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.
Locate X
Track a phone's movements — bought from your apps, no warrant.
Locate X let government users trace individual smartphones' location history using commercially purchased app data. Reporters demonstrated tracking devices to and from an abortion clinic, exposing the data-broker loophole.
What it does
- ▸Device location history
- ▸Geofence & pattern search
- ▸Commercial ad-data sourcing
- ▸No warrant required
Where it's deployed
- ◍Federal agencies
- ◍Military purchases (reported)
Agencies using it
CBPICEUSSSDoD
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