Journalists from the Associated Press have investigated and claim that the US police are secretly using user location data for their own purposes. Special software has been developed to process these data.
The investigation notes that since 2018, the US police have been using the Fog Reveal program, which allows you to process, filter and store user location data. At the same time, law enforcement officers gain access to data without a warrant and do not warn users.
Researchers of the publication noted that the data is taken from popular mobile applications that use geolocation for advertising purposes, among which was the Starbucks coffee shop loyalty program application and the Waze navigator. The journalists also said that the owners and developers of applications are not involved in the resale of data. Law enforcement agencies were provided with all the information by advertising aggregators.
The journalists also said that the data used by the police is anonymized. To solve this problem, the Fog Reveal program is used, which analyzes the history of movement and generates digital profiles. After that, law enforcement officers can match the data sets with real users.
It is noted that the police used the program to search for participants in the storming of the Capitol on January 6, 2021. Lawyers complained that the police use the tool without a warrant, which prevents the defendants from building a line of defense. Human rights activists criticized the use of Fog Reveal, noting that such an approach violates the right to privacy.
bbabo.Net