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GAO: Government 'Data Mining' Not New The recent disclosure that major telephone companies were turning over customers’ calling records to the National Security Agency captured headlines, but the phone companies are only one of many commercial sources the government uses to "mine” for data. The Departments of Justice, State and Homeland Security buy commercial databases that track Americans’ finances – including credit card records – phone numbers and biographical information, according to a report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office obtained by BusinessWeek. The Privacy Act of 1974 restricts how federal agencies can use this information and requires that they disclose what they are doing with it. But the law applies only when the federal government is collecting the data – not when it is buying the information from other sources. The Justice Department alone spent $19 million in fiscal 2005 to collect names, addresses, phone numbers and other data, BusinessWeek reports. According to the General Accountability Office – the investigative arm of Congress – the top six reasons why federal agencies say they perform "data mining” using information from commercial sources are: 1. Improving service or performance. 2. Detecting fraud and waste. 3. Identifying terrorist activity. 4. Analyzing scientific information. 5. Discerning criminal patterns. 6. Improving safety. ---------------------------------------------------
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