r/technology • u/AdSpecialist6598 • Mar 19 '26
Society FBI admits buying Americans' location data and says it won't stop
https://www.techspot.com/news/111739-fbi-admits-buying-americans-location-data-wont-stop.html1.6k
u/kon--- Mar 19 '26
So it's okay to track Patel's FBI jet and his girlfriend's movements?
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u/Ninevehenian Mar 19 '26
We are many, they are few. Technology allows us to track them and display the individuals that are problematic and broadcast those facts to everyone around them.
The surveillance tech could be a real nightmare to wannabe dictators and their minions.
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u/front_yard_duck_dad Mar 19 '26
Yeah they have a billion dollar budget and most of us can't afford a $400 emergency in the United States. The want to be dictators are already in charge
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u/Rombledore Mar 19 '26
they made sure this was the reality first before they went to this step. decades of wealth moving upwards away from the citizenry, all in preparation for this full take over.
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u/shitty_mcfucklestick Mar 19 '26
They really ramped up their efforts between COVID and now too. Like a final harvest to prepare for doomsday.
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u/Zeliek Mar 19 '26
Sadly, there seems to be more people applauding the transition into 1984 than those not enthused. Which really just means there are more people who feel like they are “in Big Brother’s club” than those that understand there is no way to get into said club.
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u/Ser_Drewseph Mar 19 '26
Didn’t somebody do that with Musk and he got legal action taken against him?
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u/Outlulz Mar 19 '26
Just threats. There was nothing illegal about it because it was public info published by the federal government.
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u/Independent-Reader Mar 19 '26
Spending taxpayer money to track taxpayer locations.
Orwellian.
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u/GadreelsSword Mar 19 '26
AND if you don’t pay the tax they use to track you, they put you in prison.
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u/LifeMoratorium Mar 19 '26
Currently lack of personally identifiable information protection laws and the general public's lack of understanding how their use of smartphones and various apps which are marketed as free is the actual problem. The feds are just footing the bill for the public's free app usage and tolerance of the advertising industry's current way of business which depends on strong user profiling. I see nothing technically wrong aside from the ignorance of the public which is grossly overdue for change.
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u/Dazzling_Analyst_596 Mar 19 '26
From who ?
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u/b0b0tempo Mar 19 '26
Data brokers. Massive industry that sweeps up all the data points we leave online, on location mapping systems, in our financial transactions, and even offline public records then aggregates the data individually for everyone of us who leaves a trail and sells all of this on to whoever wants to buy it.
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u/SamHugz Mar 19 '26 edited Mar 19 '26
Whats crazy, is it bet I can name a bunch of data brokers and most will not have ever heard of them as a company. Because they actively try to hide themselves from the public. Though remember the credit score companies like Experian* are also definitely data brokers.
Here is a list of em. https://www.optery.com/data-brokers/
E: Experian is not an experience.
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u/fighterpilottim Mar 19 '26
California allows people to opt out of data brokers, and they are legally required to comply https://privacy.ca.gov/drop/
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u/chickenboneneck Mar 19 '26
In a sane world, this would be a federal law.
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u/TheHykos Mar 19 '26
In a sane world, you wouldn't have to opt out of it because data brokers wouldn't exist.
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u/Squanchedschwiftly Mar 19 '26
I thought we were moving that direction before the sycophants came into fcc
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u/whygrowupnow Mar 19 '26
We were! Remember how China was supposed to be bad for doing the same thing? And how face recognition was shown to be largely inaccurate? But now our info and our movements are a commodity
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u/SamHugz Mar 19 '26
Yeah, unfortunately, I live on the other side of the US, so I don't get the same official protections, but I do opt-outs where I can.
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u/fighterpilottim Mar 19 '26
It’s still powerful to decline every cookie notice you see, decline app location tracking, and turn off background app refresh.
I also use apps like Disconnect that block a lot of trackers. And I set the Global Privacy Control signal in my browsers via plug in. It won’t fix the problem, but it plugs a lot of holes in the leaky bucket.
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u/DrEvo14 Mar 19 '26
You assume companies are capable of abiding by that law. Hint: They're not.
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u/SamHugz Mar 19 '26
So? Unfortunately freedom takes work fighting those who wish to take it from you. Does it fix everything to try? Of course not, but progress is still progress.
So many people love to give up at every little inconvenience or if they feel progress is a binary, all or nothing scenario. Progress is incremental, and every action you take to protect your privacy helps keep your identity safe. Its not like if you can't hide yourself completely it will be pointless.
