered to be too annoying and time-consuming.
One way that data brokers steal personal data is through a scheme called “pretexting.” Known in the hacker community as “social engineering,” pretexting often involves brokers contacting phone companies, credit agencies and other personal data repositories, and pretending to be the person whose records they seek. Many data brokers have admitted to using such tactics, as well as breaking into online accounts to steal private information. No matter how you try to pretty it up, “pretexting” is nothing more than lying, and it’s a crime.
Prices for personal information vary from thief to thief (oh, sorry, “data broker”), but Social Security information generally sells for about $60. University class schedules can be had for $80, and cell phone records go for about $200. For $300, stalkers, or, “surveillance agents,” can buy the actual, real-time location a personal cell phone. In one case, a Los Angeles police officer was murdered by drug dealers who hired data brokers to provide the officers’ personal pager information. However, these are prices paid by members of the general public. More often than not, law enforcement agencies get their stolen information for free from brokers who wish to be “cooperative.”
U.S. Rep. Ed Whitfield (R-Ky.), who chairs the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, has been looking into this situation since February, and a new round of hearings recently began. Eleven current and former owners of data brokerage companies summoned to appear refused to testify, prompting Whitfield to state, “Their silence shows the American people that this industry needs to be shut down.” Regarding the theft of information by brokers, Whitfield also said, “…[the data brokers] will impersonate and use everything available that they have to convince the person who has the information to share it with them, and it’s shocking how successful they are.”
Whitfield said his efforts to protect consumers’ records were not finished. “These hearings do not signal the end of this investigation, and I look forward to continuing our work to expose these shady activities. Identity theft is one of the fastest growing crimes in the country, and the American people need to know that Congress is doing everything it can to keep consumers private records secure.”
Welcome to our total surveillance nation. Things have sure come a long way – the wrong way – since the words, “We, the people…” were first penned.