There is something profoundly wrong...

Editor's note: ...and unsettling when the state starts focusing on surveillance over economic growth and stability. Every American should contact the FBI right now and demand to know why the FBI is collecting data on Americans. The admission by the Federal Bureau of Investigation that it is buying Americans' location data from private brokers exposes a dangerous loophole that guts constitutional protections. By purchasing commercially available data instead of obtaining a warrant, the government effectively sidesteps the Fourth Amendment to the US Constitution, turning what should be a judicially supervised process into a pay-to-surveil system. Lawmakers have already warned this is an "end run" around the Constitution, allowing authorities to track Americans' movements without probable cause or oversight. What the FBI is doing here is making an offer. If the FBI is making an offer then every American should charge the FBI if they decide to allow the FBI to collect their data. Alright, you want my data? Then it will cost you.
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FBI is buying location data to track US citizens, director confirms

By Zack Whittaker | March 18, 2026

The FBI has resumed purchasing reams of Americans' data and location histories to aid federal investigations, the agency's director, Kash Patel, testified to lawmakers on Wednesday.

This is the first time since 2023 that the FBI has confirmed it was buying access to people’s data collected from data brokers, who source much of their information — including location data — from ordinary consumer phone apps and games, per Politico. At the time, then-FBI director Christopher Wray told senators that the agency had bought access to people's location data in the past but that it was not actively purchasing it.

When asked by U.S. Senator Ron Wyden, Democrat of Oregon, if the FBI would commit to not buying Americans’ location data, Patel said that the agency "uses all tools … to do our mission."

"We do purchase commercially available information that is consistent with the Constitution and the laws under the Electronic Communications Privacy Act — and it has led to some valuable intelligence for us," Patel testified Wednesday.

Wyden said buying information on Americans without obtaining a warrant was an "outrageous end-run around the Fourth Amendment," referring to the constitutional law that protects people in America from device searches and data seizures.

See Sen. Wyden: Can you commit to not buying Americans' location data?

When reached by TechCrunch, a spokesperson for the FBI declined to comment beyond Patel's remarks, and did not provide answers to questions about the agency's purchase of commercial data, including how often the FBI obtained location data and from which brokers.

Government agencies typically have to convince a judge to authorize a search warrant based on some evidence of a crime before they can demand private information about a person from a tech or phone company. But in recent years, U.S. agencies have skirted this legal step by purchasing commercially available data from companies that amass large amounts of people's location data originally derived from phone apps or other commercial tracking technology.

Read more...

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Editor's note: The claim that the FBI exists solely to protect Americans collapses under scrutiny of its own record. From surveillance overreach to the quiet expansion of data-gathering powers, including the purchase of citizens' location data, the FBI has repeatedly shown a willingness to bypass the spirit of the Fourth Amendment to the US Constitution when it is convenient. Framed as security, these actions instead point to an institution structurally inclined toward control and intelligence accumulation, raising serious questions about whether its primary function is public protection or the preservation of state power:

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