Phone location data of top EU officials for sale report finds TechCrunch
p
Latest
pp
AI
pp
Amazon
pp
Apps
pp
Biotech Health
pp
Climate
pp
Cloud Computing
pp
Commerce
pp
Crypto
pp
Enterprise
pp
EVs
pp
Fintech
pp
Fundraising
pp
Gadgets
pp
Gaming
pp
Google
pp
Government Policy
pp
Hardware
pp
Instagram
pp
Layoffs
pp
Media Entertainment
pp
Meta
pp
Microsoft
pp
Privacy
pp
Robotics
pp
Security
pp
Social
pp
Space
pp
Startups
pp
TikTok
pp
Transportation
pp
Venture
pp
Staff
pp
Events
pp
Startup Battlefield
pp
StrictlyVC
pp
Newsletters
pp
Podcasts
pp
Videos
pp
Partner Content
pp
TechCrunch Brand Studio
pp
Crunchboard
pp
Contact Us
ppJournalists in Europe found it was easy to spy on top European Union officials using commercially obtained location histories sold by data brokers despite the continent having some of the strongest data protection laws in the worldppEU officials said theyre concerned about the trade of citizen and officials mobile phone location data and have issued new guidance to staff to counter the tracking according to a report by NetzpolitikppA coalition of reporters obtained the dataset offered as a free sample from a data broker containing 278 million location data points from the phones of millions of people around Belgium Much of the location data is uploaded by ordinary apps installed on a persons phone which is sold to data brokers Those data brokers then sell that data to governments and militaries ppThe dataset also included the granular location histories of Europes top officials including those who work directly for the European Commission which has its headquarters in Brussels ppThe reporters said they were able to identify hundreds of devices belonging to people who work in sensitive areas around the EU including 2000 location markers from 264 officials devices and around 5800 location markers from more than 750 devices in the European ParliamentppEurope has some of the strongest data protection rules in the world with its GDPR law However watchdogs and officials across Europe have been slow to take stronger enforcement action against data brokers Netzpolitik reported Data brokering has ballooned to become a billiondollar industry involving the sale and trade of peoples location data and other private informationppTo counter some of this location tracking Apple customers can anonymize their device identifiers and Android owners can regularly reset their devices identifierppLast year a data broker called Gravy Analytics had a data breach that exposed the location data belonging to tens of millions of people including where they have been and where they live and work Researchers examining the data said the location records could be used to extensively track peoples recent whereaboutsppTopicspp
Security Editor
ppZack Whittaker is the security editor at TechCrunch He also authors the weekly cybersecurity newsletter this week in security ppHe can be reached via encrypted message at zackwhittaker1337 on Signal You can also contact him by email or to verify outreach at zackwhittakertechcrunchcom ppStrictlyVC concludes its 2025 series with an exclusive event featuring insights from leading VCs and builders and opportunities to forge meaningful connectionspp I tried the Apple Crossbody Strap Its convenient but the phone looks silly when the strap is removed
pp Spotify now lets you see weekly listening stats
pp Cluelys Roy Lee hints that viral hype is not enough
pp Apple nears deal to pay Google 1B annually to power new Siri report says
pp Lina Khan to cochair NYC mayorelect Zohran Mamdanis transition team
pp Google gets the US governments green light to acquire Wiz for 32B
pp Amazon sends legal threats to Perplexity over agentic browsing
pp 2025 TechCrunch Media LLCp
Latest
pp
AI
pp
Amazon
pp
Apps
pp
Biotech Health
pp
Climate
pp
Cloud Computing
pp
Commerce
pp
Crypto
pp
Enterprise
pp
EVs
pp
Fintech
pp
Fundraising
pp
Gadgets
pp
Gaming
pp
pp
Government Policy
pp
Hardware
pp
pp
Layoffs
pp
Media Entertainment
pp
Meta
pp
Microsoft
pp
Privacy
pp
Robotics
pp
Security
pp
Social
pp
Space
pp
Startups
pp
TikTok
pp
Transportation
pp
Venture
pp
Staff
pp
Events
pp
Startup Battlefield
pp
StrictlyVC
pp
Newsletters
pp
Podcasts
pp
Videos
pp
Partner Content
pp
TechCrunch Brand Studio
pp
Crunchboard
pp
Contact Us
ppJournalists in Europe found it was easy to spy on top European Union officials using commercially obtained location histories sold by data brokers despite the continent having some of the strongest data protection laws in the worldppEU officials said theyre concerned about the trade of citizen and officials mobile phone location data and have issued new guidance to staff to counter the tracking according to a report by NetzpolitikppA coalition of reporters obtained the dataset offered as a free sample from a data broker containing 278 million location data points from the phones of millions of people around Belgium Much of the location data is uploaded by ordinary apps installed on a persons phone which is sold to data brokers Those data brokers then sell that data to governments and militaries ppThe dataset also included the granular location histories of Europes top officials including those who work directly for the European Commission which has its headquarters in Brussels ppThe reporters said they were able to identify hundreds of devices belonging to people who work in sensitive areas around the EU including 2000 location markers from 264 officials devices and around 5800 location markers from more than 750 devices in the European ParliamentppEurope has some of the strongest data protection rules in the world with its GDPR law However watchdogs and officials across Europe have been slow to take stronger enforcement action against data brokers Netzpolitik reported Data brokering has ballooned to become a billiondollar industry involving the sale and trade of peoples location data and other private informationppTo counter some of this location tracking Apple customers can anonymize their device identifiers and Android owners can regularly reset their devices identifierppLast year a data broker called Gravy Analytics had a data breach that exposed the location data belonging to tens of millions of people including where they have been and where they live and work Researchers examining the data said the location records could be used to extensively track peoples recent whereaboutsppTopicspp
Security Editor
ppZack Whittaker is the security editor at TechCrunch He also authors the weekly cybersecurity newsletter this week in security ppHe can be reached via encrypted message at zackwhittaker1337 on Signal You can also contact him by email or to verify outreach at zackwhittakertechcrunchcom ppStrictlyVC concludes its 2025 series with an exclusive event featuring insights from leading VCs and builders and opportunities to forge meaningful connectionspp I tried the Apple Crossbody Strap Its convenient but the phone looks silly when the strap is removed
pp Spotify now lets you see weekly listening stats
pp Cluelys Roy Lee hints that viral hype is not enough
pp Apple nears deal to pay Google 1B annually to power new Siri report says
pp Lina Khan to cochair NYC mayorelect Zohran Mamdanis transition team
pp Google gets the US governments green light to acquire Wiz for 32B
pp Amazon sends legal threats to Perplexity over agentic browsing
pp 2025 TechCrunch Media LLCp
