US purchases data on millions of Latin American citizens from commercial firms

Xeni Jardin 8:30 am Mon Apr 14, 2003

Via Dave Farber's IP list today:

Over the past 18 months, the U.S. government has bought access to data on hundreds of millions of residents of 10 Latin American countries — apparently without their consent or knowledge — allowing myriad federal agencies to track foreigners entering and living in the United States.

A suburban Atlanta company, ChoicePoint, collects the information abroad and sells it to U.S. government officials in three dozen agencies, including federal immigration investigators who have used it to arrest illegal immigrants.The practice broadens a trend that has an information-hungry U.S. government increasingly buying personal data on Americans and foreigners alike from commercial vendors including ChoicePoint and LexisNexis.

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