Public Intelligence

Do you want to know what kind of information fusion centers are capable of compiling on you and your friends? A document contained in the recent Anonymous/AntiSec hack of the Lake County Sheriff’s Office provides a great deal of insight into what kind of information is gathered and processed by fusion centers at the request of local law enforcement. The document is described as a “biographical profile” and was produced by the Central Florida Intelligence Exchange (CFIX), a regional fusion center serving a number of counties in Central Florida including Brevard, Lake, Orange, Seminole and Volusia. CFIX is one of several fusion centers in the state of Florida, part of a larger network of more than seventy operating all around the country.

When the Lake County Sheriff’s Office asked for a “workup” on a man being investigated for charges relating to child pornography, CFIX produced a six page profile on the subject who had no prior criminal history. The profile has a flashy cover with colorful logos and a graphical depiction of the man’s name, meaning that an employee of the fusion center did not just type the man’s name into a word processor, but actually took the time to produce an individualized graphic with stylistic highlights and shadows. The profile contains the following information on the individual:

Name

Social Security number

Driver’s license number

Birthplace

Race

Sex

Height

Weight

Hair color

Eye color

Date of birth

Presence of identifying marks (such as scars or tattoos)

Address history (going back six years in multiple states)

Phone numbers

Vehicles (including registration information, tag numbers and Vehicle Identification Numbers)

Criminal History

Possible relatives and associates (including a friend and girlfriend’s social security number, last known address, place of birth, date of birth, driver’s license number, citizenship status as well as information gleaned from Facebook and MySpace pages)

Work history (including address, charter number, brief description of function or services provided)

Affiliated businesses (including address, charter number, brief description of function or services provided)

Facebook page (including stated educational history)

Email address

We have heavily redacted the report to protect the man’s privacy and prevent damage to any ongoing investigations relating to him. However, we believe the document conveys the extent to which fusion centers and law enforcement are capable of exploiting both private and publicly available information for investigative purposes.

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