That’s not all. Current law also lets the Feds buy all sorts of sensitive data on you from shady data brokers, with just a credit card. The Feds can feed that data into powerful AI systems to spy on you. Kash Patel recently confirmed to me he’s buying your location data.
The federal government – ICE, FBI, and more – is spying on you without a warrant.
This week, Congress will decide whether Kash Patel, Stephen Miller and Trump can keep spying on Americans. If that scares you (it should) this thread is for you.
2/ Heard of ADINT aka ADvertising INTelligence?
Your apps don't just show ads.
They stream of info about your GPS location + a unique identifier to HUNDREDS OF BROKERS EVERY SECOND.
The industry swears the data is "anonymous" but it's actually a Spies-eye-view. Of everyone.
heatmaps from the report showing tracking
BREAKING: You checked the weather this morning.
And you just told a surveillance company where you sleep.
Meet #Webloc, used by ICE, cops & foreign govs to track 500m+ phones.
No warrant required.
Our @citizenlab.ca investigation + how to protect yourself 🧵/1
citizenlab.ca/research/ana...
And these tools make it easier for decision-makers to escape accountability. They sound persuasive and seem objective. Decision-makers can rely on them to make overinclusive lists of "inappropriate" books under the guise of objectivity. /4
Even when used to screen just sexual content, AI tools have limitations. They're unreliable, produce inconsistent results, struggle to understand context and nuance, and amplify biases.
That can lead to more books being screened for removal than there should be. 3/
Automating content moderation isn’t new. But past efforts show that AI tools are poorly suited to apply the often vague and subjective standards underlying many book bans.
Tools screening for "sacrilegious" content or “content offensive to conservative values" have had predictably bad results. 2/
Broad book bans restrict students’ access to information and discourage open discussion on sexuality, gender identity, teen pregnancy, & sexual health.
As @faizapatel.bsky.social and I explained, using AI tools to enforce these bans amplifies those risks and makes those laws more dangerous. 1/
The FBI reports a large drop in its warrantless searches of Americans' communications under Section 702. @lizagoitein.bsky.social and I explain why the reported numbers don't tell the full story — and why a warrant requirement is still needed.
It should also finally pass a comprehensive data privacy law that limits companies' unfettered collection and sharing of Americans' personal info.
DOJ has implemented rules limiting the export of sensitive data to certain nations like Iran, but they're no substitute for congressional action.
Congress can pass a bipartisan bill now that would stop the government from subsidizing this industry, prohibiting agencies from spending billions to buy up Americans’ sensitive information from data brokers.
The data broker industry has for years collected and sold sensitive info about US service members it harvests from the online ad industry.
The Pentagon’s known about these threats to privacy and national security, but the US govt continues to fuel the industry as one of its major customers.
FBI director Kash Patel confirms the FBI is buying location data and histories that can be used for tracking people. It's the first time in recent years that the FBI has said it's actively buying this information, without needing a warrant.
www.politico.com/news/2026/03...
This is a dramatic reversal of the FBI's commitment in 2023 to halting bulk collection on Americans' through data purchases.
Extremely alarming for privacy
www.wired.com/story/fbi-pu...
Book launch day! “Your Data Will Be Used Against You: Policing in the Age of Self Surveillance” is out.
Bluesky friends, I would be so grateful if you would buy a copy. And if you can’t afford it, could you at least share this announcement. Thank you. #BookSky
politics-prose.com/search?q=You...
In fact, a major surveillance authority known as “Section 702” is up for reauthorization in April. Congress should not reauthorize that law without including the Fourth Amendment Is Not For Sale Act and other provisions to prevent warrantless access to Americans’ sensitive data. /18
We lay out that, and other concrete steps for meaningful AI regulation, in our @brennancenter.org report. 17/
It can start by closing the data broker loophole and finally passing the Fourth Amendment Is Not For Sale Act, which already passed the House with bipartisan support in 2024. 16/
We can’t leave the fate of our privacy to the whims of companies. And we can’t just trust that the military and other government agencies will police themselves.
Congress must finally step into its constitutional role as lawmaker, before AI-enabled surveillance destroys our right to privacy. 15/
And remember the intel community’s centralized databank of commercial info?
ICE, CBP, and other law enforcement agencies may be given access to that data trove, too. 14/
The military is not alone in exploiting the data broker loophole.
CBP has tapped into the online ad industry to buy up Americans’ data. And ICE has bought access to hundreds of millions of people’s mobile location records. The FBI, IRS, and even local law enforcement have followed suit. 13/
AI can also mislead and amplify bias, like when it flags satire or humor as genuine security threats, or associates Muslim identities with violence. 12/
The threat of AI-enabled mass surveillance of foreigners similarly threatens privacy and civil liberties across the globe. 11/
AI tools like Claude compound privacy and civil liberties risks. They allow government agencies to collect and analyze information on a previously unimaginable scale to create a comprehensive picture of a person’s life.
This near-perfect surveillance undermines a core aim of the 4th Amendment. 10/
In fact, the intelligence community, including defense intelligence, seems to have doubled down on using commercial data. It is building a centralized databank of purchased information, with the stated goal of using AI tools to analyze the data. 9/
Internal agency rules are inadequate. While they recognize this practice poses grave risks to privacy and civil liberties, they do not meaningfully restrict it. 8/
The military, however, has argued that Carpenter only applies when the government compels the production of data, not when it incentivizes production by writing a check.
Meanwhile, Congress has failed to act. 7/
In 2018, the Supreme Court held in Carpenter v. U.S. that the 4th Amendment requires police to get a warrant to acquire cell phone location records bc they can reveal intimate details about our lives. (The Court left open whether the same rule applies to agencies collecting foreign intelligence.) 6/
Our phones and online ecosystem document our daily lives in granular detail — all ripe for the taking on the commercial market.
The military has been an avid buyer, acquiring web-browsing records, financial info, and even location data harvested from popular prayer apps — all w/o legal process. 5/