[JURIST] Privacy International [advocacy website] reported [materials] Monday that Colombian intelligence agencies have been developing surveillance tools to collect large amounts of data without a warrant. According to the advocacy group, a newly changed intelligence law has made it possible for police and state security agencies to gather large amounts of personal data from people’s private communications. One such tool, the Integrated Record System, which was built by police intelligence in 2005, allows for the collection [AP report] of 100 million cell data and 20 million text messages without alerting the service provider. A large amount of the data collecting technology was developed with the United States for use in arresting cocaine kingpins and fighting the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia.

Surveillance and data collection have been a worldwide topic of discussion, particularly after Edward Snowden leaked top-secret [JURIST report] National Security Agency (NSA) documents in 2013. In August the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia reversed a ruling [JURIST report] that had blocked the NSA from obtaining call detail records from US citizens. In July 2014 the German government summoned [JURIST report] the US ambassador John Emerson after the arrest of a man who is claimed to be a US spy working surveillance throughout the country. In January 2014 the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (PCLOB) found [JURIST report] that the NSA’s phone surveillance program was illegal. In June 2013 the American Civil Liberties Union, in conjunction with the New York Civil Liberties Union, filed suit [JURIST report] against the NSA challenging its phone data collection. Countries like Brazil and Germany have passed legislation [JURIST report] aimed at eliminating privacy invasions due to excessive surveillance programs and data collection.