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U.S. Gov't Spent $30M On Citizens' Personal Info

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the someone-call-will-rogers-about-that-payment-thing dept.

infosec_spaz writes "According to a news story on Yahoo! News, the U.S. Government has spent US$30 million in the last year on buying citizens' personal phone records from online brokers...The very ones who Congress is trying to put out of business." From the Article:"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 any price." "So...who is getting all of BellSouth, SBC(AT&T) and other phone records?"

14 of 181 comments (clear)

  1. Makes me proud to be British by damburger · · Score: 5, Funny

    Silly American government, spending taxpayers money buying personal data...

    Our government *sells* personal data, saving the taxpayer money!

    --
    If we can put a man on the moon, why can't we shoot people for Apollo-related non-sequiturs?
  2. Bad News... by Gibberx · · Score: 3, Funny

    This is pretty bad news for fugitives who want a FREE XBOX 360*!!!

  3. That's why I hide everything by ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    I use CASH for alll transactions
    I take a different route every time I go somewhere
    I use different public pay phones all the time
    I use random public WiFi hotspots
    I don't use the Internet
    I don't surf Slashdot
    I don't use electricity
    I don't have any artificial fibers in my clothing
    I am a mountain man, my wild plant eating skills are unsurpassed
    And finally...
    I drink Budwiser, the king of beers for paranoid people

    1. Re:That's why I hide everything by ... by nog_lorp · · Score: 5, Funny

      You fool. You don't even realize what we put in Budwiser.

  4. Again showing industry more efficient than govt by elrous0 · · Score: 3, Funny
    If the government had done the spying themselves, it would probably have cost $30 *BILLION*. Kudos to them for spending our taxpayer $$ wisely!

    -Eric

    --
    SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
  5. So what? by Jah-Wren+Ryel · · Score: 4, Funny

    I don't really care if the government wants to find out how to better target their product advertisements. In fact, I prefer it because it should reduce the number advertisements that I have to watch for government products that I am not interested in.

    Doh!

    --
    When information is power, privacy is freedom.
  6. Vote GOP! by dsgitl · · Score: 4, Funny

    This is why I love the conservative philosophy of government! They're the guys that respect privacy and limited government intrustion! Illegally gathering my phone records and then selling them to the government? Sounds good to me!

    Basically, so long as fags can't marry, I'm 100 percent happy with my country right now.

  7. they could have gotten it a lot cheaper ... by tomhudson · · Score: 4, Funny

    I'm sure there's someone (probably LOTS of "soneones") in the .ru domain that could have sold all sorts of info to them for much, much less less - and it would be more up-to-date.

  8. If the government wants to buy my phone record by spidergoat2 · · Score: 4, Funny

    I can give them a better deal that the folks they're buying it from now. It's always fresher if you get it straight from the source.

  9. Re:Yahoo! News is as news as slashdot by EraserMouseMan · · Score: 2, Funny

    Plus if all they spent was 30m I'd be surprised if they actually ended up with anything. It costs 30m just for the government to start thinking about something. Much less actually get something done.

  10. I have a brilliant idea by weird7192 · · Score: 1, Funny
    just set up a Myspace like social networking website! That way they'll get more personal info on US citizens than they can possibly dream of and it'll all be for FREE! Why haven't they thought of doing this..

    Slashdot: A 14 year old girl sues Myspace for $30 million for failing to protect her personal details from access by unverified individuals.

    ummm maybe it's not such a good idea

  11. Re:And this is why ... by ogma · · Score: 2, Funny

    You have already lost to terrorism, time to stop pretending you still care about those constitutional protections and just roll over.

    Surely you meant bend over?

  12. Re:Pardon my language, but... by Asphalt · · Score: 4, Funny
    What the fuck? What the fucking fuck?

    Must your analysis of the situation be so technical?

  13. Re:The problem isn't the government.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Not my ex-husband, I left him broke! LOLOL!