A little known database managed by the U.S. military tracks civilian traffic tickets including parking tickets or minor traffic citations.

The Law Enforcement Information Exchange, also called LinX, has over 500 million law enforcement records.  The information includes more than just official citations.  The database includes information cards filled out by officers when no crime took place.

LinX is run by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) and it is raising concern among privacy advocates that the database is allowing the military to access information on ordinary citizens in violation of the law.

A military law expert at Yale University called the system “domestic spying.”

“Clearly, it cannot be right that any part of the Navy is collecting traffic citation information,” Eugene Fidell said. “This sounds like something from a third-world country, where you have powerful military intelligence watching everybody.”