Earlier this month U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) paid nearly half a million dollars to a company that sells a product based on location data harvested from ordinary apps installed on peoples' phones, according to public procurement records reviewed by Motherboard.

The news highlights how law enforcement agencies continue to buy data that may in some cases require a warrant or court order to obtain. This latest contract, which went to data broker Venntel and has not been previously reported, came after a government oversight committee already announced it was investigating such companies for their sale of sensitive data to agencies.

"This new contract raises even more concerns about the cozy and ongoing relationship between the federal government and these data brokers, which operate in the shadows and can amass mountains of sensitive personal data without any restrictions," Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney, and Chairwoman of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform which is investigating Venntel, told Motherboard in a statement.

... Notably, the statement mentions that CBP workers are able to view the data not only in line with border security issues, but also other existing "law enforcement operations." CBP is known to take technology used to surveill border crossings and apply it to other instances.