Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ) told Breitbart News in an exclusive interview that his committee would investigate reports of the FBI and other law enforcement agencies purchasing Americans’ private data, calling it a “run around the Fourth Amendment.”
The House Judiciary Subcommittee on Federal Government Surveillance and Crime will hold a hearing Thursday about how the federal government has continued its warrantless surveillance of American citizens. Although the hearing may focus on Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), Biggs, the chairman of the subcommittee, teased that they may look into other issues.
The FBI admitted in March that the agency purchased geolocation data from Americans’ mobile-phone advertising, although the agency said it has moved past that practice after facing legal issues and controversy. Other government agencies, such as the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), have bought access to American geolocation data.
Rep. Ben Cline (R-VA) has pressed Department of Justice (DOJ) officials about this controversial practice.
In reaction to the reports, Biggs said that he had talked to Cline about the matter and said it is “absolutely” something he would look to investigate.
He said, “It seems to me that there is a deliberate run around the Fourth Amendment, especially when you have these mountains of data that we already have stored at NSA, etc. They want these additional databases and the reality is that does not obviate them from getting a Fourth Amendment search warrant in my opinion.”
“We got to get to the bottom of that for sure,” he added.
During a hearing in March, Cline pressed Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz over the FBI’s purchase of American geolocation data. He asked if other parts of the Justice Department are engaging in this practice.
“We’re looking at that, we saw those news stories, we’re looking at that issue,” Horowitz said.
Cline then pressed Attorney General Merrick Garland during a House Appropriations Committee hearing over this controversy.
Cline asked Garland if he agreed with Horowitz that purchasing Americans’ private data should not have happened post-Carpenter v. United States. Carpenter v. United States was a landmark 2018 Supreme Court ruling that held that the United States government needed a search warrant to track suspects for an extended period from cellphone carriers.
Garland said that he does not know any more information than what FBI Director Christopher Wray said when he admitted that the FBI used to purchase Americans’ private communications data.
Cline asked Garland, “Are any parts of DOJ still purchasing location data?”
The attorney general said, “The Department [DOJ] has an internal investigation going on internally to find out which parts,” of the agency might still be engaging in this practice.
Vice had reported that the FBI’s Cyber Division had purchased tens of thousands of dollars in geolocation data.
Sen. Ron Wyden’s (D-OR) office revealed via a whistleblower that the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS), the primary law enforcement agency of the Navy, also engaged in this practice. NCIS had told Motherboard that it uses netflow data for “various counterintelligence purposes.”
The Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) admitted to purchasing Venntel’s data, but said to the Journal, “It is important to note that such information doesn’t include cellular phone-tower data, is not ingested in bulk and doesn’t include the individual user’s identity.”
The military, federal, state, and local police forces have access to bulk data sets from commercial vendors to acquire information, often without court authorization.
Sean Vitka, of Demand Progress, an online privacy and digital rights group, said, “FBI Director Wray’s admission that the FBI secretly purchased Americans’ location data ‘derived from internet advertising’ is both shocking and further proof of the need for Congress to take immediate action to rein in mass surveillance.”
California, Colorado, Connecticut, Utah, and Virginia have passed consumer privacy legislation to protect citizens’ data.
Republicans and Democrats proposed a bicameral solution that would declare geolocation data as sensitive and restrict private industry’s use of that data.
Another group of bipartisan lawmakers, spearheaded by Sens. Wyden and Rand Paul (R-KY), unveiled the Fourth Amendment is Not for Sale Act, which would block law enforcement agencies from buying access to geolocation data without a warrant.
Sean Moran is a policy reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter @SeanMoran3.