The Office of the Attorney General William Tong

Press Releases

03/26/2026

Attorney General Tong Calls on Congress to Close Loophole Enabling Federal Mass Surveillance

(Hartford, CT) – Attorney General William Tong joined a coalition of seventeen state attorneys general urging Congress to take immediate action to halt federal agencies’ use of commercially purchased data and artificial intelligence tools that enable mass surveillance of Americans without judicial, legislative, or public oversight. The letter calls on Congress to close the data broker loophole, require warrants for federal access to Americans’ digital data, prevent domestic surveillance via foreign intelligence laws, mandate deletion of unlawfully collected information and related AI models, and establish nationwide transparency and accountability standards for data brokers.

“Big Tech has built a massive surveillance economy to track, package and sell deeply detailed information about our movements, purchases, preferences, and relationships. Now, out of control federal agencies are buying this data to evade constitutional protections and track and surveil vast aspects of our private lives. Congress must ensure our laws keep pace with evolving technological threats and put a stop to this chilling domestic surveillance immediately,” said Attorney General Tong.

In the letter sent to the leadership of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs and the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, Attorney General Tong and the coalition of attorneys general warn that federal agencies are exploiting a “data broker loophole” to obtain detailed information about Americans’ movements, associations, political activity, and daily lives—information the government would otherwise be required to obtain through a warrant or pursuant to other legal procedures.

The attorneys general cite recent examples—including federal agencies’ purchase of billions of airline ticketing records and mobile location data from commercial brokers—that reveal a pattern of warrantless surveillance through the acquisition of massive datasets. Several of these practices have already drawn bipartisan concern in Congress and the public after media reporting uncovered the federal government’s ability to track individuals’ travel, movements, and daily routines.

The letter highlights that current statutory protections, including the Privacy Act of 1974 and the E Government Act, are outdated and fail to address modern realities in which AI tools can rapidly re identify “pseudonymized” datasets and assemble intimate profiles of individuals without their knowledge or consent. Federal agencies have repeatedly failed to comply with existing privacy requirements, according to recent Inspector General reports.

The coalition calls on Congress to enact comprehensive reforms, including measures that would:
• Prohibit federal agencies from purchasing data that would otherwise require a warrant to obtain.
• Require judicial warrants before accessing Americans’ web browsing activity, search queries, and location information.
• Ensure intelligence agencies cannot circumvent limits on domestic surveillance by exploiting foreign intelligence authorities or third party vendors.
• Mandate deletion of unlawfully collected data and any algorithms trained using such data.

Joining Attorney General Tong in sending this letter are the attorneys general of California, Colorado, Hawai’i, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Vermont, Virginia, and Washington.

Twitter: @AGWilliamTong Facebook: CT Attorney General

Media Contact:

Elizabeth Benton
elizabeth.benton@ct.gov

Consumer Inquiries:

860-808-5318
attorney.general@ct.gov

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