The United States Government’s Secret Surveillance on Citizens
Data privacy has been a significant concern for internet users worldwide. However, a recent report has revealed that the US government has secretly been amassing sensitive and intimate information about its citizens for years. The government’s efforts to amass data to monitor minute details of American life has been detailed in the recently declassified report for the first time.
The Nightmare Scenario for Privacy Advocates
The report reveals that US intelligence agencies are buying information about Americans, which Congress and the Supreme Court explicitly stated the government should not have. Haines, director of national intelligence, tasked his advisers in 2021 to untangle a web of secret business deals between commercial data brokers and members of the US intelligence community. What they found revealed a nightmare scenario for privacy advocates, and the report confirms that intelligence agencies are circumventing the law.
A Growing Surveillance State
Years of inaction by the US Congress on comprehensive privacy reform has resulted in a surveillance state that has been quietly growing out of the cracks of the legal system. Prosecutors pay little deference to the traditional limits placed on insider surveillance activities and ignore even the most cowardly interpretations of the laws of aging. As the framework protecting Americans’ privacy becomes increasingly fragile, opportunities abound to split hairs in court over whether digital counterparts enjoy such rights.
Buying Its Way Out of Constitutional Protections
The report makes it clear that the government continues to think it can buy its way out of constitutional protections by using taxpayers’ money. The government’s data brokers are channelling data out of the citizen’s grasp, and Congress must address this. Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act refers to the ongoing political fight over the so-called “crown jewel” of US surveillance. The ODNI’s advisory panel is raising concerns about existing policies that automatically conflate being able to purchase information with being “public” in the first place.
Static Government Interpretations Pose A Significant Threat
ODNI’s own advisory panel denounces the existing policies that pose a significant threat to the public. The advisors assert that static government interpretations of what constitutes “publicly available information” is a significant concern. The information that is commercially available about Americans today is more revealing, available to more people, less avoidable, and less understood than what is traditionally considered “publicly available.”
Concerns Raised by Policy Attorneys and Lawmakers
Policy attorney Sean Vitka from the nonprofit organization Demand Progress says that the government’s behaviour is alarming and violates the constitution. He argued that the government is using taxpayer money to obtain sensitive information about Americans that Congress and the Supreme Court have made clear the government should not have. Senator Ron Wyden from Oregon argues that if using a credit card to purchase an American’s personal information voids their Fourth Amendment rights, then traditional checks and balances for government surveillance will collapse.
Additional Piece
The US government’s activities provide an alarming outlook concerning privacy and trust between citizens. The government’s data brokers are working tirelessly to move private information to their hands, leaving citizens vulnerable to new forms of intrusion. Such activities are significant causes for concern.
The push to accumulate data violates the rights of citizens and raises significant challenges for lawmakers grappling with how to protect against data exploitation. The US government should take steps to reassure citizens that their privacy is paramount. Lawmakers must come together and enact new policies that would restrict the government’s ability to collect data without a warrant or explicit consent.
There are several potential technological solutions to the problem. For example, Blockchain technology is a decentralised system that offers data sharing with enterprise-grade privacy. Blockchain can generate private keys that are exclusive to the user, meaning the government can’t access them without explicit consent. Additionally, biometric authentication can provide a robust system for denying unauthorised access to data.
The US government must recognise the potential danger of accumulation and use of data without consent, violating citizens’ fundamental right to privacy. While we may need to collect data for security purposes, it shouldn’t come at the price of citizens’ privacy. The US government must implement the right policies and technology to protect citizens from undue government surveillance, ensuring that they remain secure in the knowledge that their privacy is considered paramount.
Summary
The US government has been accumulating a vast amount of data about its citizens for years now. Recently declassified reports also reveal that US intelligence agencies are circumventing the law buying information, which is against explicit Congress and Supreme Court statements. The report also denotes that the government is buying its way out of constitutional protections, and automatic policies are conflating “public” information to purchase information. Static government interpretations of “publicly available information” pose a significant threat to the public. Despite warnings by policymakers and policy attorneys, the government continues to amass data, making the citizens’ digital presence less avoidable and less understood. The government’s behaviour is alarming and threatens citizens’ fundamental right to privacy. If the situation continues, it could lead to a collapse of traditional checks and balances for government surveillance.
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The United States The government has been secretly amassing a “vast amount” of “sensitive and intimate information” about its own citizens, a group of senior advisers told Avril Haines, director of national intelligence, more than a year ago.
The size and scope of the government’s effort to amass data that reveals the minute details of American life is soberly detailed by the director’s own panel of experts in a recently declassified report. Haines first tasked his advisers in late 2021 with untangling a web of secret business deals between commercial data brokers and members of the US intelligence community.
What that report ended up saying constitutes a nightmare scenario for privacy advocates.
“This report reveals what we feared most,” says Sean Vitka, a policy attorney with the nonprofit organization Demand Progress. “Intelligence agencies are circumventing the law and buying information about Americans that Congress and the Supreme Court have made clear the government should not have.”
in the shadow of years of inaction by the US Congress on comprehensive privacy reform, a surveillance state has been quietly growing out of the cracks of the legal system. Prosecutors pay little deference to the purpose or intent behind the limits traditionally placed on insider surveillance activities. The most cowardly interpretations of the laws of aging are widely used to ignore them. As the framework protecting Americans’ privacy becomes increasingly fragile, opportunities abound to split hairs in court over whether our digital counterparts enjoy such rights.
“I have warned for years that if using a credit card to purchase an American’s personal information voids their Fourth Amendment rights, then traditional checks and balances for government surveillance will collapse,” says Ron Wyden, US Senator from Oregon. .
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) did not immediately respond to a request for comment. WIRED was unable to reach any members of the main advisory panel, whose names have been redacted in the report. Former members have included former top CIA officials and senior defense industry leaders.
Wyden had lobbied Haines, formerly the number two in the Central Intelligence Agency, to release the panel’s report during a March 8 hearing. Haines responded at the time that he believed it “absolutely” should be read by the public. On Friday, the report was declassified and published by the ODNI, which has been embroiled in a legal fight with the non-profit digital rights organization Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) about a series of related documents.
“This report makes it clear that the government continues to think it can buy its way out of constitutional protections using taxpayers’ own money,” says Chris Baumohl, EPIC Law Fellow. “Congress must address the channeling of government data brokers this year, before considering any reauthorization of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act,” he said (referring to the ongoing political fight over the so-called “crown jewel” of US surveillance).
ODNI’s own advisory panel makes it clear that static government interpretations of what constitutes “publicly available information” pose a significant threat to the public. The advisors denounce existing policies that automatically conflate being able to purchase information with being “public” in the first place. The information that is sold commercially about Americans today is “more revealing, available to more people (mass), less avoidable, and less understood” than what is traditionally considered “publicly available.”
https://www.wired.com/story/odni-commercially-available-information-report/
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