WASHINGTON — The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives quietly killed a pilot program that let agents track Americans’ mobile devices without a warrant. The decision came fast. It followed sharp questions from a Republican congressman, a Democratic senator, a federal prosecutor and a judge.
ATF had been testing Webloc. The tool, sold by Penlink, pulls location pings from consumer apps and advertising networks. Those signals come from hundreds of millions of phones. No court order required. Just a contract.
Privacy Clash Meets Gun Enforcement
Rep. Michael Cloud, a Texas Republican, pressed ATF Director Robert Cekada during a May congressional hearing. The agency admitted it bought geolocation data on American cellphones. Briefings followed. Lawmakers learned ATF ran more than 300 warrantless searches. Over 200 tied directly to active cases. One stood out. Suspected arson at a U.S. defense contractor’s facility. Both the prosecutor and the judge flagged problems with the ad-tech data. ATF backed off. It secured a traditional court order for cellphone tower records instead.
Sen. Ron Wyden, the Oregon Democrat long critical of commercial data purchases, praised the move. “For years, I have warned that the government’s purchase of Americans’ location data from shady data brokers is an unacceptable end-run around the Fourth Amendment,” he said in a statement. “After Rep. Cloud and my staff informed the ATF about the legal and privacy quagmire surrounding adtech data, the agency did the right thing.” Wyden called it “a victory for Americans’ constitutional rights.” (ABC News)
ATF’s response was terse. The tool “does not meet our needs.” The agency confirmed it no longer uses any ad-tech location services. “ATF continually evaluates tools and techniques to enhance our investigations and ultimately reduce violent crime in American communities. We did conduct a pilot with Webloc to determine if it could improve our investigative capabilities,” a spokesperson told The Associated Press.
Penlink struck a different tone. The company, which acquired the technology from an Israeli firm called Cobwebs, expressed pride in its work with ATF. It said it looked forward to continuing the relationship in support of the agency’s mission against illegal firearms, explosives and arson. (ABC News)
The Supreme Court drew a line in 2018. Police need warrants for historical cell-carrier location data on specific suspects. Carpenter v. United States changed the game. Yet the ruling left a gap. Commercial datasets sold by data brokers operate in a gray zone. Courts have yet to rule squarely on them. That silence has let agencies experiment. ATF’s retreat highlights the tension. But it doesn’t end the practice.
Other buyers keep going. The U.S. military uses Webloc. So does Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Local departments in Elk Grove, California, and Durham, North Carolina, have turned to it. Overseas, El Salvador’s national police and Hungarian intelligence agencies appear on the client list. A University of Toronto Citizen Lab analysis laid out the system’s reach. It taps a constant flow of records from up to 500 million devices worldwide. Device IDs, coordinates, even profile details harvested from apps and ads. (Citizen Lab)
ICE went further. Internal documents obtained by 404 Media show Webloc lets agents monitor entire neighborhoods or city blocks. Track phones over time. Follow owners from work to home. An ICE legal review concluded the commercial data could be queried without a warrant. The agency has expanded surveillance contracts sharply. Spending on such tech with 11 companies doubled between 2024 and 2025, then jumped again. (404 Media, published January 2026)
The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this year on the broader dragnet. Technical tools aimed at immigration enforcement sweep up U.S. citizens’ data too. Agents arrive at homes with precise location intel. “We know you live right here,” one told a surprised resident. Federal spending on these systems keeps climbing. (The Wall Street Journal, April 2026)
FBI Director Kash Patel told senators earlier this year that the bureau buys commercially available information. He said it stays consistent with the Constitution and the Electronic Communications Privacy Act. It has produced valuable intelligence. The Department of Homeland Security put out a request for information in January on using advertising data for deportation and law enforcement work. (ABC News)
Bipartisan legislation seeks to close the loophole. Wyden, Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah, Republican Rep. Warren Davidson of Ohio and Democratic Rep. Zoe Lofgren of California introduced a bill that would require judicial orders for such data buys. Passage remains uncertain. Past efforts have stalled.
Data brokers collect this information with consent that often hides in long privacy policies. Apps request location for weather or ads. Networks aggregate it. Brokers repackage and sell. Law enforcement gets scale without the hassle of carrier subpoenas or warrants. The volume is staggering. Billions of signals daily.
Critics see a constitutional shortcut. Supporters call it a practical tool against violent crime and border threats. ATF’s pilot lasted long enough to run hundreds of queries. Its cancellation sends a signal. Yet the market for these products grows. Penlink and rivals will find other customers.
The Carpenter decision rested on the idea that prolonged tracking reveals intimate details of life. Commercial data can do the same. Or more. It doesn’t stop at one suspect. It can light up everyone near a location at a given hour. Reverse location searches. Geofence warrants by another name, but without judicial gatekeeping.
And so the debate continues. One agency steps back. Others press ahead. Congress watches. Courts have not yet spoken definitively. Americans’ phones keep broadcasting their locations. Whether anyone needs a warrant to listen remains unsettled. But ATF’s move suggests at least some parts of the government now hear the concerns.
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