Today commercially available information is more revealing, available on more people, less possible to avoid, and less well understood than traditional publicly available information. Private companies have built up massive troves of personal information, which data brokers aggregate and sell to both public and private sector entities without proper safeguards to protect privacy and civil liberties. The data brokerage industry is shadowy and opaque, as companies rarely disclose details of their data collection and analysis to external parties. This lack of transparency prevents government agencies and other customers from discovering potential biases in these technologies, even when they lead to erroneous criminal arrests. Trade secret protections further complicate access to exculpatory evidence that could prove an individual’s innocence if inaccurate datasets or algorithms are used.
Although foreign governments, like China, do not have legal jurisdiction over most Americans, they could still benefit from the ubiquitous digital surveillance U.S. data brokers offer. For example, foreign entities could purchase sensitive geolocation information to target specific high-profile individuals like politicians or journalists. Demonstrating the ease of smartphone tracking, the New York Times obtained over 50 billion anonymized smartphone geolocation points from 2016 to 2017 and almost instantaneously identified former U.S. President Donald Trump, Secret Service agents, senior congressional staffers, and DOD officials. In addition to geolocation, commercial data sales related to physical or mental health, personal relationships, or finances could increase the vulnerability of high-profile Americans to blackmail or doxing by foreign and domestic bad actors. Aside from accuracy concerns, data brokers can also perpetuate systemic biases in law enforcement by directly targeting personal attributes like race, ethnicity, country of origin, religion, and income.
Stricter U.S. data privacy regulations in the private and public sectors will strengthen the national security, human rights, and economic interests of the United States rather than hobble its geopolitical completive advantage. Not only will it benefit the U.S. but this will greatly restore the 4th Amendment as it has clearly been violated. As technology continues to advance, big data will become increasingly central to economics, national security, and human rights. Therefore, it is crucial to set strong precedents and smart policies for data brokers now in order to positively shape their interactions with government agencies for years to come.