A 2018 court ruling had limited the U.S. government's ability to obtain location data from phone companies, but purchasing commercially available data is a way

A 2018 court ruling had limited the U.S. government's ability to obtain location data from phone companies, but purchasing commercially available data is a way for them to sidestep the rule. That same year, ICE bought $190,000 worth of licences to data stored by Virginia-based Venntel, who describe themselves as "pioneers in mobile location information." Experts familiar with the situation say that this is one of the largest troves of bulk data being deployed by law enforcement in the United States. The data had initially been used to track human and drug-smuggling organizations but has since shared the data with ICE's arm that carries out deportations. Why is this legal? Abusing government funds to get access to location data is the worst of all worlds, for everyone involved.