[HN Gopher] FTC bans X-Mode from selling phone location data, an...
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FTC bans X-Mode from selling phone location data, and orders firm
to delete data
Author : marban
Score : 57 points
Date : 2024-01-09 19:31 UTC (3 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (techcrunch.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (techcrunch.com)
| toomuchtodo wrote:
| FTC press release: https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-
| releases/2024/01/...
|
| Sen Wyden fighting the good fight in usual form:
|
| > Sen. Ron Wyden, whose office first revealed that X-Mode had
| sold location data to U.S. military contractors, said in response
| to the FTC's findings: "I commend the FTC for taking tough action
| to hold this shady location data broker responsible for its sale
| of Americans' location data."
|
| https://www.vice.com/en/article/jgqm5x/us-military-location-...
|
| https://www.wsj.com/articles/apple-and-google-to-stop-x-mode...
|
| https://therecord.media/ftc-settles-case-geolocation-data-br...
| 2OEH8eoCRo0 wrote:
| Which defense contractor would want that data? Palantir?
| eli wrote:
| There are tons of contractors that are just middlemen,
| collecting and packaging data from other companies. See
| https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/06/how-federal-
| government...
|
| This way the government doesn't have to interact (or even be
| able to identify) where exactly the data is sourced from.
| smitty1110 wrote:
| The contractor is just a smokescreen in this case. The point
| is the Government pays the contractor, which is what shows up
| in subpoenas and congressional budget hearings, and the
| paperwork says the contract is in support of Such and Such
| contract.
|
| If someone is using FOIA requests to gather information, They
| see DOD paid Foobar, inc. $56 million for the FUBAR contract.
| You then go to FUBAR, and you find the request and
| parameters, which are 300 pages of word salad, and then you
| read the proposals, which are 150 words each of a combination
| of buzzword bingo, legalese, and contracting pandering. None
| of which makes it obvious that the contract is "Buy data on
| our behalf, to shield the program from oversight".
| rqtwteye wrote:
| I guess Wyden is doing the right by keeping low profile and
| just working on issues. But on the other hand I really would
| love to see him run for president. I don't always 100% agree
| with his initiatives but he really seems to be thoughtful and
| making a real effort in creating policies that make sense.
| Which is something that's out of fashion these days in DC.
| beeburrt wrote:
| What is X-mode?
| wnevets wrote:
| a data broker stealing people's data for profit.
| JohnFen wrote:
| Isn't that basically all of them?
| wnevets wrote:
| Wouldn't the FTC ban them if they were?
| gnabgib wrote:
| FTC Complaint 212-3038:
| https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/ftc_gov/pdf/X-Mode-Complain...
| JohnMakin wrote:
| This is a great example of something that irks me during data
| privacy debates from the side of "well if there's no personally
| identifying data, it's fine." It would seem that since X-Mode
| only sells location data tied to a device, which is technically
| "anonymous" then this is likely why it flew under the radar for
| so long. It's not like they're saying "oh, such and such was here
| at this time."
|
| however, the reality is that ALL personal data is potentially
| personally identifying, especially when collected and analyzed in
| aggregate with other data sources. I wish the public conscious
| would somehow accept this fact and understand that personal data
| should always default to being in the hands of the user first.
| lcnPylGDnU4H9OF wrote:
| > the reality is that ALL personal data is potentially
| personally identifying
|
| To this point, an exercise for the reader might be to think
| about everywhere they've gone and how long they've been there
| for the past two weeks while considering every person who never
| left their side for this period. For the vast majority of
| people, that list will contain nobody, and that's why
| "anonymized" location data is still personal information.
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