United States of America: Attorneys General of 17 states issued a joint letter to Congress on federal government access to personal data for surveillance

On 24 March 2026, the Attorneys General of 17 US states, including California, Minnesota, New Jersey and Connecticut, issued a joint letter to Congress on federal government access to data for surveillance. The letter urged Congress to devise legislation preventing federal agencies from using commercial data brokers and artificial intelligence (AI) to conduct mass surveillance of American citizens. It was stated that agencies, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Transport Security Administration, have been purchasing large datasets from private brokers without judicial oversight or consumer knowledge. The data purchased includes geolocation information, travel records, web browsing histories, and detailed behavioural profiles. The Attorneys General argued that existing laws, including the Privacy Act of 1974 and the E-Government Act of 2002, have failed to keep pace with modern surveillance capabilities. The letter called for a prohibition on federal purchases of sensitive personal data from brokers and also demanded mandatory judicial warrants before agencies acquire or search personal location data, browsing histories, or use AI to identify individuals. Further, they called for the deletion of unlawfully collected data and any algorithms trained on it. They also urged federal regulation of the data brokerage industry, without displacing stronger state-level protections. The Attorneys General endorsed the Government Surveillance Reform Act of 2026 as a suitable legislative vehicle.