A shocking number of apps on your phone,ranging from sports to weather, are probably quietly selling your location data to the highest bidder. And according to documentsobtained byMotherboard, that bidder is sometimes federal law enforcement.
The Secret Service paid millions of dollars to a company called Babel Street for its “Locate X” product, which tracks mobile devices using location data scraped from a number of apps,according to the documents. And because the agency isbuying the datarather than obtaining it through the courts, it can do so without a warrant.
Flagrant Loophole
Normally, obtaining that sort of data would require the oversight of a judge. But purchasing it circumvents that requirement, meaning the shady practice can violate the spirit — if not the letter — of the Fourth Amendment.
A similar company, Venntel, sells location data to ICE and the IRS, according to an investigation by Senator Ron Wyden’s office. Again, the nature of the transaction means these agencies are able to track people down by their devices without judiciary approval.
Tight Lips
“It is clear that multiple federal agencies have turned to purchasing Americans’ data to buy their way around Americans’ Fourth Amendment Rights,” Wyden toldMotherboard.
He added that Babel Street has totally ignored his office’s questions, which include important details like whether the company actually respects people’s attempts to opt out of data collection.
“I’m drafting legislation to close this loophole, and ensure the Fourth Amendment isn’t for sale,” Wyden added.
Data Providers
Below is a list of premium data providers who aggregate, host and distribute personal and business information.
If you would like your information to be removed from all databases, please contact them directly.
Experian
Acxiom
Transunion
LexisNexis
Dun & Bradstreet
Datalogix
Epsilon
Equifax
Reed Elsevier
Rapleaf
Intelius
USPTO
Bing
Google
Facebook
LinkedIn
Each resource has to be contacted directly in order to remove or edit personal information.
Today marks 11 years since the release of #CollateralMurder. In those 11 years, the only people who have seen the inside of a jail cell for these horrific war crimes are Chelsea Manning and Julian Assange. The wars crimes have only increased pic.twitter.com/9boFBtGa0F
— 🎗Slow News Day⌛ (@SlowNewsDayShow) April 5, 2021
Like every Friday we speak out for Julian #Assange and press freedom on hashtag: #WeAreAllAssange
Do you value an independent press, do you want to make sure those in power are being held accountable? Do you want to stop an innocent journalist from being extradited?
— Anti-Fascist Abolitionist AWK (@AWKWORDrap) April 23, 2021
A 15 year old girl JUST got shot 4 times in Columbus Ohio by this police officer. They shot her in the chest, another baby. It hasn’t even been a full 24 hrs… When will this end? pic.twitter.com/RPQWCXbJLm
— Terrence Daniels (Captain 🍀 Planet) (@Terrence_STR) April 20, 2021
WARNING GRAPHIC ⚠️ Police officers in Grand Rapids, Michigan assault a Black man during a traffic stop for littering pic.twitter.com/xVSddlbe49
Certainly the State Police, Grand Rapids, Lansing for sure but then East Lansing, Washtenaw County, Ann Arbor, and a handful in Northern Michigan, utterly corrupt.
I remember a call years and years ago from a Circuit Court Judge in Jackson, Michigan, a friend, who asked for to protect him for a couple of days after he received death threats from the local sheriff’s department over a civil rights lawsuit. Simple how it is…worse now, much worse…
No offense, but criminals have no business passing out petty speed trap fines to honest citizens. Livonia, Mich., a Detroit suburb, is the speed trap capital of the United States and Canada, according to a new list from theNational Motorists Association.
To all my young comrade friends who’ve never actually lived in Canadia, the reason why so many old people are scared of socialized Healthcare is because as we can see with Pfizer, Governments are willing to force things on you for profit. Also, the Canadian Government experiments on people too, what you think only the US is corrupt and racist? It’s the same no matter where you go.
I’m hoping that with Blockchain, ethical tech companies can come up with a way to track medical data while maintaining human rights and privacy.
DR. WAKEFIELD WARNS ”THIS IS NOT A VACCINE, IT IS IRREVERSIBLE GENETIC MODIFICATION “Messenger RNA vaccine is genetic engineering.” https://t.co/3jZZVeuQN5
— Cynthia McKinney PhD (@cynthiamckinney) December 29, 2020
We tried Police Reforms in the past; they dont work, they have to be defunded, Homeland Security needs to be defunded too!
Reason being is that I haven’t gotten a ticket since 2016, this is due to having #Insurance in my parents name. The second I register a car + insurance in my name, I get pulled over. I have consistent #Data proving this pattern of #TargetedHarassment over the course of 15 yrs.
— DANIEL BRUMMITT (@_d_a_n_i_e_l__b) March 31, 2021
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