ICE is among the government agencies that buy commercial data about Americans in bulk. Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images
Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images
A whole industry of data brokers buys up vast quantities of electronic information from cell phone apps and web browsers and sells it to advertisers who use that data to target ads. The same industry also sells that data, including bulk cell phone location data, to police departments and federal government agencies in ways that can reveal intimate details about Americans without a warrant.
Now, privacy advocates say that the best chance for Congress to close