Read on Twitter
"The Secret Service paid for a product that gives the agency access to location data generated by ordinary apps installed on peoples' smartphones, an internal Secret Service document confirms." https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/jgxk3g/secret-service-phone-location-data-babel-street
"In March, tech publication Protocol reported that multiple government agencies signed millions of dollars worth of deals with Babel Street... Protocol found public records showed that U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) purchased Locate X"
"In February The Wall Street Journal reported that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and other agencies bought an app-based location data product from a different firm called Venntel. Senator Wyden's office then found the IRS was also a Venntel customer."
"Law enforcement agencies typically require a warrant or court order to compel a company to provide location data for an investigation... An agency does not need to seek a warrant when it simply buys the data instead."
Senator Wyden: "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"
Motherboard's reporting on SpyCloud is equally infuriating. Is SpyCloud buying datasets from collectives, meaning, tax payers are paying to create the market for their data to be stolen and warrentlessly tapped? https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/3azvey/police-buying-hacked-data-spycloud
The defense and intelligence community are also buying real time location data by way of Anomaly Six. This is beyond out of control. https://twitter.com/_DanielSinclair/status/1291804766130122753?s=20
Apple needs to open up telemetry to give users control & purview, as well as attack the problem from the other side by creating a separate app review process for SDKs that demands code review and data audits. https://twitter.com/_DanielSinclair/status/1291807783503921163?s=20
It's time for Apple to have its own lockdown moment like we witnessed at Facebook post-Cambridge Analytica. https://www.theverge.com/2018/3/21/17148726/facebook-developer-data-crackdown-cambridge-analytica
The Privacy Project showed last year how the location aggregation that the Secret Service & other agencies are engaging in actually makes our government more vulnerable. The NYT tracked Secret Service agents. The feds are market making the death of secrets https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/12/20/opinion/location-data-national-security.html
