FBI Confirms It Buys Data That Can Track Location History

FBI Director Kash Patel told a Senate hearing that the bureau purchases "commercially available information" that can be used to track people's location history. It's a notable confirmation given existing legal constraints.

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that law enforcement agencies need a warrant to obtain people's location data. But the FBI's purchase of commercially available data raises questions about whether that requirement is effectively being sidestepped.

The distinction matters. Rather than going through the courts, the FBI is buying data on the open market — information collected by data brokers and other commercial entities. That data can reveal where people have been and when.

Patel's confirmation during the Senate hearing puts the practice squarely on the record. The gap between what the Supreme Court requires and what commercial data markets enable remains a growing tension in surveillance policy.