Headline: New Bill Would Force Warrants for AI-Powered Government Surveillance — What It Means for Crypto Users
A bipartisan bill introduced Thursday would require federal agencies to get a judge-signed warrant before using AI to mine Americans’ digital records — a change that could affect everything from phone logs to custodial crypto exchange data.
Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie and Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert unveiled the Surveillance Accountability Act on April 23, 2026. The proposal would amend Title 18 of the U.S. Code to establish a broad warrant requirement for government searches, close what supporters call the “third‑party doctrine” loophole, and create a private right of action allowing people to sue the government for Fourth Amendment violations.
Naomi Brockwell, founder of the privacy nonprofit Ludlow Institute, co-drafted the bill with Massie’s office and told Decrypt that AI has fundamentally changed surveillance. “Now that we have AI, that idea of limitation is completely out the window,” Brockwell said. “AI can sort people, rank them, adjust credit scores, and use all of this data to paint intimate profiles and preemptively conduct law enforcement.”
Massie and Boebert plan a press conference at the Capitol House Triangle to roll out the measure; Massie tweeted that the act “requires government searches to be conducted with a warrant based on probable cause, in accordance with the 4th Amendment.”
Why the third‑party doctrine matters
The bill zeroes in on the third‑party doctrine, a legal rule born from 1970s Supreme Court cases—United States v. Miller and Smith v. Maryland—that held people lack a reasonable expectation of privacy for information voluntarily shared with third parties like banks or phone companies. Backers argue those decisions were narrow and pre‑internet, and that courts have since applied them far too widely.
“Fast forward to 2026, every single thing we do has a third‑party involved,” Brockwell said. “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 bill also explicitly calls out modern surveillance tools: biometric systems and automated license plate readers (ALPRs). Brockwell invoked the “mosaic theory,” used by some courts to evaluate bulk collection, to explain how discrete, lawful data points can become invasive when combined at scale. “If I took 10,000 snapshots of your car while it’s driving, and matched your exact location to track you? That’s a different question. That’s what automatic license plate readers are doing now.”
Implications for crypto and data ecosystems
Though the text does not single out cryptocurrencies, the change could be significant for crypto users and the broader digital-asset ecosystem. Many crypto-related records — custodial exchange account data, KYC info, off‑chain metadata — live with third parties. If federal agencies need warrants to access information assembled and analyzed by AI, it could add judicial oversight to investigations that currently rely on third‑party access or automated analytics.
The bill arrives against a backdrop of a booming surveillance market: companies such as Palantir and Clearview AI sell AI-driven tools that let law enforcement analyze images, location history, and other records. The debate intensified earlier this year when Anthropic clashed with the Trump administration over government use of its AI for mass surveillance and military purposes.
Political dynamics and criticism
Supporters say the bill has drawn bipartisan interest and complements efforts by Rep. Warren Davidson (R‑OH) and Sen. Ron Wyden (D‑OR) to reform Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which currently authorizes some warrantless surveillance. Critics warn a blanket warrant requirement could slow urgent investigations; Brockwell counters that the proposal restores necessary judicial oversight. “If law enforcement wants to go after someone, they can absolutely do that. They just need a warrant,” she said.
The office of Rep. Massie did not immediately respond to Decrypt’s request for comment.
Read more AI-generated news on: undefined/news
