US Senator Ron Wyden has released documents that confirm the National Security Agency (NSA) purchases Americans' internet browsing data without a court order. Senator Wyden's letter reveals that the acquired data are collected from citizens' smartphones by app developers, sold to data brokers, resold to defense contractors, and then sent to the government. Wyden claims in his letter that until recently, the data broker industry and the intelligence community's acquisition of data from these companies have operated in a legal gray area. This ambiguity is primarily attributed to the secrecy surrounding these practices.

App developers and advertising companies have not been transparent with users about the sale and sharing of personal data with data brokers, and there has been a lack of effort to obtain informed consent. Additionally, the identity of data brokers is often unknown to consumers, and some of these companies have refused to disclose information to Congress about the sources of their data and the government agencies they sell it to. Wyden is thus urging the US government to halt the practice of intelligence agencies buying personal data from American citizens.

Why does it matter?

Government agencies, including the NSA, have avoided obtaining court-approved warrants for private data by asserting that they don't need a warrant if the information is commercially available, like location records or netflow data. Responding to Senator Wyden, the NSA claimed no awareness of a legal requirement for a court order when acquiring commercially available information, arguing it's equally accessible to foreign adversaries, US companies, and private individuals. At the same time, FTC's recent decision bans the sale of raw location data by a data broker company (X-Media/Outlogic), thus setting a precedent for data broker companies in the USA. Therefore, collecting such data is illegal and risks US citizens' privacy.