If passed, this bill, called “The Fourth Amendment Is Not for Sale Act,” would prevent law enforcement agencies from buying phone data without a warrant:

UNITED STATES LAWMAKERS are moving with uncommon speed to close a loophole in federal law that police and intelligence agencies use to collect sensitive information on US citizens—up to and including their physical whereabouts—all without the need for a warrant.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Defense Intelligence Agency and are among several government entities known to have solicited private data brokers to access information for which a court order is generally required. A growing number of lawmakers have come to view the practice as an end run around the US Constitution’s Fourth Amendment guarantees against unreasonable government searches and seizures.

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Members of the House Judiciary Committee, led by Ohio’s Jim Jordan, will hold a markup hearing on Wednesday to consider a Davidson bill aimed at restricting purchases of Americans’ data without a subpoena, court order, or warrant. If passed into law, the legislation’s restrictions would apply to federal agencies, as well as state and local police departments. Known as the Fourth Amendment Is Not For Sale Act, the bill is cosponsored by four Republicans and four Democrats, including the committee’s ranking member, Jerry Nadler, who first introduced it alongside California’s Zoe Lofgren in 2021.

The House voted on Friday to support an amendment to a defense spending bill that would make it so that a warrant is required for any data protected by the Fourth Amendment. It is expected to figure into upcoming discussions on Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which has been repeatedly abused by the FBI to spy on Americans without a warrant.

Notably, the bill’s protections extend to data obtained from a person’s account or device, even if hacked by a third party or when disclosure is referenced by a company’s terms of service. The bill’s sponsors note this would effectively prohibit the government from doing business with companies such as Clearview AI, which has admitted to scraping billions of photos from social media to fuel a facial recognition tool that’s been widely tested by local police departments.

This is the type of legislation our lawmakers should be working on.

To begin with, it would go a long way toward protecting our Fourth Amendment rights. Most Americans are probably unaware of the fact that local, state, and federal police can purchase our phone data without a warrant. Requiring due process would make it harder for government agents to violate our privacy and conduct the type of mass surveillance that has become commonplace in federal law enforcement and intelligence agencies.

Equally significant is that this bill, if passed, would keep sensitive information safe and provide more transparency and accountability in the government. It would make it easier to keep track of whose information has been accessed by various government agencies. Going through this process would help to limit instances in which innocent people are caught up in surveillance and spying operations.

Of course, the bill has not yet passed, and there are no guarantees that this will be made into a law. It is not beyond the scope of imagination that some lawmakers on the left and right would oppose such a measure. In fact, it was originally proposed in 2021 and has not made much movement since. But the fact that Democratic and Republican lawmakers are supporting it is promising. The Fourth Amendment Is Not for Sale Act could potentially offer more protections for our rights and promote accountability.