FBI Buys Illegally Acquired Phone Records for Investigations

A congressional investigation uncovered that the FBI purchased illegally obtained mobile phone records, according to a story running on arstechnica.com.

Employing an ?ends justify the means? mentality, FBI spokesman Richard J. Kolko said that agents “adhere to all established DOJ guidelines, FBI policy, and the law? when using the purchased illegally obtained phone records. Many resellers claim that their business practices are legal ? disregarding the fact that it is blatantly fraudulent. In the past several months, resellers have been sued for their activity.

Most often, phone information like mobile phone records are primarily used by debt collectors in pursuit of unpaid debt, and these questionably obtained records are a valuable commodity. In investigating this trend, the Oversight and Investigations subcommittee has discovered that federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies are all buyers.

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