Why Is The FBI Buying Your Location Data? (With Sen. Ron Wyden And Sean Vitka)
Inside the fight to reform surveillance laws and stop the government from buying its way around warrants.
Lever Time · David Sirota
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Show Notes
Earlier this month, FBI Director Kash Patel admitted under oath that the FBI has been buying Americans’ location information from data brokers, sidestepping traditional warrant requirements.
Lawmakers like Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) have been on the front lines trying to ban this practice, but that requires reforming FISA Section 702, one of the country’s most powerful — and least understood — surveillance laws.
Today on Lever Time, David Sirota sits down with Wyden and Sean Vitka, executive director of Demand Progress, to ask some big questions about the executive branch’s abuse of spy powers: How has a post-9/11 loophole quietly allowed federal agencies to access Americans’ phone calls, texts, and emails? Why have efforts to rein in these executive powers repeatedly stalled? And what happens as AI gives the government new tools to conduct warrantless surveillance?
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