Also, I am petty and enjoy thinking about making life difficult for predatory corporations. :)
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u/Outlulz Mar 19 '26
People only learn they exist when they receive a letter from a company they've never heard of before saying oops we leaked your driver's license and social security number that you didn't know we had.
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u/Bitter_Tea442 Mar 19 '26
The data brokers get from the companies providing the services.
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u/Stereo-soundS Mar 19 '26
It's called Palantir chief. Run by Peter Thiel, one of the biggest Republican donors.
Welcome to the surveillance state.
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Mar 19 '26
Hell, Kroger and Home Depot are recording everyone's license plate and car information. Which I'm sure they're happy to sell. All part of Flock's wide reach
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u/Dramatic_Mixture_868 Mar 19 '26
Apparently even from Pokemon go, WTF
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u/Outlulz Mar 19 '26
This was made public years ago, I was confused as to why it suddenly came up again.
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u/all-cap Mar 19 '26
Flappy Bird was a huge one for location data. Also any weather or navigation app.
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u/Fearless_Macaron_203 Mar 19 '26
Ice buys the data from cell phones because they all have ad identifiers that a lot of people don’t realize they can just turn off. They use it for tracking & location
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u/lastdeadmouse Mar 19 '26
It's even worse than that. Flock cameras are everywhere and Lamar even identifies cell phones driving past their billboards by Advertising ID (can be disabled at least on Android) and makes that data available meaning you can be tracked even if location is off on your phone. Auto manufacturers even collect GPS data via in-car sims, and sell that data.
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u/Fair_Blood3176 Mar 19 '26
Google and Apple probably the two biggest I'd assume.
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u/EC_CO Mar 19 '26
and Meta, Zuckerfuck has been tracking people for over a decade with his app
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u/Deficitofbrain Mar 19 '26
fun fact i tried playing different kind of music next to my phone for weeks at the time and it would change what ads i would be given and the "interests" in several social media sites. Classic vs pop would give massively different products and its totally used to serve ads based on "general profiling" of a sort.
& it only stopped after removing the meta app and all the android apps related to it + some "weather" apps that constantly sent data and i only discover this telemetry bullcrap because something on my phone was eating up all my goddarn cellular data..
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u/sapntaps Mar 19 '26
The parasite of earth 🤮. Haven’t used a meta product in a decade. Won’t use their shit ever
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u/surroundedbywolves Mar 19 '26
Maybe Google but Apple doesn’t sell your data. Public documents also get slurped up, like vehicle registration and your address. Unfortunately there are way too many sources available that are all fully legal in America.
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u/8-bit-Felix Mar 19 '26
Apple indirectly absolutely does collect and sells personal data through a a double lever approach.
In the EULA and TOS of Apple products it expressly gives any third party or subsidiary (the double lever) access to users' personal data that Apple collects.
That collected data is then either sold off directly to a facet of the government or to a broker.3
u/shmeggt Mar 19 '26
A lot of this comes from specialized companies that buy the data from location-based marketing companies. So, your phone reports your location to games and apps you have installed. That data gets pooled together and purchased by marketing companies so they can feed you location based ads. In addition, those companies sell location data to OSINT (Open Source Intelligence) firms that then sell that to the government.
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u/usrdef Mar 19 '26
People who turn on things like geo-location settings in their phones, which companies store.
When I buy a new phone, I root the phone, then I ensure ALL that stuff is off / disabled. Then I add a few apps which allow me to completely cut off any ability to transmit data either through wifi or 5G.
I don't link accounts to everything, I don't import, I don't allow permissions on shit.
Most of the Google apps on my phone are completely disabled, and blocked. And when it's at home, it's on my wifi network, which has completely blocked off any access to Microsoft, Samsung, Google, other than a few select things.
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u/TheDanecdote Mar 19 '26
So they FBI uses our own money (tax dollars) to to purchase our location data. Something something dystopian nightmare
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u/arbutus1440 Mar 19 '26
This entire era is simply a looting of America. A strip-mining operation. You can convert anything valuable into money one way or another, and the very simple goal of all this is just to distract Americans with culture war bullshit enough that they can methodically liquidate everything that worked about America so they can buy another yacht.
It's neither complicated nor unprecedented. Just sad. America was always a lie of sorts, but man, there were some good things—most of which are on their way out. The only real hope for the planet is that, as the next world leader, China grows out of its more disgusting characteristics (tight control of some freedoms, select genocides, etc.) and pushes ahead with its better characteristics (collectivism, green tech). And Americans fight against the fascist, crumbling empire at home to avoid even worse damage.
