The Digester

FBI admits buying commercially available location data that can track Americans

Mar 18th 2026

At a Senate hearing FBI director Kash Patel confirmed the bureau buys location data sold by private brokers, which can be obtained without a warrant and used to track people.

  • FBI director Kash Patel told the Senate Intelligence Committee the agency purchases location data from private brokers.
  • Patel said the purchases comply with the Constitution and the Electronic Communications Privacy Act and have produced valuable intelligence.
  • Because the data is bought from commercial brokers rather than obtained from cell providers, it can be accessed without the warrant standard set by the 2018 Supreme Court ruling.
  • Senator Ron Wyden called the practice an outrageous end-run around the Fourth Amendment and urged passage of the Government Surveillance Reform Act.
  • Senator Tom Cotton defended the FBI, saying the key issue is that the data is commercially available.

Articles