We've all had the unsettling experience of seeing an ad online that reveals just how much advertisers know about our lives. You're right to be disturbed. Those very same online ad systems have been used by the government to warrantlessly track peoples' locations, new reporting has confirmed.
For years, the internet advertising industry has been sucking up our data, including our location data, to serve us "more relevant ads." At the same time, we know that federal law enforcement agencies have been buying up our location data from shady data brokers that most people have never heard of.
Now, a new report gives us direct evidence that Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has used location data taken from the internet advertising ecosystem to track phones. In a document uncovered by 404 Media, CBP admits what we’ve been saying for years: The technical systems powering creepy targeted ads also allow federal agencies to track your location.
The document acknowledges that a program by the agency to use "commercially available marketing location data" for surveillance drew from the process used to select the targeted ads shown to you on nearly every website and app you visit. On our blog, we cover what this process is, how it can and is being used for state surveillance, and what can be done about it—by individuals, by lawmakers, and by the tech companies that enable these abuses.
READ MORE…
🤖 AI-POWERED SURVEILLANCE: The U.S. military has officially ended its $200 million contract with AI company Anthropic. Why? Because of a dispute over whether the government could use Anthropic's technology in autonomous weapons systems and for mass surveillance. There's a lot we could learn from this conflict, but the biggest takeaway is this: the state of your privacy is being decided by contract negotiations between giant tech companies and the U.S. government—two entities with spotty track records for caring about your civil liberties.
🪧 PROTESTER RIGHTS: In a victory for protesters’ rights, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a lower court’s dismissal of a challenge to sweeping warrants to search a protester’s devices and digital data and a nonprofit’s social media data. On our blog, we explain why this decision should be celebrated as a big win for protesters and anyone concerned about police immunity for violating people’s constitutional rights.
📍GEOFENCE WARRANTS: EFF and a coalition of privacy advocates filed a brief earlier this month urging the U.S. Supreme Court to rule that invasive geofence warrants are unconstitutional. The brief argues that geofence warrants—which compel companies to provide information on every electronic device in a given area during a given time period—are the digital version of the exploratory rummaging that the drafters of the Fourth Amendment specifically intended to prevent.
🦸♀️ PRIVACY'S DEFENDER: Privacy's Defender, EFF Executive Director Cindy Cohn's new book chronicling 30 years of fighting against digital surveillance, is out now! "Privacy’s Defender is a compelling account of a life well lived and an inspiring call to action for the next generation of civil liberties champions," says Edward Snowden. Cindy's book tour kicks off with events this week in Berkeley and Portland, OR; events next week in Seattle, Menlo Park, and Denver; and more national dates to follow. Check out our Privacy’s Defender hub to learn more.
