Bayerischer Rundfunk and netzpolitik have carried out a joint investigation into how our location data is for sale across the world. These days nearly everyone voluntarily carries around their own personal tracking device in the form of a smartphone. These devices record our movements all day long.
What most people don't know is that their location data is openly being sold by global data brokers.
Journalist Sebastian Meineck from netzpolitik was given 3.6 billion datapoints, containing location data on around 11 million people, free of charge by a a U.S. data vendor called Datarade. The data was given as just a sample of the data that Datarade was willing to sell to the journalist.
Bayerischer Rundfunk and netzpolitik both carried out their own investigations into the personal information which was contained in the Datarade data. In Under Surveillance Bayerischer Rundfunk reveals how the data includes location data of US spies working in Germany. By exploring the location data of people who spend most of their working hours at a US military base in Germany the broadcaster was able to identify an individual working in the 'Tin Can' - a building used by the US for internet surveillance. Using the location data provided by Datarade it was then just a simple task to determine this US spy's home address in Germany. They are also able to work out other personal details of the individual from the data "including family relationships, preferred supermarket and weekend activities".
This is just one example from the 11 million people's location data provided by Datarade to netzpolitik. According to netzpolitik the "location data comes from mobile phone apps that pass on GPS data for advertising purposes". This data is most often provided by popular apps such as weather, navigation or dating apps.
Both Bayerischer Rundfunk and netzpolitik have written a series of articles on their investigations into the Datatrade location data. In How data brokers sell our location data netzpolitik lists and links to 17 of these articles.
Via: Quantum of Sollazzo
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