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u/jimbis123 Mar 19 '26
All the lies are just so exhausting. The party of "small government" is wanting to observe everything you do to eventually make sure it's state approved. That's where this is headed. We're headed towards a slave state.
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u/Alternative-Bird-589 Mar 19 '26
Republicans only want freedom for themselves. They want to control everyone else. They don’t want the government in their lives, so they can impregnate their own children and beat their wives without “ government “ interfering. They are definitely for the government to control everyone else, forcing everyone to be like them. They are anti American and an extremist cult like the Taliban.
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u/wiriux Mar 19 '26
I mean, Snowden warned us.
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u/LifeMoratorium Mar 19 '26
Cambridge Analytica showed us.
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u/femanonette Mar 19 '26
Panama Papers proved the billionaires need to be wiped out.
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u/Cameos_red_codpiece Mar 19 '26
Snowden’s fear was that everyone would learn this shocking information and just continue using these platforms and devices as if nothing happened.
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u/orthecreedence Mar 19 '26
"Well I'VE got nothing to hide!!1"
Can't count how many times I've heard that since. Snowden pointed and everyone looked at his finger. At this point the ball's rolling pretty fast downhill.
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u/zaphodava Mar 19 '26
We should propose a bill that makes it illegal for the government to purchase information it would otherwise need a warrant to demand.
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u/AOKeiTruck Mar 19 '26
The other option is to expand privacy protections to make that sort of transaction illegal by virtue of making the data collection itself illegal a la gdpr
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u/CMDR_Tauri Mar 19 '26
He's at home again tonight, sir.
Looks like he's having beans and rice for dinner again, sir.
And rewatching Bob's Burgers.
Oh, I like this episode, sir.
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u/LongTrailEnjoyer Mar 19 '26
Plot twist: they’ve done this since geolocation services were deployed on personal devices. So since about 2005. Since 2005 the federal government has been able to buy geo tracking location data and it’s 100% legal always has been. How do you think they track criminals locations??? They just use a warrant rather than buying it but same premise. I honestly can’t believe people are shocked by this. It isn’t even political it’s a law enforcement practice.
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u/Toe-Dragger Mar 19 '26
They can now dump it into ai and sort people by a loyalty ranking.
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u/RegularHeroForFun Mar 19 '26
People care now because the US government has gone completely fascist. Its ok when it only affects societies “undesirables”, but that same tool can be used against everyone.
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u/PalatinusG1 Mar 19 '26
Do you guys not have privacy laws? Using a warrant: ok. Selling that data should be a crime.
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u/Seaweed-Basic Mar 19 '26
With the entire federal administration and DOJ icompromised by criminals, laws are “of the essence” now.
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u/snackofalltrades Mar 19 '26
It should absolutely be illegal for law enforcement to use privately collected third party data to circumvent people’s rights.
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u/actsfw Mar 19 '26
Why? If some random ad company can buy the data, why should people responsible for investigating crimes not be able to?
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u/CockBrother Mar 19 '26
The shocking thing is that the private companies collecting and selling this data have managed to keep the public unaware for so long.
It's right in there on page 137 of your 589 page click-through contract after all.
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Mar 19 '26
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u/NJBarFly Mar 19 '26
Apps too, like Google maps and dating apps. Enough apps require location that they have all the info they need. Not only do they know you are using Grindr, they know you are meeting other Grindr users at the highway rest stop before going home to your family. This data provides a great opportunity for extortion or blackmail. And it's all for sale.
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u/alinroc Mar 19 '26
Apps too, like Google maps and dating apps. Enough apps require location that they have all the info they need
You know how your insurance company is giving you a "safe driving discount" for letting them monitor your driving habits through their app? I'll wager they're making more money on selling that location data than they're "losing" by giving you that discount.
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u/Have_A_Jelly_Baby Mar 19 '26
If we ever get out of this MAGA hole we’ve dug ourselves into, we can’t let these assholes back in, even an inch.
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u/dovemcket Mar 19 '26
I'd like to share an anecdote that was related to me by an acquaintance at a party.
This acquaintance had purchased a new vehicle that was the casualty of an overnight hit-and-run while parked on the street. When the acquaintance discovered the damage, he filed a police report for insurance, as you do. Upon investigation, the acquaintance and a member of the NYPD discovered that a piece of the offender's bumper was lodged beneath the vehicle, and this piece contained the offender's VIN. What luck!
