Various national databases of United States persons, and their activities, have been compiled by government and private entities. Different data types are collected by different entities for different purposes, nominal or otherwise. These databases are some of the largest of their kind,[1] and even the largest ever.[2] Accessibility of government databases may be controlled by various means, such as requirement of a warrant, subpoena, or simple request from another branch of government. Commercial databases are generally established for profit. Some other databases are available for free usage with various states across the United States. Typical instances include Colorado Resident Directory[3] and many others out there on the internet. Data breaches may occur as a result of a vulnerability or publication in error.
| Data types | Program | Collector | Nominal purpose | Contains | Accessibility | Known breaches | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Contact and educational information[4] [5] | Joint Advertising Marketing Research & Studies (JAMRS) | Military recruitment | Public school students 17 and older | ||||
| Telephone call metadata | Military national defense | 1.9 trillion call-detail records (estimated) | Assessed internally as "51% confidence" of being foreign | ||||
| Consumer transactions[6] [7] | at least 10 million consumers | data at least partially anonymized | |||||
| Usual residency | all persons | Confidentiality protected | |||||
| Identity, citizenship, residency, income, employment, medical, incarceration, and contact information | all persons | ||||||
| Exteriors of mail | Mail Isolation Control and Tracking (MICT) | criminal surveillance | all mail | Request by law enforcement | |||
| Fingerprints[8] | Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System (IAFIS) | criminal and civilian monitoring | 104 million persons (including 34 million non-criminals) | ||||
| Finger and palm prints, iris, and facial data (under development to replace the Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System) | Next Generation Identification (NGI) | criminal and civilian monitoring | |||||
| Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) | criminal investigation | 10 million persons | |||||
| Income and employment | Internal Revenue Service (IRS) | Tax collection | Federal taxpayers | 10,000's of 527 organization data[9] |
| Data types | Program or Subsidiary | Collector | Nominal purpose | Contains | Accessibility | Known breaches | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Employment and salary records[10] | debt collection and consumer profiling | 190 million records covering more than one-third of U.S. adults | For sale | ||||
| Vehicle location data[11] | Vigilant Solutions | Digital Recognition Network | consumer profiling | containing at least 700 million scans | For sale | ||
| MVTrac | "large majority" of registered vehicles | For sale | |||||
| Vehicle location data[12] | National Vehicle Location Service | over 800 million records | |||||
| Firearm ownership | National Rifle Association of America[13] | Political campaigning | "tens of millions of people" (estimated) | ||||
| Stolen personal data | SSNDOB [14] [15] [16] | 4 million persons | For sale | March 2013 |