The US House Committee on Oversight and Reform has launched an investigation into how data broker Venntel collects and sells data from mobile phones. to government agencies for warrantless follow-up, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday .
In a letter to Venntel CEO Chris Gildea, representing Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) and representing Mark DeSaulnier ( D-CA) and Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Ron Wyden (D-OR) write that they are investigating whether the data collected can reveal the precise movements of millions of Americans, including children.
Such location tracking "raises serious privacy and security concerns "
"We are looking for information on your company's provision of location dataconsumer ion to federal government agencies for warrantless law enforcement and other purposes, including in response to the coronavirus crisis, the letter said, adding that since the vast majority of Americans have cell phones that they carry around all the time, such location tracking "raises serious privacy and security concerns."
Venntel aggregates location data from smartphone applications and sells it to customers, including the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the Criminal Investigation Division of the IRS, the FBI and other governments according to the WSJ. Venntel is just one of the many similar data brokers - which largely traffic location data collected from smartphones and, in some cases, even sold by mobile operators themselves - unattendedight and may haveviolated the privacy of countless American residents for years.
The letter requests information about Venntel customers, the measures it has taken to protect personal information in its data sets and the sources of its data between January 1, 2016 and the present, with a deadline of July 8. Earlier this year, the WSJ reported that DHS had used the company's platform to track people crossing the US-Mexico border. The Intercept reported last month, FBI recently renewed its contract with Venntel.
Aucun commentaire:
Enregistrer un commentaire