You know how we only blame Mark Zuckerberg for all our problems? Well, we have marked yet another culprit who’s been stealing our data: the US government!

We’ve received confirmation that the US government has access to our location, all thanks to the data collected from the citizens’ smartphones.

The New York Times has gained access to the memo that was originally sent to Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR), in which the Defense Intelligence has admitted that it buys data from the brokers! The memo further confirmed out doubts and said that the data isn’t separated and it doesn’t matter if the person lives in the US or anywhere else.

Data brokers are essentially companies that have a business of collecting and selling people’s information. These companies are responsible for extracting the location of the users, and they do so by paying the app makers and websites.

After gaining access to this information, the broker sells it to whoever is willing to make a bargain – this includes the government.

According to the meme, information can only be retrieved if the user grants permission to access their location. Furthermore, the person can only question the US location database if they are properly authorized and have gone through a formal process.

This means that they have to seek approval of the senior management, the Office of Oversight and the Compliance.

For the last two and half years, DIA has had the opportunity to review the US device location for a total of five times. 

But here’s the thing – according to the fourth amendment, the government has to get a warrant to gain data from third parties like a phone company. In fact, it wouldn’t be wrong to claim that this rule is upheld by the Supreme Court’s decision.

Of course, DIA continues to argue and claims that these rulings don’t apply to them, as they retrieve data from the brokers and those agencies aren’t breaking any laws.

Moreover, the memo applies that the agency doesn’t misconstrue the Carpenter’s decision. It says that the agency “does not construe the Carpenter decision to require a judicial warrant endorsing purchase or use of commercially available data for intelligence purposes.”

The American Civil Liberties Union has dismissed these statements. In an official statement, theAshley Gorski, who is the senior staff attorney, has said that “the government cannot simply buy our private data in order to bypass bedrock constitutional protections,” and called on Congress to “end this lawless practice and require the government to get a warrant for our location data, regardless of its source.”

They’re not wrong, you see! Don’t you feel suffocated by just being conscious that you’re being watched all the time? And it must be worse for marginalized individuals and communities.

And to claim that these practices are legal and justified? Does the DIA feel that it’s above the law?

For quite some time, we’ve all been aware that the government agencies have used our data, something that they obtained from the brokers. They can easily retrieve location information from the users of smartphones. But the legislators are trying to work out a procedure to fill this loophole.

Sen. Wyden has actually requested for the meme to be made and titled“The Fourth Amendment if Not For Sale” dedicated to ban the government has put from accessing this information without getting a warrant from the court.

Do you feel secure in America today as a privileged White person, or are you afraid of your whereabouts like the rest of the marginalized crowds? 

Like our page on Facebook to let us know how you feel about this arrangement the government has with the so-called brokers and more about the US Defense Intelligence Agency!

Were you aware that the US citizen’s location data was being collected through smartphones? We bet the fact that The Defense Intelligence Agency was buying location data through citizens’ smartphones.