U.S. government agencies are reportedly buying vast amounts of sensitive data on Americans from private sources, according to a recently released declassified report (pdf).
Private data collection services have gathered commercially available information (CAI) over the years, including highly-revealing data on millions of American citizens, reported The Wall Street Journal.
These data brokers are able to carry out the same types of surveillance techniques on particular individuals for commercial use that federal agencies could only normally gather with proper authorization.
The news comes after FBI Director Christopher Wray admitted to the Senate in March that his agency bought precise geolocation data from mobile phone services for warrantless tracking….