FBI Bought Location Data, Senate Confirms

FBI Director Kash Patel told the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence at the Worldwide Threats hearing on March 18, 2026, that the bureau purchases commercially available location data that can reconstruct people’s movement histories. (politico.com) Senator Ron Wyden directly asked Patel whether the FBI would commit to not buying Americans’ location data and called the practice “an outrageous end‑run around the Fourth Amendment.” (techcrunch.com) Patel said the FBI “purchases commercially available information” under existing law, citing the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, while Justice Department spokespeople declined to identify which commercial brokers supply the data or how frequently purchases occur. (techcrunch.com) The legal gap lawmakers cite dates to the Supreme Court’s 2018 Carpenter decision, which held that historical cell‑site location information from carriers generally requires a warrant, a protection that currently does not extend to commercially sold location datasets. (supremecourt.gov) The March 2026 admission is the first public confirmation since 2023, when then‑FBI director Christopher Wray testified the FBI was not actively purchasing commercial location data. (arstechnica.com) On March 12, 2026, Senators Ron Wyden and Mike Lee and Representatives Warren Davidson and Zoe Lofgren introduced the bipartisan Government Surveillance Reform Act to require warrants for location and other sensitive commercial data and to “close the data broker loophole.” (davidson.house.gov) Civil‑liberties organizations including the ACLU and the Electronic Frontier Foundation have documented prior agency purchases of location/ad‑tech data and urged Congress and regulators to tighten statutory oversight and disclosure requirements. (aclu.org)