US FBI buys commercial location data to track Americans
→Federal investigators must obtain court-authorized warrants before buying Americans' location data
Change
US FBI has resumed buying commercially sourced location-history and device data on Americans from data brokers and is using it in federal investigations without court-authorized warrants.
Why it matters
Investigators are obtaining location datasets harvested from mobile apps, ad-tech real-time-bidding flows and commercial data brokers as an investigatory input. The FBI asserts those purchases comply with the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA); that legal theory remains untested in court while lawmakers have introduced the Government Surveillance Reform Act to require court-authorized warrants before agencies buy Americans' data.
Implications
- — US federal investigative agencies must obtain court-authorized warrants before purchasing Americans' location data if the Government Surveillance Reform Act is enacted — purchases made without a warrant will become unlawful.
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Source
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