INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Recently released documents revealed the FBI has for years secretly demanded vast amounts of Americans& consumer and financial information
credit agencies.
The FBI regularly uses these legal powers — known as national security letters — to compel credit giants to turn over
non-content information, such as records of purchases and locations, that the agency deems necessary in national security investigations
But these letters have no judicial oversight and are typically filed with a gag order, preventing the recipient from disclosing the demand
to anyone else — including the target of the letter.
Only a few tech companies, including Facebook, Google, and Microsoft, have disclosed
that they have ever received one or more national security letters
Since the law changed in 2015 in the wake of the Edward Snowden disclosures that revealed the scope of the U.S
government surveillance operations, recipients have been allowed to petition the FBI to be cut loose from the gag provisions and publish the
letters with redactions.
Tech companies have used &transparency reports& to inform their users of government demands for their data
But other major data collectors, like credit agencies, have failed to publish their figures altogether.
Three lawmakers — Democratic
senators Ron Wyden and Elizabeth Warren, and Republican senator Rand Paul — have sent letters to Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion,
expressing their &alarm& as to why the credit giants have failed to disclose the number of government demands for consumer data they
receive.
&Because your company holds so much potentially sensitive data on so many Americans and collects this information without obtaining
consent from these individuals, you have a responsibility to be transparent about how you handle that data,& the letters said
&Unfortunately, your company has not provided information to policymakers or the public about the type or the number of disclosures that you
have made to the FBI.&
Spokespeople for Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion did not respond to a request for comment outside business
hours.
It not known how many national security letters were issued to the credit agencies since the legal powers were signed into law in
The New York Times said the national security letters to credit agencies were a &small but telling fraction& of the overall half-million
FBI-issued demands made to date.
Other banks and financial institutions, as well as universities, cell service and internet providers, were
targets of national security letters, the documents revealed.
The senators have given the agencies until December 27 to disclose the number
of demands each has received.
Many smart home device makers still won&t say if they give your data to the government
