Government Purchasing Private Personal Information
¨ April 13, 2001
¨ The Wall Street Journal reported that executive branch agencies were purchasing "troves of personal data from the private sector." The article quoted government sources for the proposition that DOJ, FBI, USMS, INS, and IRS employees had electronic access to citizens' assets, phone numbers, driving records, and other personal information from their desktop computers. The article reported that ChoicePoint, a publicly-held company, and its competitors were supplying citizens' personal information to at least thirty-five federal government agencies.
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¨ Glenn R. Simpson, Big Brother-in-Law, If the FBI Hopes to Get the Goods on You, It May Ask ChoicePoint, Wall St. J., April 13, 2001 at A1.