The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives canceled its contract for a surveillance tool that enables warrantless tracking of mobile devices after lawmakers, a prosecutor and a judge raised concerns about the legality of the tool in criminal investigations.
ATF, the federal agency responsible for enforcing the nation’s gun laws, told The Associated Press that it discontinued what it called a “pilot” program using a tool called Webloc after Rep. Michael Cloud, a Republican from Texas, and Sen. Ron Wyden, a Democrat from Oregon, expressed reservations about the agency's use of bulk commercial location data.
