Government Taps Online Advertising Ecosystem to Warrantlessly Track Citizens' Locations via CBP
Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has acknowledged using location data sourced from the online advertising ecosystem, specifically real-time bidding (RTB) systems, to track people's movements without warrants, according to documents uncovered by 404 Media.
The Revelation
A document obtained by 404 Media shows CBP admitting that location data purchased for surveillance was partially sourced from RTB, the system powering nearly every targeted ad shown online. This is the first time CBP has acknowledged this direct connection.
How It Works
The online advertising industry has built a massive surveillance infrastructure:
- Companies track online and offline activity across websites and apps
- Data flows to ad tech companies and data brokers for ad targeting
- Government agencies buy this data without warrants, bypassing Fourth Amendment protections
- The multi-billion dollar data broker industry facilitates the transactions
Government Programs
- ICE purchased Webloc spy tool that gathers locations of millions of phones daily and allows geographic filtering
- CBP and FBI have purchased location data from broker Venntell to identify and arrest immigrants
- CBP's program used 'commercially available marketing location data' drawn from the same ad targeting process
- Location data can be filtered by unique advertising IDs assigned by Apple and Google
The Problem
This system allows warrantless government surveillance by exploiting the ad tech ecosystem. Companies and data brokers harvest location data from smartphones, and law enforcement simply buys what it would normally need a warrant to obtain.
What Needs to Change
EFF calls for:
- Strong federal privacy legislation banning surveillance-based advertising
- Ending the warrantless purchase of location data by government agencies
- Tech companies eliminating unique advertising identifiers
- Data broker regulations requiring consent
Source: EFF Deeplinks, 404 Media