{"id":1626132,"date":"2022-08-29T20:18:55","date_gmt":"2022-08-30T00:18:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1626132"},"modified":"2022-08-29T20:19:51","modified_gmt":"2022-08-30T00:19:51","slug":"data-firm-sued-by-federal-authorities-for-allegedly-selling-geolocation-information-that-could-track-users-at-abortion-clinics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/data-firm-sued-by-federal-authorities-for-allegedly-selling-geolocation-information-that-could-track-users-at-abortion-clinics\/","title":{"rendered":"Data Firm Sued By Federal Authorities For Allegedly Selling Geolocation Information That Could Track Users At Abortion Clinics\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">36<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fdata-firm-sued-by-federal-authorities-for-allegedly-selling-geolocation-information-that-could-track-users-at-abortion-clinics%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1626132&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The Federal Trade Commission filed a lawsuit Monday against an app analytics company that sold hundreds of millions of users\u2019 geolocation data that could allegedly reveal user location at abortion clinics, recovery centers, and places of worship.<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/www.businessofapps.com\/marketplace\/kochava\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Kochava Inc<\/a>, a data broker which hosts one of the largest independent data marketplaces, has been accused by federal authorities of allegedly revealing people\u2019s visits to reproductive health clinics, places of worship, homeless and domestic violence shelters, and addiction recovery facilities. The Commission further accuses the company of enabling others to identify individuals and threaten their safety and credibility.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhere consumers seek out health care, receive counseling, or celebrate their faith is private information that shouldn\u2019t be sold to the highest bidder,\u201d Samuel Levine, Director of the FTC\u2019s Bureau of Consumer Protection, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ftc.gov\/news-events\/news\/press-releases\/2022\/08\/ftc-sues-kochava-selling-data-tracks-people-reproductive-health-clinics-places-worship-other\">said<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>FTC officials allege that the Idaho-based app company has customized data that could track specific mobile device users at night by feeding purchasers a link between someone\u2019s home address and identity.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn fact, the data broker has touted identifying households as one of the possible uses of its data in some marketing materials,\u201d federal officials said in a press release.<\/p>\n<p>According to a data sample examined by the FTC, more than 61 million mobile devices had precise, timestamped location data collected in one week.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn just the data Kochava made available in the Kochava Data Sample, it is possible to identify a mobile device that visited a women\u2019s reproductive health clinic and trace that mobile device to a single-family residence,\u201d the FTC wrote in its suit according to the\u00a0<a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2022\/08\/29\/ftc-sues-kochava-for-allegedly-selling-abortion-patients-cell-phone-location-data\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">New York Post<\/a>. \u201cThe data may also be used to identify medical professionals who perform, or assist in the performance, of abortion services.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Brian Cox, Kochava\u2019s general manager, called the press release \u201cflamboyant\u201d while denying such allegations as \u201cfrivolous litigation\u201d in a statement to the New York Post.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe FTC has a fundamental misunderstanding of Kochava\u2019s data marketplace business and other data businesses,\u201d Cox said. \u201cKochava operates consistently and proactively in compliance with all rules and laws, including those specific to privacy \u2026 It\u2019s disappointing that the agency continues to circumvent the lawmaking process and perpetuate misinformation surrounding data privacy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Cox also said that the company announced a \u201ccapability to block data from sensitive locations.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Lina Khan, chair of the FTC, said in a\u00a0<a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/linakhanFTC\/status\/1564277415932661760\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">tweet<\/a>\u00a0that the commission complaint against Kochava comes as part of the agency\u2019s work to use all of its tools to protect Americans\u2019 privacy and explore rules to crack down on unlawful commercial surveillance and lax data security practices.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFirms track &#038; collect data on Americans at a stunning scale\u2014on our location, our health, what we read online, who we know, what we buy,\u201d Khan\u00a0<a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/linakhanFTC\/status\/1557738539202531334\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">said<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The Commission authorized the staff to file the complaint in the U.S. District Court for the District of Idaho against Kochava, 4-1, with Commissioner Noah Joshua Phillips dissenting.<\/p>\n<p>Politico\u00a0<a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2022\/08\/08\/ftc-commissioner-noah-phillips-step-down-00050293\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">reported<\/a>\u00a0earlier this month that Phillips, one of two Republican commissioners at the agency, said he plans to resign in the fall, citing a prioritization of family. However, he also noted that \u201cother commissioners weren\u2019t open to discussion and compromise.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Phillips has openly pushed back against FTC chair Khan, who was appointed by President Biden, over her policy, enforcement priorities, and management.<\/p>\n<p>Reuters\u00a0<a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/legal\/us-ftc-sues-data-broker-kochava-alleged-sale-sensitive-data-2022-08-29\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">reports<\/a>\u00a0that Democratic Senator Ron Wyden praised the FTC action, adding he has been working \u201cto protect Americans from shady data brokers trying to sell private reproductive data for a profit in post-Roe America.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>FTC officials said the lawsuit would seek to stop the app company from selling sensitive data and further require it to delete the geolocation information it collected.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Federal Trade Commission filed a lawsuit Monday against an app analytics company that sold hundreds of millions of users\u2019 geolocation data that could allegedly reveal user location at abortion clinics, recovery centers, and places of worship. Kochava Inc, a data broker which hosts one of the largest independent data marketplaces, has been accused by &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1626134,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1626132","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1626132","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1626132"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1626132\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1626134"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1626132"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1626132"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1626132"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}