On Wednesday shareholders in Thomson Reuters demanded the company’s board launch an investigation into whether its products have contributed to human rights violations, specifically with regards to Thomson Reuters’ ongoing sale of peoples’ personal data to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Thomson Reuters sells access to the CLEAR investigative database, which can include peoples’ names, addresses, car registration information, Social Security numbers, and details on someone’s ethnicity. 404 Media has repeatedly shown how CLEAR is integrated with ICE tools, including one ICE uses to find neighborhoods to target.
The move is the latest piece of growing pressure against the company concerning its contracts with ICE and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). It follows an internal protest in which more than 200 Thomson Reuters employees sent leadership a letter expressing their concern with those contracts. As 404 Media reported on Tuesday, Thomson Reuters fired the worker who led that effort, according to a newly filed lawsuit.
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Do you work at Thomson Reuters or know anything else about CLEAR? I would love to hear from you. Using a non-work device, you can message me securely on Signal at joseph.404 or send me an email at joseph@404media.co.
“Shareholders request the Board commission an independent human rights impact assessment evaluating the extent to which TRI’s [Thomson Reuters] products may contribute to adverse human rights impacts when used by law enforcement agencies, including when TRI’s products are combined with other surveillance technologies,” the shareholder proposal, written by the B.C. General Employees’ Union (BCGEU) and viewed by 404 Media, reads. BCGEU is a minority shareholder in Thomson Reuters.
“The assessment should address reasonably foreseeable risks arising from aggregated or integrated use of surveillance tools by law enforcement or immigration authorities and recommend measures to mitigate such risks,” the proposal adds. It asks that any produced report “be publicly available, subject to confidentiality and competitive considerations.”
The proposal repeatedly cites 404 Media’s investigations. In January 404 Media revealed the existence of a Palantir-made tool called Enhanced Leads Identification & Targeting for Enforcement or ELITE. That tool populates a map with potential deportation targets, brings up a dossier on each person, and includes a “confidence score” on each person’s address. An ELITE user guide 404 Media obtained said a source for some of those addresses includes “CLEAR.” Two DHS sources told 404 Media they believe this specifically refers to Thomson Reuters’ CLEAR.
The shareholder proposal also cites a November 404 Media article which showed how data from Thomson Reuters, such as driver license data, voter registrations, and marriage records, can be combined with license plate reader data from Motorola. ICE invited staff to demos of the tool, called Mobile Companion. “Thomson Reuters CLEAR combines comprehensive public and proprietary data with nationwide license plate data from Motorola Solutions’ secure shared data network to help take vehicle-involved investigations to a more precise level,” internal ICE material viewed by 404 Media said.
Emma Pullman, head of shareholder engagement and responsible investment for the BCGEU, told 404 Media in an email: “What is not disclosed cannot be managed, and that is why we are calling for an independent, human rights impact assessment of how Thomson Reuters’ products may contribute to human rights harms, particularly when used by law enforcement, and when the Company’s products are integrated with other surveillance technologies.”
“What we are asking for is pragmatic investor due diligence. This is what responsible stewardship of capital demands,” she added.
The BCGEU proposal laid out the legal risks Thomson Reuters may face by providing ICE with such data. “ICE’s immigration enforcement activities are the subject of multiple lawsuits in response to credible reports of unlawful and improper detentions, due process violations, surveillance of citizens, and deaths,” it said. “TRI faces compounding legal, reputational, and governance risks. TRI’s employees have spoken out publicly, which could impact TRI’s ability to deliver on its goals.”
It also points to the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, which Thomson Reuters says it endorses. The proposal says companies must conduct due diligence on “actual and potential impacts including where data may be accessed, used or repurposed beyond original intent,” and “direct and indirect impacts, including from business relationships.”
Thomson Reuters did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
