Updated 2026-03-20 13:04 UTC
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FBI started buying Americans' location data again, Kash Patel confirms

The FBI has confirmed to the Senate that it is once again purchasing location data that can be used to track US citizens. Kash Patel, nominated as FBI Director, confirmed this practice during Senate hearings. The agency maintains this data collection is legal and necessary for investigations.

This raises significant privacy concerns about government surveillance of citizens without warrants. The practice appears to circumvent legal protections established in Carpenter v. United States, which generally requires warrants for location tracking.
Privacy advocates say

The FBI's purchase of location data represents an end-run around constitutional protections and the warrant requirement. This practice allows law enforcement to access sensitive personal information about citizens' movements without proper judicial oversight.

Law enforcement says

The data purchases are legal and essential for national security investigations and criminal cases. Senator Tom Cotton compared it to searching people's trash, arguing it's publicly available information that doesn't require a warrant.

15h ago now