Abuse
Tracking phones to an abortion clinic
2024Reporters used Babel Street's Locate X to trace a phone's movements to and from an abortion clinic — proving warrantless tracking of sensitive visits via ad data.
Location Data Brokers
Babel Street
Babel Street sells OSINT and location-intelligence tools. Its Locate X product, built from commercially available smartphone location data, let government users trace individual phones' movements — including near sensitive places — without a warrant, exploiting the data-broker loophole.
◍ Reston, VirginiaEst. 2009
Agencies & customers
CBPICEUSSSDoDLocal LE
Products (2)
Abuses & incidents
Investigation
Agencies buy location data to skip warrants
2020Military and law-enforcement agencies bought access to Locate X to track phones without warrants, exploiting the data-broker loophole around the Fourth Amendment.
- ↳Means of Control — Byron Tau (Crown), 2024
Further reading
- ↳Means of Control — Byron Tau (Crown), 2024