Federal govt buying “stockpiles” of citizens’ personal data

You may recall quaint times from the past when, if law enforcement took an interest in you and wanted to investigate, they would need to establish probable cause, obtain a warrant, and then approach the holders of various bits of personal information and request it. Good times, my friends. Good times. But according to a recently declassified report from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, that ship has long since sailed. Various elements of the intelligence community have been vacuuming up virtually every bit of data they please about anyone. And they’re not even doing it discriminately. They collect information on virtually everyone, including people who have never been on their radar or even suspected of committing a crime. And how are they managing all of this? They’re just buying it in bulk from data brokers and saving it to sort through later if you happen to pop up as a person of interest. (Wired)Read More