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A FinePrint investigation · fineprint.report
Accurint Files

Welcome

Where to start.

Everything from the webinar, on one page. Pick one thing and do it this week.

From the webinar? Pick one.

  1. 1 · Keep local data local

    5 min

    Check your city

    Look up your police department and your county sheriff. If either one is in the directory, their records are already going to LexisNexis.

    Search the directory →

    Then file the records request. The request is already written. Add your city and we file it for you.

  2. 2 · Make it expensive

    10 min

    Ask your workplace

    Does your school, library, firm, or hospital pay RELX, the company that owns LexisNexis? Ask them to raise ICE before they renew.

    Get the letter →

    Then send it to the person who signs the renewal. There is a version for each kind of institution.

  3. 3 · Fix the system

    5 min

    Email your council

    Ask that every police data-sharing agreement come before council for a public vote. The email is written; fill in your city.

    Get the email →

    Then find one council member willing to sponsor it. Copy us so we can track the answer.

What’s next

  • Office hours in the second and third week after the webinar, for anyone stuck on a lookup, a records request, or a council email. Times go out on Substack.
  • Part 2 webinar in two to three weeks: what the network found, and the next set of tools.
  • Follow-ups, dates, and what comes back from records requests go out on Substack. Subscribe (free).

Part 1 · Start here

What this is about.

The investigation, what the product looks like, and who is behind it.

  1. 01
    The Accurint FilesFinePrint

    The full investigation. How police departments across the country came to copy their records into a LexisNexis database, what is in those records, and who can search them. Start here if you want the whole story.

  2. 02
    Sample Accurint reportsLexisNexis

    LexisNexis publishes sample versions of the reports it sells to police. Open one to see what a single search returns: addresses, relatives, vehicles, phones, and the people around a person. This is the product.

  3. 03
    About RELXFinePrint

    Who owns LexisNexis, and seven letters you can send to the institutions that pay it: law schools, libraries, law firms, conventions, councils, investors, and any workplace with a RELX contract.

  4. 04
    The Public Safety MarketplaceFinePrint

    LexisNexis describes what it does in its own words when it is selling to police. This page walks through that pitch so you can see the product the way a chief sees it.

Part 2 · Look up your city

Is your department in it?

Three places to check. Start with the first. If your city is not there, that means we have not documented it yet, not that it is in the clear.

  1. 05
    Agency directoryFinePrint

    Every police department we have documented, searchable by city, county, or state. Each entry links to the contract or records return it came from.

  2. 06
    Data explorerFinePrint

    Every agency in a publicly accessible dataset maintained by LexisNexis, with a flag for whether its feed also lands in the Accurint Virtual Crime Center, how many records it has sent, and when it last uploaded.

  3. 07
    Atlas of SurveillanceEFF

    The Electronic Frontier Foundation's directory of surveillance technology by department: license plate readers, drones, facial recognition, and more. Check the third-party notes for LexisNexis and SoundThinking.

More ways to check, including LexisNexis’s own member list and MuckRock, are on the take action page.

Part 3 · Go deeper

The documents and the details.

For people who want to see the paperwork, or who want to understand adjacent products from the same company.

  1. 08
    FOIA responsesFinePrint

    Every contract, addendum, and records return we have received from police departments, hosted on DocumentCloud. Searchable and downloadable. This is the evidence behind the directory.

  2. 09
    MuckRock agency searchMuckRock

    Find your department's page on MuckRock to see what other people have already requested from it and what came back. Useful before filing anything yourself.

  3. 10
    InsightLPR video breakdownFinePrint on Substack

    A walkthrough of a LexisNexis training video for its license plate reader product, including covert cameras. Same company, different sensor, same data pipeline.

  4. 11
    LexisNexis and ShadowDragon webinarInternet Archive

    An archived sales webinar in which LexisNexis and ShadowDragon show police how social media monitoring plugs into the Accurint platform. Worth watching to hear the pitch unedited.

Part 4 · Do something

Take it to your city.

Three ways to act, from a single email to a public records request.

  1. 12
    Take actionFinePrint

    Look up your city, then send a short email and a two-page briefing to your council and police chief. We track which cities have been asked and what they said back.

  2. 13
    For city council membersFinePrint

    Written for elected officials who have an AVCC contract in front of them. What the addendum does, what to ask before voting, and what other cities have done. Hand this to your council member.

  3. 14
    File the records requestFinePrint

    The request for the LexisNexis contract, the data-sharing addendum, invoices, and the list of what is shared is already written. Add your city and we file it, handle the back-and-forth, and publish what comes back.

Questions, documents, tips

Email tips@fineprint.report. Everything on this page is free to copy, forward, and print.