FBI is buying location data to track US citizens, director confirms

FBI director Kash Patel confirmed to lawmakers that the agency is actively purchasing commercially available location data on Americans from data brokers, marking the first such confirmation since 2023. Senator Ron Wyden called the practice an 'outrageous end-run around the Fourth Amendment,' arguing that buying data without a warrant circumvents constitutional protections. The FBI claims no warrant is required for such purchases, though this legal theory has not been tested in court. Government agencies have increasingly used commercial data purchases to bypass the warrant process, with data often sourced from phone apps and real-time bidding ad networks. Wyden and other lawmakers introduced the Government Surveillance Reform Act, which would require court-authorized warrants before federal agencies can buy Americans' data from brokers.