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Secret Service Bought Location Data Pulled From Common Apps

posted by Fnord666 on Tuesday August 18 2020, @03:02PM   Printer-friendly
from the good-luck-with-that dept.

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for nutherguy:

Secret Service bought location data pulled from common apps:

The Secret Service paid a private company for access to location data generated by common smartphone apps, Motherboard reports. Internal documents obtained through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request show that the agency spent $35,844 for a one-year subscription to Babel Street's product Locate X, which tracks the location of devices via data harvested from popular apps.

As Motherboard notes, the glaring issue with this contract is that it allows the law enforcement agency to buy information that it would normally need a warrant or a court order to obtain.

[...] In March, Protocol reported that US Customs and Border Protection purchased Locate X, and a former Babel Street employee told Protocol that the Secret Service and US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) were using the location-tracking tech. But Motherboard has the first confirmation that the Secret Service did in fact purchase Locate X.

[...] Senator Ron Wyden is reportedly planning legislation to block law enforcement from purchasing products like Locate X.

"It is clear that multiple federal agencies have turned to purchasing Americans' data to buy their way around Americans' Fourth Amendment Rights. I'm drafting legislation to close this loophole, and ensure the Fourth Amendment isn't for sale," Wyden said in a statement provided to Motherboard.

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  • (Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Tuesday August 18 2020, @03:59PM

    by fustakrakich (6150) on Tuesday August 18 2020, @03:59PM (#1038391) Journal

    And if you do consent, then that data may not be shared.

    Yes, I understand the theory, but you're not gonna stop 'em. There's a hard drive in somebody's basement that collects everything, and nobody will ever know about it. The best we can do is prevent its misuse, and punish the people that get caught.

    As for the government, the opposite applies, as their data belong to us.

    Absolutely! We are way too tolerant of government secrecy.

    --
    La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..