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| The United States government admits that it purchased the citizen location data |
An intelligence agency confirmed that the US government has purchased location data collected from smartphones for its citizens and that the data is not segregated according to whether the person lives in or outside the United States.
In a memo sent to Senator Ron Wyden and received by The New York Times, the DIA admitted that it had purchased location data from an agent.
Data brokers collect and sell information about people, including people's geographic location data, by paying app and website makers.
Once the broker has the information, he can collect it and sell it to anyone who wants to pay, including the US government.
In the memo, the DIA said that employees can only query the site's database in the United States through a specific process carried out by senior management, the Oversight and Compliance Office, and the Office of Legal Counsel.
The agency also said it received five permissions in the past two and a half years to view data from US devices.
According to the fourth change, government agencies are required to obtain court orders before collecting data from third parties (such as telephone companies). This is the rule the Supreme Court followed in its ruling in the Carpenter Case.
"Carpenter's decision does not apply to obtaining the same data from a broker because the agency has not summoned any legal authority," the DIA said.
The memo states that the agency does not interpret Carpenter's decision to require a court order to allow the purchase or use of commercially available data for intelligence purposes.
The American Civil Liberties Union disagrees with that claim, and Chief of Staff Ashley Gorsky said in a statement: The government cannot purchase our private information to bypass basic constitutional protections.
Gorsky urged Congress to end this illegal behavior and urged the government to seek court orders regarding location data, regardless of its source.
Senator Wyden, who has called for arrest warrants, has proposed a bill titled "Fourth Amendment Not For Sale" to prevent the US government from purchasing information that might require a court order or warrant.