{"id":225842,"date":"2026-03-20T17:54:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-20T21:54:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/20\/privacy-advocates-sound-alarm-on-data-broker-loophole-used-by-fbi-other-federal-agencies\/"},"modified":"2026-03-20T17:54:00","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T21:54:00","slug":"privacy-advocates-sound-alarm-on-data-broker-loophole-used-by-fbi-other-federal-agencies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/20\/privacy-advocates-sound-alarm-on-data-broker-loophole-used-by-fbi-other-federal-agencies\/","title":{"rendered":"Privacy advocates sound alarm on \u2018data broker loophole\u2019 used by FBI, other federal agencies"},"content":{"rendered":"

Privacy advocates sound alarm on \u2018data broker loophole\u2019 used by FBI, other federal agencies<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/fedscoop.com\/fbi-data-broker-loophole-purchase-dhs\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Publish Date: 2026-03-20 17:54:00<\/a><\/p>\n

Source Domain: fedscoop.com<\/a><\/p>\n

The data broker loophole is top of mind for privacy advocates following FBI Director Kash Patel\u2019s congressional testimony earlier this week, during which he confirmed the Department of Justice component is paying for data that is then used in law enforcement operations.\u00a0<\/p>\n

When asked by Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., if he could commit to not buying Americans\u2019 location data, Patel said the FBI \u201cuses all tools\u201d to do its mission.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe do purchase commercially available information that\u2019s consistent with the Constitution and the laws under the Electronic Communications Privacy Act,\u201d Patel said under oath. \u201cIt has led to some valuable intelligence for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

The FBI did not respond directly to FedScoop\u2019s questions about oversight of these purchases and whether there are audits to prevent misuse. A spokesperson said: \u201cThe Director did not state the FBI is purchasing Americans\u2019 location data.\u201d<\/p>\n

Privacy advocates say the comments are just the latest example of the opaque nature in which these dataset procurements are conducted.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt further underscores the fact that we lack sufficient transparency in order to have meaningful oversight of what the government is doing,\u201d said Alan Butler, executive director and president of the Electronic Privacy Information Center. \u201cWe\u2019re truly in a kind of black hole.\u201d<\/p>\n

The data broker ecosystem has ballooned over the past decade or so, resulting in a multibillion-dollar industry. The mass data aggregation typically stems from user activity on a website or app, and approval for sharing this data can be buried in the hundreds of pages of terms and conditions that accompany each application.<\/p>\n

Data brokers sell information tied to an individual\u2019s behavior and location, according to Thomas Daly, CEO and founder of privacy management software company mePrism.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cBy paying data brokers, the government can track individuals in real time and in deeply personal ways without a…<\/p>\n

Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Privacy advocates sound alarm on \u2018data broker loophole\u2019 used by FBI, other federal agencies https:\/\/fedscoop.com\/fbi-data-broker-loophole-purchase-dhs\/…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-225842","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-privacy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225842"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=225842"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225842\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=225842"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=225842"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=225842"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}