FBI is buying data that can be used to track people, Patel says

General
1

https://www.politico.com/news/2026/03/18/fbi-buying-data-track-people-patel-00834080

2

Pinkerton law seems dead in the US. Cannot do indirectly what you can’t do indirectly used to be a pillar of the USG.

Previous incidents:

  1. How SDKs, hidden trackers in your phone, work | Vox
  2. Federal Regulators Limit Location Brokers from Selling Your Whereabouts: 2024 in Review | Electronic Frontier Foundation
  3. FTC accuses data brokers of improperly selling location info • The Register
  4. There’s a Multibillion-Dollar Market for Your Phone’s Location Data – The Markup

For individuals it’s easy, you can just do things. You can wake up one day and say I will not use software that does not respect me. And problem solved for the individual.

As a society this needs honest enforcement of already existing laws.

3

Quickly heading towards an era where it is not safe to carry a cell phone in the US unless it’s GOS with no SIM and only highly trusted open source software.