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# Secret Service Admits It Didn’t Check if People Really Consented to Being Tracked
- URL: https://werd.io/secret-service-admits-it-didnt-check-if-people-really-consented/
- Published: 2024-12-30T15:18:38.000Z
- Updated: 2024-12-30T15:18:38.000Z
- Author: Ben Werdmuller
- Tags: Notable links, #Import 2025-06-11 21:47

\[[Joseph Cox at 404 Media](https://www.404media.co/secret-service-admits-it-didnt-check-if-people-really-consented-to-being-tracked/)\]

The contracts and relationships that seemingly allow law enforcement and federal agencies to use private services and data brokers to monitor the activities of American citizens without obtaining a warrant seem to be based on a nudge and a wink. 404 Media obtained an email which admitted that the Secret Service never checked to make sure users had consented to tracking:

> "The email undermines the Secret Service’s and other U.S. federal agencies' justification that monitoring the movements of phones with commercially available location data without a warrant is possible because people allegedly agreed to the terms of services of ordinary apps that may collect it."

Even if users *had* consented to tracking by the app, it's highly unlikely that they consented to tracking *by the Secret Service*. Regardless of whether they checked or not, I have questions about whether this should be allowable: we have an expectation of privacy, particularly given our Constitutional rights, and using private services to obtain this information has always felt like a dirty loophole. Those services, of course, should *also* not be performing this kind of tracking.

Wouldn't it be nice if we had effective privacy protections that upheld our rights according to their spirit rather than our current cynically-interpreted letter of the law?

[#Democracy](https://werd.io/tag/Democracy)

\[[Link](https://www.404media.co/secret-service-admits-it-didnt-check-if-people-really-consented-to-being-tracked/)\]