In a letter to Sen. Wyden, data broker Mobilewalla says it was the source of some data used by the DHS, IRS, and US military for warrantless tracking of devices
Byron Tau / Wall Street Journal : Tweets: @byrontau , @anthony , @byrontau , @lrozen , @rebeccaballhaus , and @ronwyden Tweets: Byron Tau / @byrontau : How your phone became a spy: Five people who work in marketing or advertising have separately described to me being approached by members of intelligence agencies, law enforcement or the military looking to acquire data. https://www.wsj.com/... Anthony DeRosa / @anthony : WSJ EXCLUSIVE: A company that collects and sells consumer information from cellphones said it was the source of some of the advertising data used by the Department of Homeland Security and other government entities to track mobile phones without warrants https://www.wsj.com/... Byron Tau / @byrontau : From your phone to the government: A look under the hood of how data is collected by marketing companies such as Atlanta-based Mobilewalla, flows to specialized software vendors and contractors and ends up being used for warrantless phone tracking. https://www.wsj.com/... Laura Rozen / @lrozen : “Because the U.S. has no comprehensive privacy law, nothing explicitly bars the use of consumer data in this manner. But lawmakers and regulators have taken notice and proposed measures to curb how such data is acquired, sold and used.” https://twitter.com/... Rebecca Ballhaus / @rebeccaballhaus : “Some of those people said they were asked to volunteer bulk data to government entities out of patriotic duty.” https://www.wsj.com/... https://twitter.com/... Ron Wyden / @ronwyden : This is a striking reminder of how Americans' data is being misused & abused so freely that many brokers don't even know where the information ends up. It's time to pass my Fourth Amendment Is Not for Sale Act and protect Americans' data once and for all. https://www.wsj.com/...