The inspector general who oversees the Internal Revenue Service said he would open a review into the legal basis for the agency’s use of a commercial tool that allows the warrantless surveillance of mobile phones (article available here).
The IG's response to open the investigation came at the request of Sens. Ron Wyden (D, Ore.) and Elizabeth Warren (D, Mass.), who wrote of their concerns in a September 24, 2020 letter to the inspector general raising concerns that the warrantless surveillance of mobile phones might violate the holding in a landmark 2018 Supreme Court case, Carpenter v. United States, that requires law enforcement to obtain a warrant to track mobile phones of suspects.
The IRS Criminal Investigation unit, or IRS CI, had a subscription to access Venntel’s data in 2017 and 2018, and unsuccessfully attempted to use the data to try to identify mobile devices that were present at crime scenes.