“Perhaps most controversially, the report states that the government believes it can “persistently” track the phones of “millions of Americans” without a warrant, so long as it pays for the information.”
Demand a phone’s location and it is a Fourth Amendment search that needs a judge. Buy the same data from a broker and it becomes “publicly available.” The intelligence director’s own advisers say this data can identify every person who attended a protest. The warrant requirement now has a price tag.