DHS Buys Cellphone Location Data
| DHS Buys Cellphone Location Data | |
|---|---|
| Short Title | DHS Authorities Are Buying Moment-By-Moment Geolocation Cellphone Data |
| Location | United States |
| Date | October 2020 |
| Solove Harm | Disclosure, Interrogation, Aggregation |
| Information | Location, Computer Device, Ownership |
| Threat Actors | Law Enforcement |
| Individuals | |
| Affected | Cellphone users |
| High Risk Groups | Ethnic Minority |
| Tangible Harms | |
The Department of Homeland Security of the United States purchases cellphone data from private companies, which lets them later determine peoples locations.
Description
The Department of Homeland Security of the United States is found purchasing consumer cellphone data that allows authorities to track immigrants trying to cross the southern border. Thanks to that data, officials can look up locations and track cellphone data activity to make decisions on enforcement. The agency allegedly can use the data without obtaining a warrant.
Private corporations selling such data to the law enforcement is an example of Disclosure.
Collection of people’s location information reveals where they sleep at night, where they go to the doctor, who they spend time with, and every other aspect of their lives. The actions of DHS in this case can be seen as Interrogation.
When DHS buys geolocation data, investigators only know that phones and devices visited certain places — meaning, they don’t automatically know the identities of people who visited those locations. Investigators have to match a person’s visited locations with, say, property records and other data sets in order to determine who a person is. This is an example of Aggregation.
Breakdown
Threat: Phone companies selling cellphone location data to law enforcement
At-Risk group: Cellphone users
Harm: Disclosure
Secondary Consequences: Potentially: Incarceration, Banishment
Threat: Law enforcement collecting peoples locations through cellphone data
At-Risk group: Cellphone users
Harm: Interrogation
Secondary Consequences: Potentially: Incarceration, Banishment
Threat: Law enforcement matching cellphone data with property records and other data sets to find identities of people who visited those locations
At-Risk group: Cellphone users
Harm: Aggregation
Secondary Consequences: Potentially: Incarceration, Banishment
Laws and Regulations
Sources
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/hamedaleaziz/ice-dhs-cell-phone-data-tracking-geolocation