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Phone data brokers
Local angle
State police use data brokers to gather records on individuals, though an official said officers use the information only for specific investigations.
Using private companies that have access to public information is nothing new for the Arizona Department of Public Safety, said Sgt. Harold Sanders, a DPS spokesman. Police work requires using the records compiled by the private companies, he said. He said he was unaware of any privacy violations.
He also noted that police aren't the only people to use the data brokers, as many companies use the services, too.
When DPS investigators want access to private information, they are legally required to seek a judge's permission, he said.
Investigators have to be specific about what they're looking for and show how the information will aid them, Sanders said.
"We can't go on a fishing expedition," he said.
Aaron Mackey

Washington

Police get phone records from private data brokers

By Ted Bridis and John Solomon
The Associated Press
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 06.21.2006
WASHINGTON — Federal and local police across the country — as well as some of the nation's best-known companies — have been gathering Americans' phone records from private data brokers without subpoenas or warrants.
These brokers, many of whom market aggressively on the Internet, have broken into customer accounts online, tricked phone companies into revealing information and sometimes acknowledged that their practices violate laws, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press.
Legal experts and privacy advocates said police reliance on private vendors who commit such acts raises civil-liberties questions.
Those using data brokers include agencies of the Homeland Security and Justice departments — including the FBI and the U.S. Marshals Service — and municipal police departments in California, Florida, Georgia and Utah. Experts believe hundreds of other departments frequently use such services.
"We are requesting any and all information you have regarding the above cell phone account and the account holder ... including account activity and the account holder's address," Ana Bueno, a police investigator in Redwood City, Calif., wrote in October to PDJ Investigations of Granbury, Texas.
An agent in Denver for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Anna Wells, sent a similar request on March 31 on Homeland Security stationery: "I am looking for all available subscriber information for the following phone number," Wells wrote to a corporate alias used by PDJ.
Congressional investigators estimated the U.S. government spent $30 million last year buying personal data from private brokers. But that number likely understates the breadth of transactions, since brokers said they rarely charge law enforcement agencies.
A lawmaker who has investigated the industry said Monday he was concerned about data brokers.
"There's a good chance there are some laws being broken, but it's not really clear precisely which laws, said Rep. Ed Whitfield, R-Ky., head of the House Energy and Commerce investigations subcommittee, which plans to begin hearings today.
Documents gathered by Whitfield's committee show data brokers use trickery, impersonation and even technology to try to gather Americans' phone records. "They can basically obtain any information about anybody on any subject," he said.
James Bearden, a Texas lawyer who represents four such data brokers, likened the companies' activities to the National Security Agency, which reportedly compiles the phone records of ordinary Americans.
"The government is doing exactly what these people are accused of doing," Bearden said. "These people are being demon-ized. These are people who are partners with law enforcement on a regular basis."
Many of the executives summoned to testify before Congress this week plan to refuse to answer questions, invoking their Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.
Larry Slade, PDJ's lawyer, said no one at the company violated laws, but he acknowledged, "I'm not sure that every law enforcement agency in the country would agree with that analysis."
PDJ always provided help to police for free. "Agencies from all across the country took advantage of it," Slade said.
The police agencies said they used the data brokers because it was quicker and easier than subpoenas, and their lawyers believe their actions did not violate the Fourth Amendment's guarantee against unlawful search and seizure.
Some agencies, such as Immigration and Customs Enforcement, instructed agents to stop the practice after congressional inquiries. Police in Orem, Utah, also plan to end the practice because of concerns about "questionable methods" used by data brokers, Lt. Doug Edwards said.
The records also list some of America's most famous corporate names, from automakers to insurers to banks, as purchasing information on private citizens from data brokers, which often help companies track down delinquent customers.
A 2003 customer list for data broker Universal Communications Co. listed Ford Motor Credit Co., the automaker's lending arm, as the largest purchaser of phone toll records.
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