Perhaps most controversially, the government believes it can “persistently” track the phones of “millions of Americans” without a warrant, so long as it pays for the information, a newly declassified report from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, ODNI, reveals. Were the government to simply demand access to a device’s location instead, it would be considered a Fourth Amendment “search” and would require a judge’s sign-off. But because companies are willing to sell the information—not only to the US government but to other companies as well—the government considers it “publicly available” and therefore asserts that it “can purchase it.”
Here’ tge report (pdf): https://www.odni.gov/files/ODNI/documents/assessments/ODNI-Declassified-Report-on-CAI-January2022.pdf
I thought this was already common knowledge after what Snowden revealed. The US catches a lot of flack for it but I don’t doubt most Western countries are spying on their citizens.
I’m actually not sure… I live in Europe, and while I don’t doubt my gov does some shady shit, I don’t think spying on a global level would work… There are I think a few laws that allow some more flexibility for them, but not for everything. And they had to make those laws, it’s not as if they just brushed it under the rug…