The FBI has authorized the purchase of a US citizen's location data collected by certain smartphone apps. The confessions have angered privacy campaigners, not least because the office obtained the data without court approval.
Office Director Christopher Wray acknowledged this in a statement to a Senate hearing on global threats. Ray asserted that the FBI had previously obtained the aforementioned information for a final security program that he did not specify, only that he claimed that the FBI had stopped doing so and that the FBI would now have the necessary data for the program. approved investigation method.
This is the first time the bureau has admitted to purchasing location data from US citizens without a court order. Violation of citizens' privacy by the FBI.
The US Supreme Court has previously ruled that government agencies violate Title IV of the US Constitution by obtaining location data from US citizens without official permission. Those are from the US Customs and Border Protection and the Defense Intelligence Agency. It is also known that the Department of Homeland Security has in the past purchased US citizen location data from private marketing companies.
Not surprisingly, the confessions angered privacy advocates and groups, who said such actions by the FBI and other investigators could have dire consequences for their award-winning digital freedoms.
In a statement to Ars Technica, Adam Schwartz, senior advisor at the EFF, said: “U.S. government agencies should not be allowed to circumvent Title IV of the Constitution by purchasing private information containing data on hundreds of millions of details about people’s specific actions that they collect without their knowledge or collection.” Their consent.” Your effective consent. This highly sensitive information may be released where we live, work, with whom we interact, and where we worship, appear, and seek medical care.
Sean Vitka, an attorney for the civil rights group Demand Progress, called the FBI's actions appalling. He also called for the drafting of legislation to completely ban this practice.