US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has engaged in a nearly $16 million, five-year contract with data broker LexisNexis Special Services Inc. for access to significant surveillance tools, according to public records. Julie Mao, an attorney and co-founder at Just Futures Law, argues that this contract allows the agency to veil the full scope of their surveillance capabilities.
The contract provides CBP with access to social media monitoring, web data such as email addresses and IP address locations, real-time jail booking data, facial recognition services, and cell phone geolocation data analysis tools. This suite of tools is accessible not just to the US Border Patrol, but to a redacted number of agents across CBP’s operations. This raised concerns due to the agency’s jurisdiction within 100 miles of any American border and involvement in monitoring protests, such as those following George Floyd’s killing.
Previously, CBP contracted directly with other services, such as Babel X for social media monitoring reported by Vice News and received facial recognition services through Clearview AI.
Just Futures Law sued LexisNexis Risk Solutions last year, alleging it violated an Illinois law by collecting and selling personal data to third parties, including law enforcement. The group Mijente, one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, has called for the Department of Homeland Security to end its data broker contracts.
Surprisingly, CBP is not the only federal law enforcement agency using LexisNexis Special Services. US Immigration and Customs Enforcement also has a contract for LexisNexis Risk Solutions’ Accurint TraX virtual crime platform. Last year, public records obtained by Just Futures Law and Latinx activist group Mijente, and reported by The Intercept, show the agency using the tool to conduct more than a million searches in just seven months during 2021.
These developments bring forth cogent discussions on the use of commercial surveillance providers by federal law enforcement. While agencies like the Federal Trade Commission and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau have sought to check the billion-dollar data broker economy, the Biden administration recently opposed congressional proposals to halt government purchases of commercial data.
Further adding complexity to the issue, LexisNexis’s data broker services also support Login.gov, a government-run online identity verification platform for secure sign-ins to agencies such as the Small Business Administration. To date, LexisNexis Special Services currently has $18 million in government contracts, as per USAspending.gov.
Critics see digital surveillance of immigrants as a slippery slope, warning that such surveillance tools – initially introduced for one purpose – often expand to a wider population, endangering communities that include immigrants.
It remains to be seen how this situation unfolds and what rulings may come down from the lawsuit by Just Futures Law against LexisNexis. Given the implications, legal professionals and stakeholders globally would do well to monitor the progress diligently.
For more detailed information, refer to the complete report on Bloomberg Law.