Following Bipartisan Oversight, ATF Drops Controversial Commercial Phone-Tracking Tool; Commits to Reviewing All Contracts for Illegal Location Data
Washington, D.C. —U.S. Senator Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and U.S. Representative Michael Cloud, R-Texas, today announced that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) has canceled a controversial contract for Americans’ commercial location data following bipartisan oversight.
Following bipartisan questioning by Wyden and Cloud’s offices, the ATF informed the lawmakers on June 18 that the agency’s director decided to terminate a contract with the data broker Penlink for its Webloc location data product, which scrapes users’ locations from commercial advertising technology systems that target online ads at individual users, known as “adtech.” Furthermore, the ATF has committed to reviewing all other vendor contracts to ensure they do not rely on adtech-sourced data.
“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. After Representative Cloud and my staff informed the ATF about the legal and privacy quagmire surrounding adtech data, the agency did the right thing,” Wyden said. “Canceling this contract is a victory for Americans’ constitutional rights, but Americans’ privacy shouldn’t depend on ad hoc congressional interventions. Congress must pass the Government Surveillance Reform Act to close the data broker loophole once and for all.”
“This is great news for the American people. When we uncovered that the ATF was purchasing software to track Americans’ cell phone location data without a warrant, I knew that would not be the end of the conversation. I am thankful the bipartisan follow-up raised enough concern to result in the ATF canceling the contract. The Second and Fourth Amendments are not negotiable, and we will keep fighting to protect both,” said Cloud.
The cancellation follows a rapid series of bipartisan oversight actions, beginning with Rep. Cloud questioning the ATF Director during a House Oversight Committee hearing, where he secured an admission that the agency was purchasing adtech-sourced data.
Following the hearing, Wyden’s office immediately requested a briefing from the agency. On June 12, staff for Wyden and Cloud met directly with the ATF Director for an exchange of information. The ATF Director revealed that the agency had purchased licenses for Penlink’s Webloc commercial location surveillance tool. The Director revealed that the ATF had already utilized the tool for 341 total searches. This operational footprint included 55 queries for training and demonstrations, 64 related to violent crime, and 222 tied directly to active ATF case numbers. In one notable instance, investigators used the tool to access location data from devices near the offices of a defense contractor at the time of an arson incident. However, the legal fragility of the surveillance tool quickly became apparent when both the prosecutor and the judge expressed serious discomfort with the use of warrantless adtech data. To salvage the investigation, the ATF was ultimately forced to backtrack and obtain a traditional court order for bulk cell phone tower data.
Wyden’s office also briefed the Director on the severe legal issues surrounding commercial location data. Lawmakers’ staff informed the Director that the sale of such data is expressly banned by state privacy laws in Oregon, Maryland, Virginia, and Connecticut.
Wyden and Cloud’s offices also pointed to established Federal Trade Commission (FTC) precedent—specifically the X-Mode Social and Venntel cases—where the FTC held that the sale of sensitive location data to government agencies and contractors constitutes an illegal and unfair practice under the FTC Act. Because the FTC is the sole enforcer of this precedent, and current executive branch enforcement has been inadequate, staff made it clear that the ATF was purchasing data obtained through legally dubious and unlawful means. Six days later, the ATF canceled the contract.
Senator Wyden has been the leading voice in Congress fighting against the government’s use of data brokers to bypass the Fourth Amendment. Today’s victory builds on his ongoing efforts to expose and end these practices across the federal government:
- March 2026 DHS OIG Request: On March 3, 2026, Wyden led a bicameral coalition of 71 members of Congress in calling for a Department of Homeland Security Inspector General investigation into the agency’s warrantless purchases of the same Penlink Webloc surveillance tool.
- Legislative Action: Wyden is the lead Senate sponsor of the bipartisan Government Surveillance Reform Act (GSRA), which would permanently ban the government from purchasing Americans’ sensitive data. He is also the sponsor of the Fourth Amendment Is Not For Sale Act, which successfully passed the House of Representatives in 2024.
- Cutting Off the Source: To address the root of the problem, Wyden authored the Banning Surveillance Advertising Act, which would prohibit advertising networks from harvesting and selling the precise location data that fuels the commercial data broker market.
A web version of this release is here.
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