FBI: Data Brokers Probably Act Illegally

Owners of data brokerage firms, from left, Jay Patel, Tim Berndt, Ed Herzog, Colorado State Rep. James Welker, Skipp Porteous, Patrick Baird, Michele Yontef, Steven Schwartz and Carlos Anderson take the oath before the Congressional subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations hearing on Capitol Hill, Wednesday, June 21, 2006. All took the Fifth Amendment and choose not answer any questions from the committee..(AP Photo/Lawrence Jackson) (Lawrence Jackson - AP)

Welker, who also appeared at the hearing, cited his Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination and declined to answer questions from lawmakers.

Lammert said the FBI agent who worked with Gandal was inexperienced and that he was instructed by his supervisor afterward not to do it again.

A federal agent who acknowledged requesting phone records from data brokers without warrants or subpoenas told AP that he learned about such services from FBI investigators, who vouched for their use. The agent spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak with reporters.

A senior official with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Paul Kilcoyne, acknowledged Thursday at least four agents in Denver had requested subscriber information from data brokers, but an internal investigation determined that none of the agents had acted improperly.

"How these people (data brokers) get the information has been what is surprising to us," said Kilcoyne, the deputy assistant director for the investigative services division.

Kilcoyne told Rep. Ed Whitfield, R-Ky., the agents in Denver learned about the data brokers from colleagues in the FBI and Postal Inspection Service.

The agency has recommended that agents in Denver not use those data brokers in the future and is working on guidelines for making such requests, Kilcoyne said.

A Drug Enforcement Administration official, Ava Cooper Davis, said DEA's policies describe only authorized methods for obtaining telephone records, such as through subpoenas. A South Dakota police investigator assigned to a DEA task force in Iowa made at least three requests for phone records using data brokers, according to documents obtained by AP.

An assistant police chief in Austin, Texas, David L. Carter, told lawmakers his department was investigating its officers' use of data brokers but said there was no evidence so far that detectives had done anything illegal.

Internal documents from PDJ Investigations of Granbury, Texas, showed an Austin investigator sought cellular telephone records on two people in April who might have witnessed an assault. "Please work your magic and advise us of your findings," the investigator wrote in her request.

Carter said Austin police are now permitted only to use data brokers vetted by the department.