A Homeland Security report on the illegal use of smartphone location data by multiple government agencies – including the US Secret Service – has now been made public. The report concludes that three separate US agencies broke the law by breaching privacy protections.
The report was originally categorized as Law Enforcement Sensitive, but this classification has now been removed, and a redacted version made available to the public …
US government agencies buying app location data
We’ve known for at least three years that the US Secret Service and other government agencies were purchasing smartphone location data harvested from a wide range of apps.
The US Secret Service bought smartphone location data harvested from popular apps, says a new report today. The claim is backed by a contract revealed through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. The data was purchased from a data broker.
US Customs and Border Protection was identified as another agency purchasing this data.
The questionable legality of this was raised at the time, by Democratic Senator Ron Wyden, who said that it violated the 4th Amendment.
It is clear that multiple federal agencies have turned to purchasing Americans’ data to buy their way around Americans’ Fourth Amendment Rights.
Homeland Security report confirms illegal use
The Department of Homeland Security carried out an audit of the purchase of smartphone location data by three government agencies and concluded that they did indeed break the law.
Specifically, US Customs and Border Protection (CBP), US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and the US Secret Service all contravened privacy protections enacted in the E-Government Act of 2002 and the Homeland Security Act of 2002.
Copies of the report were made available to law enforcement agencies last month, but…
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