Office of the
Illinois Attorney General
Kwame Raoul

Chicago – Attorney General Kwame Raoul today, as part of a coalition of 17 states, urged Congress to take immediate action to halt federal agencies’ use of commercially purchased data and artificial intelligence (AI) tools that enable mass surveillance of Americans without judicial, legislative or public oversight.

Raoul and the coalition’s 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. 

“Accessing personal information in this manner without consent or a warrant constitutes alarming overreach by the federal government,” Raoul said. “I will continue to advocate for guardrails and accountability to protect our privacy and our residents, in Illinois and across the entire nation, from invasive Big Brother surveillance.”

In the letter, which was sent to the leadership of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs and the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, Attorney General Raoul and the 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. This is all information the government would otherwise be required to obtain through a warrant or pursuant to other legal procedures. 

Raoul and the coalition explain federal agencies’ purchases of billions of airline ticketing records and mobile location data from commercial brokers 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letter points out that current statutory protections, including the Privacy Act of 1974 and the E‑Government Act, are outdated and fail to address modern realities in which AI tools can rapidly re‑identify “pseudonymized” datasets and assemble intimate profiles of individuals without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. 

Raoul and the coalition call 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 Raoul in sending the letter are the attorneys general of California, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Vermont, Virgina and Washington.