US Gov’t Buys Location Data For Millions of Cellphones

America’s government “has reportedly acquired access to a commercial database that tracks the movements of millions of cellphones in the U.S.,” reports CNET. “The data is being used for immigration and border enforcement, according to sources and documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.” Engadget’s report on the news notes it’s been going on “since at least 2017.”
The publication says the government bought the data from a company called Venntel, which in turn purchased it from a variety of marketing companies… “This is a classic situation where creeping commercial surveillance in the private sector is now bleeding directly over into government,” Alan Butler, the general counsel of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, told the WSJ. The American Civil Liberties Union told TechCrunch that it plans the fight the newly-revealed practice, arguing that the government “should not be accessing our location information without a warrant.” CNET adds that the data “is reportedly collected from apps for gaming, weather and shopping that ask users to grant them location access.”