From Wired:

The US Is Openly Stockpiling Dirt on All Its Citizens wired.com

Read: www.wired.com

Wired doesn’t do much besides pointing fingers and raising the alarm, but it did lead me to this PDF from the DNI (Director of National Intelligence):

www.dni.gov/files/ODNI/documents/assessments/ODNI-Declassified-Report-on-CAI-January2022.pdf dni.gov

Read: www.dni.gov

Data brokers “maintain large, sophisticated databases with consumer information that can include credit histories, insurance claims, criminal records, employment histories, incomes, ethnicities, purchase histories, and interests,” among other things. They are so effective that even the government prefers to go to them to get whatever their after.

In turn, these data brokers have special rates for local and federal governments to encourage these entities to buy this information.