Mike Baker

Researchers say its use is expanding in Europe and the US.

In most democratic countries, intelligence agencies face strict legal requirements when they want to intercept communications, conduct surveillance, or obtain certain categories of personal information.

Those rules were largely written, of course, with traditional intelligence collection in mind The problem is that many of those same safeguards become far less clear when the information is collected by private companies and later sold on the commercial market

Researchers say the laws governing add-int remain vague in many countries, and in some cases, are largely absent altogether.

Which raises the question, if governments can purchase detailed information about a person's private life on the open market, should those purchases be subject to the same oversight and legal scrutiny as traditional surveillance?

And that, my friends, is the President's Daily Brief for Wednesday, the 17th of June.

Now, if you have any questions or comments, and I hope you do, just reach out to me at pdb at thefirsttv.com.

And as we mentioned earlier in the show, perhaps you remember, we've just launched a brand new premium podcast series, The PDB Dictator Files.

I hope you check it out.

Our first episode explores what may be the world's oddest dictatorship, and that's saying a lot.

We're talking about Turkmenistan in this first episode.

You can check it out and become a premium member today just by visiting pdbpremium.com.

It's that simple.

I'm Mike Baker, and I'll be back later today with the PDB Afternoon Bulletin.

Until then, stay informed, stay safe, stay cool.

It's Tuesday, the 16th of June.

Welcome to the PDB Afternoon Bulletin.

I'm Mike Baker, your eyes and ears on the world stage.

All right, let's get briefed.

First up, for weeks, as Iran tightened its grip on the Strait of Hormuz, the U.S.