The research of “Interesting Engineering” platform found out that interconnected firms are monetizing user data and analytics from ‘1.9 billion devices’.
When you downloaded any application on your phone, did you get the notification asking for access to the location history?
Yes, I know. Most of us gave permission to those applications to access our data.
An initial report of The Next Web illustrated that some companies make a high amount of payments for privileged access to our location history which is stored on our mobile phones. Majority of them aim to keep it away from the spotlights. The industry faces sudden growth that is worth an estimated $12 billion. This involves the aggregators, collectors, marketplaces, and location intelligence firms.
The following report of TNW, called “The Markup”, stated 47 different firms collecting, selling, or trading the location data taken from our mobile phones. The findings show that an interconnected – collaborative group of organizations suggest a code to app developers, which can monetize user data and sell analytics from 1.9 billion devices. This could enable the external organization to access datasets from hundreds of millions of people. The article highlights six of the analyzed firms possessing the data from more than 1 billion devices, increasing accuracy of data in the industry.
Motherboard illustrated how X mode – gathering location data via apps collected data specifically from Muslim prayer apps in a 2020 report. Later this data was sold to military contractors for different purposes. Following the same year, in the report of Wall Street Journal it was found out that Venntel – another location data provider sold its collected data to federal agencies, which could help them with the immigration enforcement.
It is our choice whether we would like to provide them with our location data. I know that most apps require the location data such as weather forecast or maps related apps can’t function fully without knowing your location. However, not all apps need to have access to your location data. The main purpose of this is to analyze and use our location data to make more profit. Majority of applications ask for permission to access the location and it is easier to opt out, avoiding the risk. But for others? Time will show us how location data will be used next year, and if there will be new stricter regulations implemented to prevent malicious usage of the tech market.
Sources:
https://interestingengineering.com/your-phones-location-data-is-worth-12-billion
https://www.vice.com/en/article/jgqm5x/us-military-location-data-xmode-locate-x
Very interesting post. Usually, we tend to give access to our data in trade for the convenience of using a certain app, or even just getting the pop-up message asking for access out of the way. I think people in general underestimate the value of their data, and give it away too easily.
The point you make about location data being sold to military contractors is highly concerning. Often you do not realise that, when you give away your location data, it can be sold to anyone. Luckily, in the Netherlands we are relatively safe. But I can only imagine the consequences if a government that aims its anger at a certain group of people got access to a large set of location related data.
Thanks for bringing this topic to my attention!
Hi Niek,
Thank you very much for sharing your thoughts about this topic. Exactly! While this data can be used to develop new innovative solutions to improve life standards of today’s society, some firms or governments can use to achieve their individual or organizational goals.
Definitely! I agree with you that in The Netherlands there is a trust given to the people because of government regulations protecting individual’s rights. However, I still think that there are significant developments that are still going, and their impact on our life is growing at the same time. So, I believe we can still make adjustments in the regulations to limit the acts of the firms which would like to use our data to use or sell for harmful purposes for the society.
Wow, I did not know that! Interesting but also worrying to read what the data is used for.
Hi Marloes,
Thank you very much for sharing your thoughts! Exactly, I started concerning more about this topic.
I also found this post extremely interesting as it highlights some of the big concerns in this new era of digital and digitalisation – the privacy and security concerns, and the way technology impacts our life. Furthermore, it stresses on the amount of information certain applications collect about us… We see now more and more applications requiring not only our personal information but also our search history or as this example shows our location history. It is unbelievable when you see the amount this data costs, and even more so the impact on our life once the company analyses this information without recognising it.
I am curious to know if you are also one of the people who quickly agrees to such authorisation requests or do you carefully research things before consenting?
Personally, I have been one of the ‘’lazy” users, not paying so much attention, but posts like that make me want to change my behaviour.
Thank you for sharing.
Hi Svetoslava,
Thank you very much for sharing your opinion and insights on this topic. Definitely! I agree with you regarding raising privacy and security concerns nowadays. Also, we get quite depended on the innovative solutions or applications.
Honestly, after I did this research about this data issue I got quite concerned about all the permissions I have given to the apps. I would say that for the well-known apps I haven’t read their data policy, just confirming the permission. But I would say that after getting this knowledge I will be more careful with choosing the applications, and my permission list on my mobile phone 🙂
I am glad to hear that this article helped to take different approach on the applications. Because it definitely did for me! 🙂