The US National Security Agency (NSA) has admitted to purchase Internet browsing logs by data brokers for identify websites and apps used by Americans, which would otherwise require a court order, U.S. Senator Ron Wyden said last week.
The NSA admissions
“The US government should not be funding and legitimizing a shady industry whose flagrant violations of Americans' privacy are not only unethical, but illegal“, has declared Wyden in a letter to the Director of National Intelligence (DNI), Avril Haines, in addition to taking action to “ensure that U.S. intelligence agencies only purchase legally obtained data on American citizens“.
Metadata about users' browsing behavior can pose a serious privacy riskas the information could be used to extract personal details about an individual based on the websites they frequent.
This could include, among other things, also websites that offer mental health-related resources, assistance for survivors of sexual or domestic abuseand telemedicine providers who focus on contraception or abortive medications.
In response to questions from Wyden, the NSA said it has compliance regimes and that “takes steps to minimize the collection of information about individuals in the United States.” And “continues to acquire only the most useful data relevant to mission needs“.
However, the agency said it does not purchase and use location data collected from phones used in the United States without a court order; it also said that it does not use location information obtained from the telematics systems of cars located in the country.
Ronald S. Moultrie, Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security (USDI&S), stated that Department of Defense (DoD) components acquire and use Commercially Available Information (CAI) so that “respects high standards of protection of privacy and civil liberties” in support of legitimate intelligence missions or cybersecurity missions.
This revelation is just another thing it indicates that intelligence and law enforcement agencies are purchasing potentially sensitive data from companies that would require a U.S. court order to acquire directly from communications companies; in early 2021, it is emerged that the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) bought And used Home location data collected from phones via commercial data intermediaries.
When the NSA sources users' browser browsing data from private companies
The disclosure about the NSA's warrantless purchase of personal data comes following the Federal Trade Commission's (FTC) decision to ban Outlogic (formerly X-Mode Social) And InMarket Media to sell precise location information to its customers without users' informed consent.
To Outlogic, as part of its settlement with the FTC, It has also been banned from collecting location data that could be used to track people's visits to sensitive locations such as medical and reproductive health clinics, domestic abuse shelters, and places of religious worship.
The NSA's purchase of sensitive data from these “shady companies” exists in a legal gray area (under US law, rightly so), Wyden disclosed, adding that the intermediaries who buy and resell this data are not known to consumers, who are often kept in the dark about who is sharing their data or where it is being used.
Another notable aspect of these dark practices is that third-party apps that incorporate software development kits (SDKs) from these data brokers and ad tech providers they do not notify users about the sale and sharing of location data, whether for advertising or national security.
“According to the FTC, it is not enough for a consumer to consent to an app or website collecting such data, the consumer must be informed and consent to the sale of their data to government contractors for national security purposes' “said the Oregon Democrat, and then added “I am not aware of any company that provides such warnings to consumers before their data is collected. Therefore, violation of the law is likely widespread across the industry and not limited to this particular data broker.“
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