The FBI admitted to purchasing geolocation data from American mobile-phone advertising in March of this year. However, the agency remarked that it moved past the practice after encountering legal troubles and controversy.
Other government agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), have also gained access to American geolocation data. During a House Appropriations Committee hearing last March, Rep. Ben Cline (R-VA) inquired with Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz concerning the FBI's purchase of geolocation data.
April 04, 2023
Rep. Cline further questioned if other parts of the Department of Justice (DOJ) were procuring the private data of Americans, which he described as "disturbing." Inspector General Horowitz addressed these concerns by stating that they were investigating the matter. Horowitz said that post-Carpenter, such actions should not take place.
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Carpenter v. United States was a 2018 Supreme Court ruling that required the U.S. government to have a search warrant to track suspects from cellphone carriers.
The FBI reportedly spent tens of thousands of dollars on geolocation data from Team Cymru, with the company allegedly obtaining the data from deals with Internet Service Providers (ISPs) without the consent of the ISPs' users. Furthermore, Vice revealed that the FBI's Cyber Division purchased this data, which included server communication patterns and traffic volume ordinarily reserved for the owner of the server or the service carrier. The Wall Street Journal reported that the Federal military, federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies have access to bulk data sets from retail vendors, often without judicial authorization.
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The office of Ron Wyden (D-OR) alleged that a whistleblower approached them, claiming that the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) has also purchased such data. NCIS disclosed to Motherboard that it used netflow data for “various counterintelligence purposes.”
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The sheer amount of data readily available through data brokers raises questions about the kinds of information purchased by the government and at what point it becomes appropriate for them to do so. Both Republicans and Democrats have proposed bills aimed at restricting industry's use of geolocation data, while others have unveiled the Fourth Amendment is Not for Sale Act, which would prevent law enforcement from procuring geolocation data without a warrant.
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Conversely, there are controversies related to privacy advocates who desire to curtail the Federal Government's surveillance powers. Lawmakers want to limit Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). Federal Government intelligence agencies believe that FISA allows them to collect communications of targeted foreigners, but such collection may lead to incidental or even intended collection of personal information of American citizens, often viewed by civil liberties advocates as warrantless surveillance of Americans.
As part of this larger national debate, Rep. Darin LaHood (R-IL) has claimed that he was the unnamed Congressman surveilled by the FBI. During a hearing, he stated that the FBI's inappropriate querying of an elected representative was an egregious violation. He believed that the FBI's carelessness in mishandling its authorities was degrading the trust in FISA, viewing it as a threat to the separation of powers.
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