The U.S. Government Is Secretly Using Cell Phone Location Data to Track Us. We鈥檙e Suing.
The federal government is secretly purchasing and using our cell phone location information to locate and track people in the United States, including for immigration enforcement. We鈥檙e suing to bring some much-needed transparency to these disturbing practices.
The GPS chips in modern smartphones provide us with many conveniences, allowing apps on our phones to quickly map our location, provide weather updates, and more. But many of those apps don鈥檛 keep our location information to themselves. Without users realizing it, apps regularly to other companies who use it for marketing and other purposes.
In February, The Wall Street Journal that this sensitive location data isn鈥檛 just for sale to commercial entities, but is also being purchased by U.S. government agencies, including by U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement to locate and arrest immigrants. The Journal identified one company, Venntel, that was selling access to a massive database to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and ICE. Subsequent has identified other companies selling access to similar databases to DHS and other agencies, including the .
These practices raise serious concerns that federal immigration authorities are evading Fourth Amendment protections for cell phone location information by paying for access instead of obtaining a warrant. There鈥檚 even more reason for alarm when those agencies evade requests for information 鈥� including from U.S. senators 鈥� about such practices. That鈥檚 why today we asked a federal court to intervene and order DHS, CBP, and ICE to release information about their purchase and use of precise cell phone location information. Transparency is the first step to accountability.
We鈥檙e asking the agencies to turn over all records related to their purchase and use of cell phone location data, including contracts, policies and procedures for use, communications with companies, legal analyses, and more.
Among the questions we seek answers to is how the government can justify obtaining sensitive cell phone location data without getting a search warrant. In Carpenter v. United States, a case argued by the 老澳门开奖结果, the Supreme Court that law enforcement agencies cannot request personal location information from a cellphone company without first obtaining a search warrant from a judge. As Chief Justice Roberts wrote, these records deserve protection because mapping a cellphone鈥檚 location 鈥減rovides an intimate window into a person鈥檚 life, revealing not only his particular movements, but through them his 鈥榝amilial, political, professional, religious, and sexual associations.鈥欌��
If law enforcement agencies can buy their way around the Fourth Amendment鈥檚 warrant requirement, the landmark protection announced by the Supreme Court in Carpenter will be in peril. Despite federal agencies spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on access to cell phone location databases, those agencies have not publicly explained their legal justifications or internal limitations on access to this invasive information. More than nine months after we submitted a request for information under the Freedom of Information Act, DHS, CBP, and ICE have yet to provide us with a single responsive record. DHS has even refused to provide its about these practices to who have requested it.
The public deserves to know how the agencies are accessing bulk databases of Americans鈥� location data and why. Today鈥檚 lawsuit aims to find out.
