March 29, 2023 10:50 a.m. 

Democratic Senator Ron Wyden and Wyoming Republican Senator Cynthia Lummis have urged Attorney General Merrick Garland to end the use of paid confidential informants to obtain large quantities of American’s personal information without court oversight.

The lawmakers called for new transparency about the use of informants to acquire private data.

A Wyden release said federal investigators have documented the Drug Enforcement Administration’s use of paid informants in the rail and travel industries to obtain passenger lists, ticket and baggage information, birthdates, and other private data. The agency also paid a shipping company employee to open and search packages, according to the Department of Justice Office of Inspector General report.

The senators wrote, “When DOJ components seek to acquire and use a U.S. company’s customer datasets, they should not instead pay low-level employees”. The letter said, “To that end, we urge you to strengthen the DOJ’s policies to prevent this outrageous practice, which undermines the rule of law, violates American’s privacy and harms the reputation of American companies”.

The release said the DEA changed its policy in 2016 to prohibit the use of confidential informants to acquire private data from government and quasi-government agencies like Amtrak. However, according to the Congressional Research Service, the policy does not prohibit the use of informants to acquire private data from companies and other non-governmental organizations.

The full letter to AG Garland is linked: https://www.wyden.senate.gov/download/doj-confidential-sources-letter-32923