Open source intelligence purchases that would require a warrent to be collected directly

 The NYT has the story:

N.S.A. Buys Americans’ Internet Data Without Warrants, Letter Says By Charlie Savage, January 25

"The National Security Agency buys certain logs related to Americans’ domestic internet activities from commercial data brokers, according to an unclassified letter by the agency.*

...

"In [a different] letter, General Nakasone wrote that his agency had decided to reveal that it buys and uses various types of commercially available metadata for its foreign intelligence and cybersecurity missions, including netflow data “related to wholly domestic internet communications.”

"Netflow data generally means internet metadata that shows when computers or servers have connected but does not include the content of their interactions. Such records can be generated when people visit different websites or use smartphone apps, but the letter did not specify how detailed the data is that the agency buys."

...

"Law enforcement and intelligence agencies outside the Defense Department also purchase data about Americans in ways that have drawn mounting scrutiny. In September, the inspector general of the Department of Homeland Security faulted several of its units for buying and using smartphone location data in violation of privacy policies. Customs and Border Protection has also indicated that it would stop buying such data."

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*Here is the letter referred to above. It is not in fact a letter "by the agency," but is from a senator to the Director of National Intelligence.

"As you know, U.S. intelligence agencies are purchasing personal data about Americans that would require a court order if the government demanded it from communications companies.  

...

"The FTC notes in its complaint [against the data broker X-Mode Social] that the reason informed consent is required for location data is because it can be used to track people to sensitive locations, including medical facilities, places of religious worship, places that may be used to infer an LGBTQ+ identification, domestic abuse shelters, and welfare and homeless shelters. The FTC added  that the sale of  such data poses an unwarranted intrusion into the most private areas of consumers lives. While the FTC's -Mode social complaint and order are limited to location data, internet metadata can be equally sensitive. Such records can identify Americans who are seeking help from a suicide hotline or a hotline for survivors of sexual assault or domestic abuse, a visit to a telehealth provider focusing on specific healthcare need, such as those prescribing and delivering abortion  pills by mail, or reveal that someone likely suffers from a gambling addiction."