https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2018/01/state-union-what-wasnt... link found at https://www.eff.org/702-spying
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
Where is the violation?
Not saying this is good, just that it isn’t against the constitution. If the data is publicly available for purchase, nothing in the constitution says the government can’t buy it.
Heh, re: health data. HIPAA considers the name of hospital to be private information (try FOIAing the hospital names where people have died from COVID). But, if I go to a hospital with my phone on, then that fact will be available in location data that's bought by gov agencies. Through your qualification, have my rights ended by this fact?
The violation is that they were able to sidestep legal processes like warrants by buying the data. If you don't see the issue with that, then I'm not sure what to tell you. It doesn't become okay just because they're purposefully avoiding legal scrutiny. It's like saying HSBC's money laundering is totally fine because they're successfully avoiding legal or law enforcement action.
I could get arrested too easily, by law enforcement who skipped some steps in the process and got the wrong person? Maybe LEOs more eagerly do SWAT raids when they know the person's exact location? (I'm guessing)
So, could it be a partial violation of "secure"?
"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses"
The problem is that we’ve all become accustomed to agreeing to give away our data, while pretending that we didn’t.
The USG argues that since the same data is already being sold commercially, they can buy it on the open market without a warrant.
That is basic consumer protection common sense; but even without the pandemic and the other four horseman of the apocalypse crisis of democracy facing the US, and most if not all other nations on the planet right now, don't expect any such consumer goods to be on the agenda.
I think you just banned email hosting.
Googling, I found this https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/01/report-demonstrates-... , which seems to say it involved someone with access to the data selling it in an unauthorized way that's supposed to be against the rules of the company but is maybe not enforced much.
I think you might be a little lost. Whilst yes, they are buying location data. However, providers are _also_ supplying them with emails. And everything else they could want. And that isn't something that you can go and buy.
It's the #1 source for NSA reporting, eclipsing even their bulk cable wiretaps. They can hit a button and get Google Takeout, but for all major US online services, for anyone they choose, no warrant required.
These sorts of headlines pretend that their "normal" way of spying does require warrants. It absolutely does not.
A lot of people seem to still carry the misconception that the FISA orders (again, not warrants, no probable cause, issued by a classified court (also run by US military intelligence) that never denies a request) are only for foreigners ("foreign" is right in the name). That's also not true: they use it to target US citizens too.
This specific circumstance was cited by Ed Snowden as one of the main reasons he came forward and told everyone that this was happening.
https://www.eff.org/702-spying
The participants in this system as of 2013: Microsoft, Yahoo, Google, Facebook, PalTalk, YouTube, Skype, AOL, Apple.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/interactive/2013/nov/01/pr...