Data Brokers Help Government Spy on Americans, Says GOP Committee Chair

Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.), chair of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, said that companies have collected personal data on Americans that the government purchased and then used to spy on and track the activities of U.S. citizens.

Rodgers made the claim during an April 19 subcommittee hearing of the Committee on Energy and Commerce. The hearing of the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee focused on the activities of data brokers that gather personal information and steps that Congress can take to protect and safeguard the sensitive and private information of Americans.

“Right now, there are no robust protections, and current privacy laws are inadequate, leaving Americans vulnerable,” said Rodgers. “For example, during government-enforced COVID-19 lockdowns, GPS and mobile phone data collected by a data broker was used by the state to spy on Californians exercising their right to attend church services.”

“It certainly raises questions of how data brokers aren’t just violating people’s privacy, but their civil liberties as well. This is unacceptable. And it’s more what you would expect out of the Chinese Communist Party surveillance state, not in America,” she said.

Invading Privacy, Compromising National Security

As detailed at the hearing titled “Who Is Selling Your Data: A Critical Examination of the Role of Data Brokers in the Digital Economy,” companies are invading the privacy and compromising the safety of Americans, culling and selling a vast breadth and variety of sensitive and personal information, including on children as young as 2, teens suffering from depression, Alzheimer’s patients, the vulnerable elderly, and active and former U.S. armed forces members.

Brokers also sell information about the prescription medicines people take, their sexual orientation, and their religious practices.

In particular, the sale and availability of the personal and background information of members of the U.S. military poses a risk to national security.

A considerable component of the practices of the data brokers is legal, even though it endangers and jeopardizes the personal and financial safety of people.

Laura Moy, a faculty dir