FBI Buying Location Data: Warrantless Surveillance via Commercial Data Brokers

The FBI acknowledged purchasing commercial location data from data brokers to track Americans' movements without obtaining warrants. The admission came during congressional testimony and confirmed long-standing concerns that law enforcement agencies circumvent Fourth Amendment protections by purchasing data that would require a warrant to obtain directly from phone companies. The data, sold by brokers who aggregate it from smartphone apps, provides detailed location histories showing where individuals live, work, worship, seek medical care, and socialize. The practice creates an end-run around the Supreme Court's Carpenter v. United States decision, which held that accessing cell-site location data requires a warrant. By purchasing equivalent data from commercial brokers rather than requesting it from carriers, the FBI argues the warrant requirement does not apply. Multiple bills have been introduced to close this loophole, including the Fourth Amendment Is Not For Sale Act, but none had passed as of the purchase revelations.

The ramifications of this incident extend beyond the immediate data exposure. Privacy regulators in multiple jurisdictions have opened investigations, and affected individuals are organizing collective action to demand accountability and meaningful remediation. The case highlights systemic weaknesses in how organizations handle personal data and the gap between corporate privacy promises and operational reality.

For impacted individuals, immediate action is critical. Filing a data subject access request forces the company to disclose exactly what data they hold about you, providing the foundation for deletion requests, regulatory complaints, and potential legal action. Below, we outline the specific data types at risk and the concrete steps you can take to protect yourself.