CYBERSECURITYTRACKER
TRACKING6,506 stories in this site build1,309 vulnerability news stories in this site build
Permanent story citation

Srsly Risky Biz: FBI Says Why Get a Warrant When You Have Kash

This page keeps the story as Cybersecurity Tracker first published it. If the tracker later corrects it, the correction appears below the original and never replaces it.

Back to newsStory 217

As cited

Copy frozen at (site build).

government policy

Srsly Risky Biz: FBI Says Why Get a Warrant When You Have Kash

FBI Director Kash Patel disclosed during a Senate hearing that the Bureau is purchasing commercial data, including location information, to track Americans. Patel stated the purchases comply with the Constitution and Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) and have yielded intelligence value. This marks a shift from the FBI's prior position in 2023, when former Director Christopher Wray said the Bureau had limited use of such data through a pilot program.

Why it matters: Privacy advocates, civil liberties organizations, and Congress should monitor whether the FBI's commercial data purchases create a warrant-bypass mechanism that circumvents Fourth Amendment protections, particularly as the practice expands beyond local law enforcement.

Source published
First seen by Cybersecurity Tracker

Source attribution

Glossary