"We do purchase commercially available information that is consistent with the Constitution and the laws under the Electronic Communications Privacy Act - and it has led to some valuable intelligence for us. When asked by U.S. Senator Ron Wyden if the FBI would commit to not buying Americans' location data, Patel said that the agency uses all tools to do its mission."
"Wyden said buying information on Americans without obtaining a warrant was an outrageous end-run around the Fourth Amendment, referring to the constitutional law that protects people in America from device searches and data seizures."
"Government agencies typically have to convince a judge to authorize a search warrant based on some evidence of a crime before they can demand private information from a tech or phone company. But in recent years, U.S. agencies have skirted this legal step by purchasing commercially available data from companies that amass large amounts of people's location data."
The FBI, under director Kash Patel, confirmed it is actively purchasing Americans' location data and personal information from commercial data brokers to aid federal investigations. This marks the first such confirmation since 2023, when former FBI director Christopher Wray stated the agency was not actively making such purchases. Data brokers collect information from consumer phone apps and games. When questioned about committing to stop purchasing location data, Patel stated the FBI uses all available tools consistent with the Constitution and Electronic Communications Privacy Act. Senator Ron Wyden criticized this practice as circumventing Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable searches. Government agencies typically require court-authorized warrants to obtain private information, but have increasingly purchased commercially available data to bypass this legal requirement.
Read at TechCrunch
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