Authorities Mining More Corporate Data for Personal Information

Posted on May 20, 2006

We learn from the Wall Street Journal that banks, Internet service providers and other companies are being besieged by law enforcement authorities who want to pore over their corporate data in hunting for clues in criminal cases.

Just another example of how the government is going through personal records.

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Wall Street Journal:

WASHINGTON—Since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, law enforcement efforts to secure corporate information about clients and suppliers have reached such levels that some companies have had to create special units that do nothing but deal with these demands, a process often called “subpoena management.”

Banks, Internet-service providers and other companies that possess large amounts of data on their customers say that police and intelligence agencies have been increasingly coming to them looking for tidbits of information that could help them stop everything from money launderers to pedophiles and terrorists.

“Corporate counsel that used to see law-enforcement-related requests five times a year are now getting them sometimes dozens of times a day,” says Susan Hackett, a senior vice president and top attorney for the Association of Corporate Counsel, which represents the legal departments of leading U.S. companies.

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