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FBI started buying Americans' location data again, Kash Patel confirms

What happened

FBI Director Kash Patel confirmed during Senate testimony that the bureau is purchasing commercially available location data that can be used to track American citizens' movements. The practice had previously been paused but has resumed under the new administration. Patel stated the purchases are consistent with constitutional and legal requirements under electronic communications law.

Why people care
This involves fundamental questions about digital privacy and Fourth Amendment protections in the smartphone era. The 2018 Carpenter v. United States Supreme Court case established that obtaining location data typically requires a warrant, leading many to believe netflix-execs-laughed-at-claim-the-streamer-demands-movies-and-tv-shows-restate.html" class="story-link" title="Netflix Execs ‘Laughed’ at Claim the Streamer Demands Movies and TV Shows Restat">such purchases were prohibited.
The takes
Privacy advocates say

The FBI's data purchases circumvent constitutional protections established in Carpenter v. United States, which requires warrants for location tracking. Buying commercially available data allows law enforcement to sidestep judicial oversight that would normally apply to such surveillance activities.

Law enforcement supporters say

The purchases involve only commercially available information that people have already agreed to share, making it fundamentally different from direct government surveillance. Senator Tom Cotton compared it to law enforcement searching through publicly discarded trash, arguing it represents information people have already made available.

Sources
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