Live Online Policy Forum 

# Commercially Available Data: The Fourth Amendment Loophole? 

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Date and Time 

October 15, 2026 1 - 2 PM EDT 

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##### Featuring 

![Jennifer Valentino-DeVries_cropped](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/author_picture/public/2026-09/Jennifer%20Valentino-DeVries_cropped.jpg?itok=7d3LvNra) 

Jennifer Valentino-DeVries 

Investigative Reporter, *New York Times*

![Patrick Toomey_cropped.jpg](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/author_picture/public/2026-09/Patrick%20Toomey_cropped.jpg?itok=47GV2CF8) 

Patrick Toomey 

Deputy Director of the National Security Project American Civil Liberties Union

![Lawrence Cappello_cropped](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/author_picture/public/2026-09/Lawrence%20Cappello_cropped.jpg?itok=1fesHiRl) 

Lawrence Cappello 

Associate Professor of History University of Alabama

[![Patrick G. Eddington](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/author_picture/public/2021-01/Patrick%20Eddington.jpg?itok=ddIWrIm5)](/people/patrick-g-eddington) 

[Patrick G. Eddington](/people/patrick-g-eddington)

Senior Fellow, Cato Institute

[ 

](https://x.com/pgeddington) [ 

](mailto:peddington@cato.org) 

With geolocation data, tracking ads, and your purchase history, the list of commercially available personal data that federal, state, and local law enforcement can acquire—using our own tax dollars to do so—is a long one. These developments have triggered one of the greatest ongoing privacy debates of the last half century. Police and public safety advocates argue that such data are vital to solving crimes. Critics claim the practice represents a direct end run around the Fourth Amendment.

Is the claim that such practices represent an actual “end run” around the Fourth Amendment valid? How have courts dealt with this issue? To what extent has Congress engaged? How does law enforcement’s purchase and use of commercial data differ in its effects on First and Fourth Amendment rights compared to social media surveillance? Our panel of experts will debate the facts and controversies involved in this high-profile public policy issue.

#### This event is part of the 2026 Cato Surveillance Week series:

[![Domestic-Foreign Surveillance](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/aside_mobile/public/2026-09/Domestic-Foreign%20Surveillance.jpg?itok=aKIsOE0U)](https://www.cato.org/events/cato-surveillance-week-2026-domestic-foreign-electronic-surveillance-nexus) 

##### October 12, 2026

#### [The Domestic-Foreign Electronic Surveillance Nexus](https://www.cato.org/events/cato-surveillance-week-2026-domestic-foreign-electronic-surveillance-nexus)

More than a quarter century after the so-called “Global War on Terror” spawned a series of government surveillance programs and technologies, a political and legal reckoning over these practices is beginning.

[![Financial Surveillance](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/aside_mobile/public/2026-09/Financial%20Surveillance.jpg?itok=TFJQH5mD)](https://www.cato.org/events/cato-surveillance-week-2026-financial-surveillance-ultimate-surveillance-black-hole) 

##### October 13, 2026

#### [Financial Surveillance: The Ultimate Surveillance Black Hole?](https://www.cato.org/events/cato-surveillance-week-2026-financial-surveillance-ultimate-surveillance-black-hole)

More than 50 years since the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) was enacted, the law remains one of the most invasive from a personal privacy standpoint.

[![Travel Surveillance.jpg](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/aside_mobile/public/2026-09/Travel%20Surveillance.jpg?itok=ZPRL51kK)](https://www.cato.org/events/cato-surveillance-week-2026-papers-please-transportation-surveillance) 

##### October 14, 2026

#### [Papers, Please: Transportation Surveillance](https://www.cato.org/events/cato-surveillance-week-2026-papers-please-transportation-surveillance)

Multiple Supreme Court rulings since 1868 have recognized the right to travel, both domestically and, in later rulings, internationally, as a basic constitutional right.

[![Commercial Data Surveillance](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/aside_mobile/public/2026-09/Commercial%20Data%20Surveillance.jpg?itok=0CTKDN7n)](https://www.cato.org/events/cato-surveillance-week-2026-commercially-available-data-fourth-amendment-loophole) 

##### October 15, 2026

#### [Commercially Available Data: The Fourth Amendment Loophole?](https://www.cato.org/events/cato-surveillance-week-2026-commercially-available-data-fourth-amendment-loophole)

With geolocation data, tracking ads, and your purchase history, the list of commercially available personal data that federal, state, and local law enforcement can acquire—using our own tax dollars to do so—is a long one.

[![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) 
This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).