US plans data portal to expand warrantless surveillance: The Intercept
4 Min Read
The US intelligence community is launching a centralized platform to analyze Americans' personal data using AI, raising concerns over unchecked surveillance and corporate data pipelines.
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A coworking office space in Meridian, Idaho, on Thursday, April 18, 2024 (AP)
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) is building a centralized digital platform to streamline how US intelligence agencies access vast troves of commercially available personal data, The Intercept has revealed.
Known as the Intelligence Community Data Consortium (ICDC), the system is designed to consolidate surveillance operations by allowing agencies to acquire sensitive information, such as location data and biometric records, without the legal authorizations traditionally required.
Procurement documents reviewed by The Intercept show that the platform is intended to serve as a one-stop shop for all 18 agencies within the US intelligence community, including the CIA, NSA, FBI, and the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Intelligence and Analysis, streamlining their ability to purchase and access sensitive commercial data.
The portal will also reportedly be accessible to other federal offices beyond the intelligence and defense apparatus.
ODNI’s web platform sidesteps privacy protections
Instead of requiring court orders or warrants, the ICDC will allow agencies to buy and process personal information, such as mobile location data, biometric identifiers, and social media content, directly from private brokers. This includes data the ODNI itself classifies as potentially harmful if misused: material that could damage a person’s reputation, emotional well-being, or physical safety.
“The IC is still adhering to the ‘just grab all of it, we’ll find something to do with it’ mentality,” said Calli Schroeder of the Electronic Privacy Information Project, referring to the indiscriminate collection of sensitive personal information.
Emile Ayoub, counsel at the Brennan Center, warned that the platform effectively bypasses constitutional protections under the Fourth Amendment. “It provides a one-stop shop for agencies to cheaply purchase access to vast amounts of Americans’ sensitive information from commercial entities,” he told The Intercept.
Critics warn of unchecked surveillance, flawed AI tools
The ICDC will also enable artificial intelligence-driven analysis, including large language models and sentiment analysis, a method widely criticized as unreliable and discriminatory. “Sentiment analysis not only does not work, it cannot work,” Schroeder asserted, warning that it reinforces bias based on gender, race, and neurodivergence.
Ayoub told The Intercept that AI tools risk re-identifying individuals from anonymized data and inferring political views, habits, or affiliations, posing a direct threat to freedoms of speech and association.
“These tools come with high risk, questionable accuracy, and little accountability,” he added.
Although the ODNI claims the platform will incorporate privacy safeguards, critics note that vendors, not independent regulators, will be responsible for determining whether the data qualify as “sensitive” and subject to stricter handling. Guidelines around sensitive data, such as maintaining usage logs, are only required “to the extent practicable” and can be bypassed in “exigent circumstances".
Ayoub expressed concern that relying on private contractors to self-regulate will further undermine oversight. “This increases the risk that the IC purchases known categories of sensitive information without sufficient safeguards or judicial review,” he emphasized.
Civil liberties groups sound alarm on data abuse risks
The creation of the ICDC builds on years of unchecked intelligence practices. A declassified 2023 ODNI report warned that CAI now provides access to deeply personal information that, in the past, could only be obtained through targeted surveillance. The report acknowledged that such access may exceed constitutional limits but asserted the intelligence community “cannot willingly blind itself” to such data.
Despite a framework introduced in 2024 intended to regulate the use of CAI, watchdogs argue the rules amount to self-regulation. The intelligence community retains wide latitude to experiment with commercial data, and the rules include numerous exceptions.
The origins of the ICDC project trace back to the Biden administration under the name “Data Co-Op”. It now appears poised for rollout under a possible second Trump administration, with Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency reportedly involved in related data consolidation initiatives.
As the platform nears deployment, civil liberties advocates remain alarmed, as per the piece. “The government would never have been permitted to compel billions of people to carry location tracking devices,” ODNI’s own 2022 report stated. Yet through CAI, this is now effectively the case, with oversight mechanisms struggling to catch up.
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