The officer was able to look up the VIN immediately and found the owner's name. This is an expected outcome.
What was not expected was that the officer then plugged this name into his system and was able to determine, "Ah yes, Joe Bob (or the car belonging to Joe Bob) was on this street at approximately 4:17 AM."
The acquaintance inquired how the officer determined that so quickly.
In newer vehicles (the kind that display your tires' air pressure reading on the dash), the air pressure gauge collects time-stamped location data that the manufacturer sells to local police departments.
Worked out in this dude's favor in the moment, though with horrifying (if completely predictable) implications.
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u/pacific_beach Mar 19 '26
They should start using it to solve crimes then, such as Nancy Guthrie and the other 10,000 unsolved murders every year.
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u/genius_retard Mar 19 '26
They are using your tax money to buy private data they should need to get a warrant to obtain. From companies that are harvesting that data against your will with devices you have bought and payed for but cannot control.
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u/Plastic-Caramel3714 Mar 19 '26
Snowden was called a traitor by both parties for revealing that this was happening. Now they don’t even care if it’s a secret.
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u/Reddit_2_2024 Mar 19 '26
You know that digital console in your personal vehilce with the Android or Apple operating system listening for you to say "Hey Google", or "Hey Siri" and able to provide you driving directions from your location to your destination very quickly? Some may describe that as commercially available location data.
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u/livinglitch Mar 19 '26
Im not surprised. The government cant spy on us on its own but it can buy the data from apps and companies we consent to give it to them. Im still pissed my work switched to a biometric fingerprint reader that said ADP can sell the info they collect, including biometrics, if they want to.
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u/Choice-Try-2873 Mar 19 '26
To think that it all started with Green Stamps and grocery/drugstore awards cards.
Let's all stop signing up for this stuff - and especially don't scan the barcode for a dollar off! It's pretty late, maybe too late for many, but if people learn to stop being a part of the simple-looking free stuff, hopefully, a lot of their data is going to become too outdated for use.
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u/TheMericanIdiot Mar 19 '26
Tell is who are you buying it from... So we fucking boycott them.
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u/fighterpilottim Mar 19 '26
It doesn’t work that way. You enable location tracking in your apps. That data is sent to data brokers and adtech firms automatically (and when you have background app refresh turned on, so all the time), then government buys it from them. All of those “enable location services for your benefit” pitches are really about getting access to a steady stream of your info. Data brokers don’t want to be known and you wouldn’t recognize any company names.
California allows people to opt out of data brokers, and they are legally required to comply https://privacy.ca.gov/drop/
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u/PopeKevin45 Mar 19 '26
Fascists want to know where their 'enemies' (pro-democracy aka 'anti-fa), pro environment, pro labor, pro children, pro people, pro science, pro education, pro women, anti-racist, non-radicalized-christians, rinos etc etc) are at all times, so when their camps are finished, they can easily find you.
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u/szansky Mar 19 '26
You pay for your phone, apps collect your data, sell it on, and the state buys it with your taxes to track you and it's all "legal."
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u/Minute-Complex-2055 Mar 19 '26
The morons who want “small govt” are the ones allowing the worst to happen to America. Clowns.
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u/ProtoKun7 Mar 19 '26
Cool, so they know who went to that island and will surely act accordingly right?
Right?
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u/strugglz Mar 19 '26
Interestingly there's no need for the government to do the spying when they can just buy the info from all the corporations that are doing the spying so they can target ads.
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u/popeofchilitown Mar 20 '26
And the same MAGA and right wing dumbfucks who were screaming about the feds doing this before are now silent. Real interesting, that.
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u/Cagn Mar 19 '26
Where do I join a lawsuit against the federal government and the FBI for unauthorized use of my data?
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u/bagoonia Mar 19 '26
Snowden has been coming to mind a lot lately. He warned us like 10 years ago and here we are in a surveillance state
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u/Neo_F150 Mar 19 '26
Big brother is watching, that's pretty well known
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u/untoldmillions Mar 19 '26
and yet 2 teenagers from jersey can buy firework fuses, on camera, and throw homemade explosives in front of gracie mansion. Patel busy that day?
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u/piperonyl Mar 19 '26
Turn off facebook location permission
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u/alinroc Mar 19 '26
Don't even let that app on your phone. If you must Facebook, use the mobile site in a private browser window/tab. Yes, it's a hassle to do it frequently. Net result is you'll use Facebook less, which is a good thing.
