The US Federal Trade Commission is taking action against two American data brokers accused of illegally trafficking in people’s sensitive location data. The data was used, the agency said, to track Americans in and around churches, military basesand medical offices, among other protected places. It was sold not only for advertising purposes, but also for political campaigns and government uses, incl immigration control.
Mobilewalla, a Georgia-based data broker said to have digitally tracked residents of domestic abuse shelters, is accused by the agency of intentionally tracking protesters in the wake of the 2020 killing of George Floyd In a court filing, the FTC says Mobilewalla tried to unmask the racial identities of protesters by tracking their mobile devices at, for example, Hindu temples and churches. black
The FTC also accused Gravy Analytics and its subsidiary Venntel of collecting and exploiting consumers’ location data without consent, alleging that the company used that data to unfairly infer health decisions and religious beliefs.
According to the FTC, Gravy Analytics collected more than 17 billion location signals from approximately one billion mobile devices daily. It has reportedly sold access to this data to federal law enforcement agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security, the Drug Enforcement Agency, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Gravy Analytics could not immediately be reached for comment.
A Mobilewalla spokesperson says the company’s privacy policies are constantly evolving, adding, “While we disagree with many of the FTC’s allegations and implications that Mobilewalla tracks and targets individuals based on sensitive categories, we are pleased that the resolution allows us to continue to provide valuable information for businesses in a way that respects and protects consumer privacy.”
“This data can be used to identify and target consumers based on their religion,” the FTC says. The location data collected by the two companies allows, according to the agency, “to identify where individual consumers lived, worked and worshiped, thus suggesting the religion and routine of the user of the mobile device and identifying the friends and family of the user”.
Under the two settlements, which must be finalized in court before they take effect, Gravy Analytics and Mobilewalla are prohibited from collecting sensitive location data from consumers and must delete historical data they gathered on millions of Americans . Mobilewalla would not be able to acquire location data and other sensitive information from online auctions known as real-time bidding exchanges, marketplaces where advertisers compete to deliver ads instantly to target consumers. This case is the first time the FTC has taken charge of data collection directly from an ad exchange.
