FBI restarted buying Americans' location data without a warrant, Kash Patel confirms at Senate hearing

FBI Director Kash Patel confirmed at a Senate hearing that the bureau has resumed purchasing Americans' location data from commercial data brokers without warrants, Ars Technica reported. The FBI had paused commercial data purchases in 2024 after congressional scrutiny. Patel's confirmation drew bipartisan criticism. The commercial data broker industry collects location information from smartphone apps and sells it to government agencies, enabling tracking without judicial oversight.