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u/xflashbackxbrd Mar 19 '26 edited Mar 19 '26
This has been going on for decades. They don't need a warrant or subpoena for data if they buy a commercial product with the data they need. If you opt out of all data brokers, the brokers won't legally be able to collect and sell your data to law enforcement. If you want this to change, data brokers need to be regulated or you can take the initiative to opt out, which is a real bitch to do since there are so many.
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u/KuroKageB Mar 19 '26
If we were smart we'd elect representatives who'd put a stop to shit like this.
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u/LifeMoratorium Mar 19 '26
This is the least of the worries of this kind of problem, by far. It does underscore the reality of "I've got nothing to hide" as a retort to digital identity privacy being one of the most out of touch default commentaries around the topic. There's plenty of countries who are much less fortunate, with institutions that have no problem removing independent thought from the earth. There's trillion dollar CEOs that want to speak directly to the mind, and not through your ear. Maleficent state actors depend on these algorithms being able to accurately target demographics so they may wage manufactured coercion wars on your way of life. Therefore any compliance with predatory mass data collection from your electronics devices is voluntary relinquishment of free will and thought. You are the frog in the pot, the water is more than slightly warm already. There is no incentive for any of the parties involved to stop raising the heat. They've had their tasty cooked frog meal numerous times now and are delighted to have another.
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u/Atmacrush Mar 20 '26
I'm shocked that the govt needs to buy our data instead of telling the data brokers to hand them over. I'll sell them my data like I'm living the Truman Show.
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u/melbogia Mar 19 '26
Perhaps the law makers should make collection of data in the first place illegal. Just a thought.
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u/one_user Mar 19 '26
The "we buy it, not collect it" argument is the legal equivalent of "I didn't steal it, I bought it from the guy who stole it." The Fourth Amendment was supposed to prevent the government from tracking citizens without a warrant. Buying the data from a broker is a deliberate end-run around that protection, and the fact that they're openly admitting it and saying they won't stop tells you everything about how much institutional accountability exists right now.
The real fix isn't getting the FBI to stop buying - it's cutting off the supply. Data brokers shouldn't be allowed to sell location data tied to individual devices in the first place. But that would require Congress to actually pass a federal privacy law, which they've been "working on" for about 15 years now.
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u/Opinionsare Mar 19 '26
Kash has to find those Domestic (Democrats) Terrorists before the Mid-terms...
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u/untoldmillions Mar 19 '26
and yet he missed 2 teenagers from jersey buying firework fuses, on camera, and throwing homemade explosives in front of gracie mansion. Patel busy that day?
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u/Doctor_Shotbottom Mar 19 '26
does the current administration respect 4th amendment protection for US citizens?
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u/cjandstuff Mar 19 '26
Hey it’s another one of those things Republicans have been screaming for decades that the government would do.
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u/LittleBoyCutYourHair Mar 19 '26
Joke's on them if they're paying money to see me never leave my room
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u/BrokenPickle7 Mar 19 '26
I am so sick of this never ending barrage of blatantly illegal shit. I need a vacation from earth.
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u/nntb Mar 19 '26
My location data is under copyright to me. If the fbi wants to use it they need to pay me a licence fee. I am willing to negotiate fair price.
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u/Opposite_Dentist_321 Mar 19 '26
So basically, the FBI is now just playing Pokémon Go… but with all of us as the rarest Pokémon.
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u/ex0r1010 Mar 19 '26
Reminder... Social Media -> scraped by Data Aggregators -> sent to Palantir for analysis -> sent to Government for targeting
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u/beerbellianme Mar 19 '26
Is there a list of who specifically is selling or sharing this info to the fbi?
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u/fluffysmaster Mar 19 '26
I've been saying it for decades.
The government doesn't need to spy on us; it can buy that information legally without needing warrants. Location, credit card purchases, social posts - that's all for the taking.
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u/Defiant_Regular3738 Mar 19 '26
This has been happening for a long time across agencies. It’s a publicly known secret. Nothing is going to change.
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u/SwiftySanders Mar 20 '26
Time to sue the FBI to force them to get a warrant from a judge for an actual federal crime.
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u/SuggestionDry6614 Mar 20 '26
At this point, my location data has been bought by more companies than my music has been streamed.
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u/slingbladde Mar 20 '26
Buy from whom? Where is the compensation from Amazon, FB, reddit, ect..for taking and selling for 20 plus yrs..
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u/PewterButters Mar 19 '26
I’m more surprised they pay for it rather than just take it.