ICE uses a $125 million Thomson Reuters deal to access your credit card data without a warrant

Every time you apply for a credit card or update your account information, you’re likely sharing more than you realize.

An investigation by 404 Media suggests that personal details collected by credit card companies can flow through a network of data brokers before ultimately becoming accessible to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The agency can then search and analyze your personal information without a warrant.

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“No one signing up for a credit card thinks they’re giving data brokers a thumbs-up to sell their personal information to ICE,” Senator Ron Wyden told 404 Media in a statement. “Not only is it an outrageous violation of our privacy, [but] it’s impossible for Americans to opt out.”

The private information you’re giving away

404 Media found that when consumers open a credit card, or update their personal information, credit card companies share that data with credit bureaus. The personal data includes names, Social Security numbers, phone numbers, addresses and email addresses. Unlike your credit report, this information does not have strong legal protections.

According to 404 Media, personal data is then sent to credit bureaus, who provide the data to Thomson Reuters. From there it is incorporated into CLEAR, the company’s investigative data product. Thomson Reuters sells access to CLEAR to law enforcement agencies, including ICE.

By gaining access to CLEAR, ICE is then able to search through personal data without a warrant. The platform is also reportedly integrated with a tool ICE uses to determine which neighborhoods to raid, 404 Media reported.

“Anytime we update our home addresses on these accounts, credit bureaus get the updates within 24 hours and share it broadly with other data brokers, thanks to legal loopholes that leave our personal information open to misuse and abuse,” Laura Rivera, an attorney at Just Futures Law told 404 Media.

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Thomson Reuters tapped to find ‘voter fraud’

The latest report follows another 404 Media investigation published on July 17 that examined Thomson Reuters’ expanding role in providing personal data to the U.S. government.

According to that report, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) plans to pay Thomson Reuters $125 million to provide access to its databases as part of investigations into alleged voter fraud and immigration fraud. The agreement is worth $25 million annually over five years.

Procurement documents reviewed by 404 Media show that Thomson Reuters Special Services — a subsidiary that handles the company’s government contracts — “…is the only contractor able to provide ICE with a continuous monitoring and alert service for millions of individuals and entities of interest [and] is essential for national security purposes.”

In a statement to Moneywise, a Thomson Reuters spokesperson said, “We continue to work with our customers to provide technology and services that support investigations into areas of national security and public safety, such as child exploitation, human trafficking, narcotics and weapons trafficking, fraud/financial crime.”

However, the company told 404 Media that it “…prohibits the use of CLEAR for the purpose of identifying and locating noncriminal immigrants or undocumented individuals with the intention of deportation solely on the basis of the individual’s immigration status.”

The company’s statement suggests that some restrictions are in place to govern how the data may be used, though 404 Media’s reporting raises questions about how the information is ultimately accessed and deployed by federal agencies.

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This article originally appeared on Moneywise.com under the title: ICE uses a $125 million Thomson Reuters deal to access your credit card data without a warrant

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