Lawmakers seek to close loophole that allows feds to buy people's location data without a warrant

In the latest twist to America's descending dystopia, FBI director Kash Patel told lawmakers this week the FBI has resumed purchases of location datasets that can be used to track people's whereabouts without a warrant.

Following a question by Democratic privacy hawk Sen. Ron Wyden, Patel responded by reading from a piece of paper shoved in front of him by an aide. He said: 

“We do purchase commercially available information that’s consistent with the Constitution and the laws under the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, and it has led to some valuable intelligence for us."

The full clip is below.

Patel's albeit carefully scripted remarks is the FBI's first admission since 2023 that the agency buys large datasets containing people's location data, including the past whereabouts of Americans. Then-FBI director Christopher Wray under the Biden administration said the FBI had bought location data in the past but wasn't actively using purchased location data at the time.

Now the FBI joins Homeland Security, like ICE and Customs & Border Protection, and the Defense Intelligence Agency, in buying access to large datasets of our collected data. The National Security Agency is also known to buy access to people's web browsing histories.

The Supreme Court said in 2018 that the government needs a court-approved warrant to compel tech and phone companies to turn over their customers' location data. But thanks to a legal loophole, the FBI (or any other federal agency) can simply purchase reams of almost anyone's location data from anyone willing to sell it, like data brokers. (Thanks, capitalism.)

Data brokers usually buy the data from app and game developers, who get paid or receive kickbacks to share their users' location data. Ads served on your phone or computer can also leak your real-world location, which then get sold to data brokers.

Is it legal for the feds to buy access to location data? Probably not. But until the U.S. Supreme Court specifically rules on this, or Congress steps in and takes out the data broker industry, the government can continue to buy this data — just like anyone else can, including adversarial countries. 

The good news is that Wyden et al have a bipartisan, bicameral bill that would require the feds to get a court-approved warrant like they're supposed to, but faces an uphill battle from at least one Republican lawmaker.

For now, one of the best things you can do is to switch off location services on your phone, and use an ad blocker so you can prevent ads from collecting your browsing and location data to begin with.