Finance expert Mike Periu on the surprising information Data the Government Can Access without a warrant.
Many small-business owners are embracing new technologies to manage confidential business and personal information. This has many benefits, but privacy isn’t one of them. Beyond security risks, many new types of information storage aren’t covered by existing privacy and consumer protection laws. As a result, the information can be accessed by government and law enforcement officials without a warrant and in many cases without even letting you know. While Congress has introduced legislation to address this problem, nothing has been signed into law.
The following types of information are accessible:
- Phone records – including both incoming and outgoing calls.
- Location data – usually taken from a mobile phone’s GPS, wireless carriers received over 1.3 million such requests last year.
- IP addresses – to determine which computers you used. ISPs store this data for a year.
- Old emails – While a warrant is required to access newer emails, accessing emails from more than 180 days ago do not require one.
- Email drafts – do not require a warrant.
- Old text messages – Just like emails, only newer text messages require a warrant
- Cloud data – Information stored in Google Drive, Dropbox and other services does not require a warrant
- Social media – While each major social media provider has different policies, so far the major ones will provide some information without a warrant but will require one for deeper data.
A little about Mike Periu
Periu founded Proximo, LLC nearly 15 years ago. The company provides small business education and training services with an emphasis on finance and technology.
Periu teaches empowerment through entrepreneurship and economic opportunity. He regularly appears on television and radio talking about these subjects.
Periu also writes for leading blogs about finance. These include: American Express OpenForum, Yahoo! Finanzas and the Huffington Post.
Periu studied Finance and International Business at Georgetown University. He is a Board member at the Council for Economic Education.
