VSP Releases More Dataminr Surveillance Records & Master Services Agreement
The scandal may not be in who's being surveilled, but in the exorbitant cost of a news aggregator.
For the past couple of months, I’ve been trying to acquire records from the Virginia State Police pertaining to the surveillance firm Dataminr. After seeking communications from the company over the past year and a half, I was quoted an “over $1,000,000” estimated cost to fulfill my FOIA request:
VSP: "Over $1,000,000" for Dataminr Surveillance Records
Last month, I read Sam Biddle’s article “LAPD Surveilled Gaza Protests Using This Social Media Tool” in The Intercept and, after learning about the use of Dataminr to surveil peaceful protests, wondered if it’s used by the government in Virginia. After all, as I reported in 2023, local law enforcement, the Virginia State Police (VSP), and even the FBI h…
Ultimately, I was able to get six records from that request, all of which I publicized in a follow-up article:
VSP FOIA Update: Records Released, Still A Million Bucks for More
One week ago, I wrote about the Virginia State Police quoting me an anticipated cost of “over $1,000,000.00” to fulfill my narrow request for records concerning the surveillance firm Dataminr.
As I promised in the last article, I submitted a subsequent FOIA request on April 25, 2025 for:
(1) VSP's Master Services Agreement with Dataminr; (2) Any records provided by VSP to Dataminr containing names of individuals, organizations, or search terms used to guide Dataminr's operations; (3) All of the (presumably automated) emails from Dataminr accounts from 4/1/2025 until 4/8/2025.
VSP replied on April 30 that, as it pertains to part (2) of my request above, no records exist. But to provide the Master Services Agreement and a week’s worth of emails, VSP estimated it would cost $7,688.86.
So I refined my request: in addition to the Master Services Agreement, I requested the “first five responsive records from April 5, 2025.”
Records Released
On May 8, 2025, VSP produced seven records — which you can download here:
The “First Alert” and “US 10% Baseline…” files above are reminiscent of the Dataminr alerts that James Madison University produced in response to my FOIA request:
JMU Releases Dataminr Surveillance Records, Deactivates Account
A month ago, I reported on the Virginia State Police’s “over $1,000,000” cost estimate to fulfill my FOIA request on records from surveillance company Dataminr. I further reported that, based on Virginia’s eProcurement Marketplace, James Madison University
The “Oracle IP” files above, however, contain alerts about potential MySQL database exposures via Shodan. JMU did not release these types of alert notifications.
Here’s what the file “Oracle IP 132.145.214.104 has exposed MySQL database_ Sensor via Shodan.. (2)pdf” above looks like:
Based on the scant records I’ve received from the Virginia State Police, and the records turned over by JMU, it seems to me the Dataminr First Alert service is a relatively basic news aggregator delivered to subscribers by email. It’s therefore understandable that JMU didn’t renew its First Alert user license at $10,000 a pop.
But VSP did renew its First Alert user licenses. In fact, based on the April 30, 2025 purchase order, VSP has purchased 20 individual First Alert licenses at the price of $120,000 for the subsequent year:
While I began this admittedly cursory investigation with the intent of uncovering exactly who the Virginia State Police were surveilling with Dataminr technology, after reviewing the released records, I now suspect the scandal isn’t in who’s being surveilled.
It may simply be in the fact that VSP is shelling out $120,000 for these First Alert email blasts in the first place.
Does GA have any oversight/leverage over VSP spending 20 x $120,000 annually on spam emails? For all the police union whining about underpaid LEOs, but there are funds for THIS? Infuriating. TY for your work here.