One of the more insidious things have seen in recent memory was the reselling of cell phone records. This irked me rather badly. As a result a congressional panel began investigating this practice only to find a whopper. One reseller has admitted to congress that a client of theirs is the FBI.
The phone records are generally acquired by the resellers through fraudulent means and would not be admissible in court as evidence, but they are still helpful as an investigative tool, say officials familiar with the investigation.
This raises some serious red flags and brings into focus a serious disregard for privacy and ethics. While most buyers are mainly involved in debt collection the FBI has managed to get the law enforcement lines blurry.
“The FBI, in pursuit of its investigative priorities, at times gets information from private companies that provide information to the public, or at least to others outside of the government,” Kolko said. “This investigative technique is used to support investigations or other aspects of our missions. When this is done, we adhere to all established DOJ guidelines, FBI policy and the law.”
An interesting read.
Tags: FBI, Ethics, Cell Phone Records, Congress
