Earlier this month, FBI Director Kash Patel confirmed before the Senate Intelligence Committee that the federal government is purchasing Americans’ personal data from commercial data brokers and data aggregators, like LexisNexis, Persona, or Socure, without a warrant.
When asked if he would rule out buying location data, Patel responded, “The FBI uses all tools to do our mission.” He emphasized the data is “commercially available” and lawful to obtain. What he didn’t address is the absence of judicial oversight; no warrants, no probable cause, and no court review.
This practice extends well beyond the FBI. Most of the law enforcement agencies have been documented buying bulk datasets, including the location histories, internet activity, and travel records of Americans. These profiles are built from the sale and aggregation of the data collected from everyday apps on Americans’ phones, and for many, they have consequences.
Just this week, it was reported that the Iranian drone strike that killed six U.S service members may have used targeting data gathered from some of these same sources, raising concerns surrounding whether or not these massive data aggregators and brokers could have directly supported the tracking, targeting, and killing of United States troops.
These massive data companies, like LexisNexis, are often foreign owned and have a history of selling data to adversaries overseas. Others, like Socure, Persona, and Idemia have a concerning history of gathering massive amounts of personally identifiable data on Americans, and selling their services to private companies and government entities who use that data to track and target Americans here at home.
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