This should be the top rated comment. This [1] is the tactic that is used by government agencies to actively work around protections afforded by the Constitution of the United States.
Exactly, there is no difference. In fact in some ways it is worse because the government can say with a straight face they aren't collecting your data and monitoring you... they just pay someone else for that service.
Yep, and I keep harping on that one simple point. If that data is collected at all, it will be used. Even with laws protecting it. Look how HiPAA has become something of a joke now between regular breaches and app everything, which skirt as much as they can.
They lean on social media companies to violate your 1st amendment rights and then buy from them to violate your 4th.