This week we discuss the burgeoning trade in our location data.

Our mobile devices and the apps on them regularly collect and and transmit the details of our physical location.

Sometimes this is to support a useful and convenient purpose, like finding a nearby cafe or a family member. But at other times, it's in order to share and sell that data with third-parties such as data brokers.

We explore these practices in more detail.

Links:

Article about US lawmaker moves to prevent law enforcement from buying location data (WIRED) https://www.wired.com/story/fourth-amendment-is-not-for-sale-act-2023/

Investigation into location data (NYTimes) https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/12/19/opinion/location-tracking-cell-phone.html

Article about location data relating to abortion clinics (Guardian) https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/jul/01/google-delete-location-data-abortion-clinic

Article about Life360 family safety app (The Markup https://themarkup.org/privacy/2021/12/06/the-popular-family-safety-app-life360-is-selling-precise-location-data-on-its-tens-of-millions-of-user

Credits: 
Music by Bensound.com