A data privacy organization based in New Jersey, USA.Atlas Data Privacy Corpbut,”Locate X” sued a technology company called Babel Street, which provides a location tracking service. Locate X is built into Apple and Google smartphonesadvertising identifierBabel Street is selling Locate X not only to government agencies but also to individual customers.
The Global Surveillance Free-for-All in Mobile Ad Data – Krebs on Security
https://krebsonsecurity.com/2024/10/the-global-surveillance-free-for-all-in-mobile-ad-data/
Inside the US Government-Bought Tool That Can Track Phones at Abortion Clinics
https://www.404media.co/inside-the-us-government-bought-tool-that-can-track-phones-at-abortion-clinics/
An investigation exposes data brokers using ads to help track almost any phone – The Verge
https://www.theverge.com/2024/10/23/24277679/atlas-privacy-babel-street-data-brokers-locate-x-tracking
Atlas Data Privacy Corp. is a personal information deletion service that has filed lawsuits against 151 data brokers. In October 2024, Atlas Data Privacy Corp filed a similar lawsuit (PDF file) against a company called Babel Street. this(PDF file)lawsuitSo, it is said that a service called Locate X provided by Babel Street violated the law, and Atlas Data Privacy Corp. hired a private investigator to investigate Locate X. Security blog Krebs on Security and overseas media 404 Media have confirmed screen recordings made by private investigators using the trial version of Locate X.
When the private investigator contacted Babel Street to investigate, the sales representative explained that Babel Street only services the government or government contractors. However, when the private investigator said, “I plan to take on government contract work in the future,” the salesperson replied, “That’s enough. We won’t actually check,” and the private investigator said, “That’s enough. We won’t actually check.” It is said that a trial version of Locate X was provided.
In the trial version of Locate This applies to religious facilities such as mosques and synagogues, as well as private facilities such as courtrooms and abortion clinics. They were also able to track users of individual mobile devices using advertising identifiers built into Apple and Google mobile devices.
The image below shows the advertising identifier of a mobile device that actually used Locate X and entered and exited a mosque in Michigan as a red dot. You can see that it is possible to collect a huge amount of data.
A private investigator using the trial version of Locate Successful. Furthermore, it was possible to use advertising identifiers to track people who appeared to be jurors to their homes, and it also provided a function to identify where the target slept every night with an error of several meters.
The complaint describes the case of Scott Maloney, a New Jersey police officer, and Justina Maloney, also a police officer and Scott’s wife, who were victims of privacy violations by Locate X. These two peopleVideo of citizen responseAfter the incident became a hot topic, his address and phone number were exposed on SNS, he began receiving threatening messages threatening to kill him, and there was even a case where a masked and armed person was actually arrested near his home. Masu.
When a private investigator tried to find the iPhones of the two using Locate It is reported that. Of the apps on Justina’s iPhone, the ones that use location information are from major department stores.Macy’sIt seems that there was only one app.
In response to inquiries from Atlas Data Privacy Corp., Macy’s said, “We do not store our customers’ location information. “We share location data.” This case shows that location information collected by different apps is widely shared and ends up in the hands of data brokers. The mobile device location information data used by Babel Street for Locate X is believed to have been obtained from Venntel, a private phone tracking company.
Advertising identifiers are identifiers assigned to each mobile device and are used to deliver targeted advertisements to individual users. Advertising identifier data sources include a variety of apps that use location information, and advertising identifiers and location data are also sent when your device visits websites with advertisements. This allows advertisers to deliver ads to targeted consumers in real time, but some marketing companies sell this data to non-advertisers and use it to track their location. That’s why.
In response to a request for comment, Google said it does not send real-time bid requests to Babel Street or share precise location data. Bid requests buy and sell advertising spacead exchangeInformation about advertising space sent to , including user location information. It added that its policies prohibit selling real-time bidding data or using it for purposes other than advertising.
Apple also explained in a statement that location services on Apple devices are turned off by default, and each app or website must obtain permission to use location information. An Apple spokesperson said, “We believe privacy is a fundamental human right and we build privacy protections into each of our products and services to give users control over their data.” Ta.
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