FBI Director Kash Patel testified to lawmakers on Wednesday that the FBI has resumed purchasing reams of Americans’ data and location histories to aid federal investigations.
This is the first time since 2023 the FBI admitted to buying access to people’s data collected from data brokers, who source much of their information, including location data from ordinary consumer phone apps and games, according to a report by Politico. At that time, the FBI Director Christopher Wray told senators that the agency had bought access to people’s location data in the past but that it was not actively purchasing it.
When Ron Wyden, Oregon’s Democratic asked Patel if the FBI would commit to not buying Americans’ location data, Patel said that the agency “uses all tools … to do our mission.”
“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,” Patel testified Wednesday.
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Typically, in order to access private data about a citizen from a phone or tech company, government agencies have to convince a judge to authorize a search warrant based on some evidence of a crime. However, in recent years, U.S. agencies have bypassed this legal step by purchasing commercially available data from companies that amass large amounts of people’s location data originally derived from phone apps or other commercial tracking technology.
In a recent instance, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) purchased a tranche of data sourced from real-time bidding, or RTB, services, according to a document obtained by 404 Media. These technologies are central to the mobile and web advertising industry, and they collect information such as location and other identifiable data used to target people viewing ads. Surveillance firms can observe this process and gather information about a user’s location, and then potentially sell that data to brokers or federal agencies.
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Patel’s statement has raised concerns about privacy and a potential violation of the fourth amendment. “So you’re saying that the agency will buy Americans’ location data,” Wyden said. “I believe that that’s what you’ve said in kind of intelligence lingo. And I just want to say as we start this debate, doing that without a warrant is an outrageous end run around the fourth amendment. It’s particularly dangerous given the use of artificial intelligence to comb through massive amounts of private information.
“This is exhibit A for why Congress needs to pass our bipartisan, bicameral bill, the Government Surveillance Reform act,” Wyden said, referring to legislation he is working to pass to rein in surveillance.
The fourth amendment to the U.S. constitution defines the “right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures” and specifies that “no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.”