Now we know: the US government carries out surveillance on a scale the Stasi could only dream of
Democratic Senator Ron Wyden’s request for the declassification of documentation held by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) has sparked a scandal by highlighting how the US government buys huge amounts of raw private information about its citizens, including geolocation data.
The federal authorities have used such information to investigate money laundering, drug trafficking and organized crime, but as the government itself recognizes, potentially threatens civil liberties. In short, the government uses taxpayers’ money to buy information about them from all kinds of companies, including some very questionable ones, and then uses that information for a wide range of issues that can include crime, as well as many others.
The problem is that the United States has no privacy protection legislation as such. To remedy this, it should start by banning the sale of geolocation data: We know there are applications that need this data — whether those we use for sport or to turn the lights on when we get home, but but putting in a terms of service that this data can also be sold to third parties should be illegal. A court request is more than enough to prosecute criminals: we cannot spy on everybody as an excuse for maintaining law and order.
