FBI Confirms Buying Location Data Without Warrants to Track Citizens
FBI Director Kash Patel admitted during a Senate Select Committee hearing yesterday (March 19) that his agency restarted purchasing Americans' location data without obtaining warrants, marking its first confirmation of such activity since former director Christopher Wray stated the practice had stopped in late March.
Key Points
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1The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) admitted during a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on March 19, 2024, that the agency has resumed purchasing Americans' location and movement history.
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2This practice involves acquiring data from commercial brokers rather than traditional cell phone providers to bypass warrant requirements for accessing sensitive information. The FBI confirmed this is legal under current federal law enforcement procedures without a judge's probable cause ruling.
Developments
Federal law enforcement agencies generally must obtain warrants based on probable cause before gathering cell phone location data under the Fourth Amendment; however, FBI Director Kash Patel admitted that his agency purchases commercially available information consistent with current laws. This practice allows for warrantless acquisition of mass historical or real-time movement records derived from mobile applications and internet advertising services used by individuals in their daily lives.
The FBI acknowledged restarting purchases of Americans' location data from commercial databases three years after its former director claimed such activity had ceased, stating that these acquisitions yield valuable but warrantless intelligence. During a Senate hearing on this matter, Director Kash Patel refused to commit against continuing the practice while Senator Ron Wyden criticized it as an unconstitutional violation of privacy rights exacerbated by artificial intelligence analysis.
The FBI confirmed it purchases Americans' location history from commercial brokers for investigations without obtaining traditional warrants or telecom records since the 2018 *Carpenter v. United States* Supreme Court ruling, a practice critics argue raises serious constitutional concerns and undermines privacy protections established by that decision.