New Book Claims First Data Opened Credit-Card Records to U.S. Agents After Sept. 11

Within two days of September 11, 2001, First Data, a credit-card processing company and the owner of Western Union, offered federal investigators and agents carte blanche to its vast database of customer information. According to an AP story and a newly released book, The One Percent Doctrine, First Data offered up its customer?s private data without requiring a warrant of any kind.

First Data and, by default, Western Union, released a statement pertaining to the recent revelation of their lackadaisical treatment of customer privacy: ?[We] take security and compliance very seriously. Both companies support and adhere to all laws related to financial information and provide information to law enforcement agencies only in response to subpoenas and other lawful requests.?

However, consumer advocates and industry watchdogs argue that First Data?s divulging of personal information wasn?t actually a case of compliance, since they weren?t asked by federal agents for the data; they preemptively gave it up. They also argue that First Data, contrary to its public statement, might be on the wrong side of the law by not following proper chain of command.

There has been an ongoing debate over the privacy of Americans’ personal information since USA Today reported in May that the National Security Agency requested millions of customer records from major telephone companies after the terror attacks.

Documents obtained by The Associated Press show that federal and local police agencies across the country and some of the nation’s best-known companies have been gathering Americans’ phone records from private data brokers without subpoenas or warrants.

You can read more about this story at Book Says First Data Opened Credit-Card Database.