A California trial court has held a geofence warrant issued to the San Francisco Police Department violated the Fourth Amendment and California’s landmark electronic communications privacy law, CalECPA. The court suppressed evidence stemming from the warrant, becoming the first court… Read More ›
Tag Archive for ‘Locational Privacy’
Study of Electronic Monitoring Smartphone Apps Confirms Advocates’ Concerns of Privacy Harms
Researchers at the University of Washington and Harvard Law School recently published a groundbreaking study analyzing the technical capabilities of 16 electronic monitoring (EM) smartphone apps used as “alternatives” to criminal and civil detention. The study, billed as the “first… Read More ›
TechCrunch Launches Lookup Tool to Help Android Users Know if Their Device Was Compromised by a Family of Stalkerware Apps
The scourge of stalkerware—malicious apps used by perpetrators of domestic violence to secretly spy on their victims—is not going unchallenged or unaddressed. Antivirus makers are increasingly adding stalkerware to the list of apps their products detect on devices; victim support… Read More ›
Arrest of a Stalkerware-maker in Australia Underscores Link Between Stalkerware and Domestic Abuse
The ease with which bad actors can find a worldwide market for malicious apps that spy on people’s digital devices is at the center of an Australian Federal Police case against a man who, starting at the age of 15,… Read More ›
Bad Data “For Good”: How Data Brokers Try to Hide in Academic Research
When data broker SafeGraph got caught selling location information on Planned Parenthood visitors, it had a public relations trick up its sleeve. After the company agreed to remove family planning center data from its platforms in response to public outcry,… Read More ›
The Department of Defense Should Disclose When it Purchases User Data
Congress must pass the Jacobs-Davidson Amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), the yearly funding bill for national security and the military. It would require the Department of Defense to disclose, both to Congress and the public, information about… Read More ›
Congress Probes How Location Data Brokers Threaten Reproductive Privacy
Data brokers harvest location information from our phone apps, then sell access to the highest bidder, including government. This is a way sheriffs and bounty hunters in anti-abortion states may try to identify and punish people seeking and providing abortion…. Read More ›
Massachusetts' Highest Court Upholds Cell Tower Dump Warrant
This blog post was drafted with help from former EFF Legal Intern Emma Hagemann. Massachusetts’ highest court has upheld the collection of mass cell tower data, despite recognizing that this data not only provides investigators with “highly personal and private”… Read More ›
Data Brokers and True the Vote are the Real Villains of "2000 Mules" Movie
2000 Mules is a movie which claims to expose election fraud with phone app location data. While these claims have already been thoroughly debunked, the movie also deserves condemnation for performing wildly invasive research on thousands of people’s location data… Read More ›
How to Disable Ad ID Tracking on iOS and Android, and Why You Should Do It Now
The ad identifier – aka “IDFA” on iOS, or “AAID” on Android – is the key that enables most third-party tracking on mobile devices. Disabling it will make it substantially harder for advertisers and data brokers to track and profile… Read More ›