The FBI’s Databases Will Be Exempt From Privacy Protections

When it comes to your information, keeping it up to date and private are some of the most important things in an age where companies are hacked on a regular basis and trade with your information. What happens when that information isn’t being stored by a company but a government agency like the FBI? Apparently they want their databases exempt from the same privacy laws that everyone else has to follow.

The FBI have requested that their databases, including those filled with mugshots and fingerprints, be exempt from the standard rules, meaning if you ask about the database, they have to tell you if your data is present within them. Another area they want exempt is the requirement for people to correct errors with their files, in turn removing the requirement for people to be able to know what information is stored about them.

This decision has come with strong opposition from privacy groups who have requested an extension to the consultation period that the Department of Justice is currently in the middle of. The FBI state they need the exemptions to do their work, with people wondering about the extent that these exemptions will take following systems like PRISM which have since been ruled illegal.