“The company says it purchased data on over a billion devices. The government, in turn, can buy access to geolocation data on all those devices, when generally they’d have to show probable cause and get a warrant to get that same data.”
Near Intelligence bought location data on over a billion devices from brokers who normally sell to advertisers, then passed it through contractors to military and intelligence agencies. A warrant needs probable cause and a judge. A purchase order needs a budget line. The Fourth Amendment covers what police seize, and the data broker market lets them skip the seizing.