INVESTIGATINGIntelligenceFBI Director Kash Patel confirmed at a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing that the FBI actively purchases commercially available location data to track Americans — no warrant required. The admission was reported by The Guardian, TechCrunch, Ars Technica, and NPR.
“FBI Director Kash Patel confirmed at a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing that the FBI actively purchases commercially available location data to track Americans — no warrant required. The admission was reported by The Guardian, TechCrunch, Ars Technica, and NPR.”
Under oath. At a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing. FBI Director Kash Patel confirmed what privacy advocates have been screaming for years: the FBI buys commercially available location data to track Americans, and they don't need a warrant to do it.
The Fourth Amendment protects you from unreasonable searches. But the government found a workaround: they don't search you — they buy the results from companies that already did. Your phone's location data is collected by apps, sold to data brokers, and purchased by federal agencies. No warrant needed. No probable cause required. Just a credit card.
This isn't a leak or a whistleblower claim. This is the FBI Director saying it on the record, under oath, in front of the Senate. The Guardian, TechCrunch, Ars Technica, and NPR all reported on the admission. There's no denying it happened. The question is why nobody is doing anything about it.
Your location data reveals where you sleep, where you work, who you visit, what doctor you see, what church you attend, what protests you go to. The FBI doesn't need to follow you. Your phone does it for them. And every data broker in America is happy to sell the results.
If the government can buy what it can't legally search for, the Fourth Amendment is a suggestion, not a right. Every constitutional protection against surveillance becomes meaningless when the data is commercially available and the government has an unlimited budget.
No one's said anything yet. Be the first to drop your take.
