Brazilian government accused of selling citizens’ personal data

Federal prosecutors in Brasilia are investigating whether the Federal Data Processing Service (Serpro), a state-owned IT processing firm, has been selling the personal data of Brazilian citizens without their consent. The prosecutors argue that information such as social security numbers, tax return statements, electoral information, date of birth, and the name of citizens’ parents are being sold to other public institutions.

During a three-month investigation, prosecutors found that prices for data ranged from USD 72,000 to 260,000. State Prosecutor Frederico Meinberg Ceroy says that the commerce of personal data was a multi-million dollar business. The list of institutions that allegedly bought this data includes the Comptroller-General’s...