US new surveillance accountability act targets AI data access

Before AI, the sheer volume of data governments could collect had natural limits. Those limits no longer exist. That is the central argument behind a new piece of legislation introduced Thursday by Representatives Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Lauren Boebert (R-CO), and it is an argument that has found rare bipartisan traction in Washington.

The bill would amend Title 18 of the US Code to require a warrant based on probable cause before federal agencies can search Americans' digital records. It would also give individuals the legal right to sue the government for Fourth Amendment violations, a remedy that currently does not exist in a codified, accessible form.

Privacy nonprofit Ludlow Institute Founder Naomi Brockwell helped draft the legislation alongside Massie's office and described its purpose plainly: "What it does is stop abuses of power. If law enforcement wants to go after someone, they can absolutely do that. They just need a warrant."

The bill's core target is the third-party doctrine, a legal precedent established through two Supreme Court cases, United States v. Miller and Smith v. Maryland, which found that Americans have no reasonable expectation of privacy over information shared with third parties such as banks or phone companies. Both cases predated the commercial internet by decades.

"Fast forward to 2026, every single thing we do has a third-party involved," Brockwell told Decrypt. "The entire internet relies on third parties, and governments have decided that when they want to search someone, they no longer have to get approval from a judge."

The legislation also covers biometric surveillance and automated license plate readers technologies that illustrate what Brockwell calls the "mosaic theory" of privacy. A single photograph of a car in public raises no legal issue.

Ten thousand location-matched snapshots of that same car, processed at machine speed, is something categorically different. Companies including Palantir and Clearview AI currently sell exactly these kinds of AI-driven tools to law enforcement, and the bill makes no exemptions for commercial intermediaries.

Brockwell said the bill has already drawn bipartisan interest and is designed to complement existing reform efforts, including work by Representative Warren Davidson (R-OH) and Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) to overhaul Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.