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FBI is buying location data of Americans
19 Mar 2026

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has resumed the practice of purchasing Americans's location data from data brokers, the agency's Director Kash Patel confirmed during a Senate hearing on Wednesday.

This is the first time since 2023 that such a practice has been publicly acknowledged by the FBI.

Back then, former FBI Director Christopher Wray had said while they had bought access to people's location data in the past, they weren't doing so at that time.

Patel's response to Wyden's question
Data acquisition

When asked by US Senator Ron Wyden if the FBI would commit to not buying Americans's location data, Patel said, "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."

He further clarified that this practice is part of their mission.

Wyden slams FBI's practice of buying data
Privacy concerns

Wyden slammed the practice of buying Americans's information without a warrant, calling it an "outrageous end-run around the Fourth Amendment."

He was referring to the constitutional law that protects people in America from device searches and data seizures.

The FBI has been silent on questions about its commercial data purchases, including how often it acquires location data and from which brokers.

Agencies bypass legal requirement by purchasing data
Legal loophole

Typically, government agencies need to convince a judge to issue a search warrant based on some evidence of a crime before they can demand private information about a person from tech or phone companies.

However, in recent years, US agencies have been bypassing this legal requirement by purchasing commercially available data from companies that collect large amounts of people's location data through phone apps or other commercial tracking technologies.

Proposed legislation would require warrants for federal agencies' data purchases
Data trade

Surveillance firms can track this process and obtain information about a user's location, which they may sell to brokers or federal agencies looking to bypass the warrant requirement.

The FBI claims it doesn't need a warrant to use this information for federal investigations, though this legal theory has not been tested in court.

Last week, Wyden and other lawmakers introduced the Government Surveillance Reform Act requiring a court-authorized warrant before federal agencies can buy Americans's information from data brokers.