EFF wants info on FBI database
Has the FBI been forthcoming enough about a database that reportedly stores hundreds of millions of records designed for use in counterterrorism investigations?
Definitely not, argued attorneys from the Electronic Frontier Foundation's Washington D.C. outpost in a six-page complaint (click for PDF) filed Tuesday with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
The San Francisco-based advocacy group's complaint accuses the FBI of failing to respond to its requests for information about the scope and privacy impact of the database, known as the Investigative Data Warehouse (IDW), within the time period stipulated by the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).
In its complaint, EFF said it made two written requests, dated Aug. 25 and Sept. 1, for documents describing a number of things, including: individuals and records contained in the database, criteria for including such data, privacy impact assessments, results of database audits, and procedures for correcting or deleting records. "The FBI has wrongfully withheld the requested records from plaintiff," the complaint said.
At a briefing for reporters this summer, FBI representatives described the IDW as a vital investigative tool stocked with more than 650 million records from more than 53 FBI and other government agency sources, including Transportation Security Administration no-fly lists, intelligence community cables, and open source news. More than 13,000 agents, analysts, and other government investigators have access, the FBI said.
FBI spokesman Paul Bresson said Tuesday that it is against agency policy to comment on the merits of lawsuits filed against it.
But as for the IDW, it is nothing more than a "one-stop shop" for "previously and lawfully acquired data from other established databases," he said in an e-mail interview. The FBI, he added, has "conducted several privacy impact assessments at different times as new data sets are added."
This week's court filing marks EFF's second such action this month. On Oct. 3, the organization filed a suit that accuses the FBI of shirking FOIA requests related to tools the agency has developed for electronic surveillance.
