Fog Reveal
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Fog Reveal is a tracking tool that aggregates location data from mobile apps. It is a product of FOG Data Science.
FOG Data Science
[edit]FOG Data Science is a limited liability company based in Virginia. It was founded in 2016 by two former United States Department of Homeland Security officials. Matthew Broderick, managing partner at the company, was director of operations for the DHS from 2005 to 2006.[1][2]
Functionality
[edit]FOG Data Science purchases commercially available location data from Virginia-based company Venntel,[3] collected from hundreds of mobile apps that sell information on user interests and movements, including the apps of Starbucks and Waze.[3] The information is derived from advertising IDs, unique user IDs assigned to mobile devices allowing advertisers to track people's movements, habits, and usage of apps.[1][2][4][5][6] Subscriptions to the service cost at least $7,500 per year. While the data is anonymized, officials have commented that competent law enforcement could use the information to identify individuals. According to FOG Data Science partner Matthew Broderick, their historical data profiles go back three years.[1]
Use by law enforcement
[edit]Fog Reveal is used by local, state and federal law enforcement agencies in the United States, since at least 2018. Documents procured by the Electronic Frontier Foundation through the Freedom of Information Act revealed that FOG Data Science had 40 contracts with "nearly two dozen agencies," including the Dallas Police Department and the Rockingham County, North Carolina sheriff's office.[1] The software has been used to track individuals without requiring a search warrant.[7]
According to a 2022 Associated Press investigation supported by the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, law enforcement agencies used Fog Reveal "to search hundreds of billions of records from 250 million mobile devices, and harnessed the data to create location analyses known among law enforcement as 'patterns of life.'"[1][8]
Reception
[edit]Privacy advocates raised concerns that the use of Fog Reveal by law enforcement agencies could constitute an unreasonable search and seizure, violating the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution. Electronic Frontier Foundation adviser Bennett Cyphers described the software as "sort of a mass surveillance program on a budget."[1]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ a b c d e f Burke, Garance; Dearen, Jason (September 1, 2022). "Tech tool offers police 'mass surveillance on a budget'". AP News.
- ^ a b Cameron, Dell (September 9, 2022). "What Is 'Fog Reveal,' the Police App Tracking Your Phone?". Gizmodo. Retrieved September 11, 2022.
- ^ a b Belanger, Ashley (2022-11-23). "Sneaky ways cops could access data to widely prosecute abortions in the US". Ars Technica. Retrieved 2022-11-24.
- ^ Mathur, Chandraveer (July 18, 2022). "The US government has been buying vast amounts of phone location data, and that's probably not great". Android Police. Retrieved September 11, 2022.
- ^ Potts, Caleb (December 11, 2020). "Surveillance companies are using mobile ads to obtain scarily accurate location data". Android Police. Retrieved September 11, 2022.
- ^ "Big Ass Data Broker Opt-Out List". Google Docs. Retrieved September 11, 2022.
- ^ Greenberg, Will (August 31, 2022). "Fog Revealed: A Guided Tour of How Cops Can Browse Your Location Data". Electronic Frontier Foundation.
- ^ "Chino_2019 -20_Attachments". DocumentCloud. Retrieved September 11, 2022.
Further reading
[edit]- Cyphers, Bennett (31 August 2022). "Inside Fog Data Science, the Secretive Company Selling Mass Surveillance to Local Police". Electronic Frontier Foundation.
- Guariglia, Matthew (31 August 2022). "What is Fog Data Science? Why is the Surveillance Company so Dangerous?". Electronic Frontier Foundation.
- Cops wanted to keep mass surveillance app secret; privacy advocates refused, Ars Technica, September 1, 2022
- How an obscure cellphone tracking tool provides police ‘mass surveillance on a budget’, PBS NewsHour, September 1, 2022
- The Police Found To Be Using ‘Fog Reveal’ App To Keep Tabs On Private Citizens — Causes Outrage, TechVisibility, September 3, 2022
- Here Is the Manual for the Mass Surveillance Tool Cops Use to Track Phones, VICE, September 1, 2022