Trump's Trials - Your data is everywhere. The government is buying it without a warrant

Episode Date: March 26, 2026

Privacy advocates say that the best chance for Congress to close the well-known loophole around the Fourth Amendment that allows for governmental snooping on personal data is coming up in just a few weeks. NPR's Jude Joffe-Block reports. Support NPR and hear every episode of Trump's Terms sponsor-free with NPR+. Sign up at plus.npr.org.To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

You're listening to Trump's terms. I'm Scott Detrow. President Trump promised every single American that he would make America safe again. Every single day in the Oval Office, the president looks at us and says, why haven't we done more? This will be an entirely different country in a short period of time. Every episode, we bring you one story from NPR's recent coverage of the 47th president. With a focus on ways his administration is pushing the boundaries of presidential power. Here's the latest from NPR. From NPR news, I'm Steve Inskeep in Washington, D.C.

All that time spent online and on the phone produces huge quantities of data, and industry of data brokers sells that information for targeted advertising. And here's the heart of our story. Police and government agencies also buy that data without getting a warrant. Privacy advocates call the practice unconstitutional, and they're hoping Congress will fix it. J.J. Jude Jaffe Block is covering that story. Good morning. Hi, good morning.

What kinds of data are federal agencies buying? Well, yeah, there's a wide range of commercial data that various government agencies buy, but perhaps one of the most sensitive examples is bulk location data that can come from cell phone apps. You know, this kind of location data isn't typically linked to a person's name, but government agencies can buy tools that make the data more usable so they can track what devices go certain places, where certain devices go every night. And this information can often be combined with other data to identify someone. And there's members of Congress from both parties who are really worried about government

agencies purchasing data they would otherwise need a warrant to obtain. And one of them is Republican Congressman Warren Davidson from Ohio. Governments are buying their way around the Fourth Amendment, and we need to close that off. We need to keep pace with the technology of the day. And you know, the Fourth Amendment, of course, is the one about, unreasonable searches and seizures without having probable cause. And Davidson says with advances in artificial intelligence, this issue is even more urgent. And why would that be? Well, there's a worry that AI could combine massive commercial data sets and then create detailed

dossiers on Americans that our government could access without a warrant. I talked with Jake LaPerouk at the Center for Democracy and Technology about this. What kind of new Pandora's box do we open when we not really have these huge quantities of data, but we have tools that can start to scan and analyze patterns in unprecedented ways and at an unprecedented scale that you can never do from human analysts. And the recent rupture between the AI company Anthropic and the Department of Defense really put a spotlight on this issue. Anthropics CEO Dario Amade warned publicly that commercial data the government can currently purchase can be turned into a domestic mass

surveillance tool with the use of AI. I should note this debate is also hitting at a moment when people are noticing surveillance efforts coming from the Department of Homeland Security and ICE that are targeting not only immigrants, but also protesters. Jude Congress has talked about AI a lot in recent years without passing much on that topic. So is there anything that would force them to act now? Well, specifically, there's a push to try to close this, what they're calling the data broker loophole. And it's tied to a deadline that's coming up on April 20th. And that's when the foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, Section 702, is set to expire. And that law is used for intelligence and counterterrorism efforts. And there are members of Congress on both sides of the aisle, including Congressman Davidson, who we heard from, who want to close this data broker loophole and make other reforms as part of that reauthorization. Where does the president stand on this?

Just yesterday, President Trump posted he wants the surveillance law reauthorized without any changes. It appears he has the support of GOP leaders in the House and Senate on that. Though amid some opposition from Republicans who want reforms, the reauthorization vote was pushed back already. A really interesting thing about this debate is that the issue doesn't break on normal party lines. The top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, Jim Himes from Connecticut, put out a statement yesterday saying the most important thing for national security is to first do a short-term extension of the surveillance law to ensure it doesn't lapse. and then debate reforms. But privacy advocates say, you know, if Congress is going to close this data broker loophole, this is likely the best window to do it.

Really interesting. NPR's Jude Jaffe Block. Thanks so much. Thank you. Before we wrap up a reminder, you can find more coverage of the Trump administration on the NPR politics podcast where you can hear NPR's political reporters break down the day's biggest political news with new episodes every weekday afternoon. And thanks, as always, to our NPR Plus supporters who hear every episode of the show without sponsor messages. You can learn more at plus.npr.org. I'm Scott Detrow.

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