Lawsuit Seeks To Force Disclosure Of Government Information Buys
The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) has filed a federal lawsuit to force the U.S. Justice and Treasury Departments to reveal details about their purchase of personal information about Americans from private companies.
The suit was filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court, Washington. It alleges that officials of both agencies and their components, such as the FBI, Marshals Service, Immigration and Naturalization Service and the Internal Revenue Service violated the federal Freedom Of Information (FOI) Act when they repeatedly stonewalled requests for that information since last June.
While the organization conceded that it did receive some information, it alleged that vast amounts were withheld.
Officials of both the Justice and Treasury Departments would not comment on the suit, which seeks court orders requiring the agencies and their units “to disclose the requested records in their entireties and [to] make copies available” to EPIC and its lawyers.
Epic, which also seeking to recover the costs of the lawsuit, said in court papers that it made the requests after an April 13 report in the Wall Street Journal said that “executive branch agencies were purchasing troves of personal data from the private sector.” The report also said that various components of both the Justice and Treasury departments “had electronic access to citizen’s assets, phone numbers, driving records and other personal information from their desktop computers.”
It further alleged that a number of commercial companies were supplying “citizens’ personal information to at least 35 federal government agencies” and that the use of private sector databases of personal information enables the government to obtain detailed information on citizens while avoiding the creation of files that would implicate protections provided” under the federal Privacy Act of 1974.
“Through the mining of public records and purchase of credit reporting data, private sector companies are massing troves of personal information citizens for the government,” EPIC’s lawyer, Chris Hoofnagle, said in a statement. The statement additionally noted that “serious questions exist involving citizen access to profiles, their accuracy, and the potential for misuse of personal information.”
