Location data firm helps police find out when suspects visited their doctor

The intake form “was included in an email thread between a Fog representative and Bryan Kimbell, chief human trafficking investigator at the Office of the Attorney General in Georgia,” according to 404 Media.

Services like Fog Data Science have triggered concerns about how police might use location tracking to prosecute abortions. “For several thousand dollars annually, the software lets police trace unique borders around large, customized regions to generate a list of devices in the area. Police can use Fog Reveal to geofence entire buildings or street blocks—like the area surrounding an abortion clinic—and get information on devices used within and surrounding those buildings to identify suspects,” Ars wrote in November 2022.

The EFF’s 2022 investigation found that Fog obtained data from the firm Venntel, which is the subject of a Federal Trade Commission action. The FTC last week announced a proposed settlement with Venntel and its owner, Gravy Analytics. The FTC alleged that “Gravy Analytics and Venntel violated the FTC Act by unfairly selling sensitive consumer location data, and by collecting and using consumers’ location data without obtaining verifiable user consent for commercial and government uses.”

“Surreptitious surveillance by data brokers undermines our civil liberties and puts servicemembers, union workers, religious minorities, and others at risk,” Samuel Levine, director of the FTC Bureau of Consumer Protection, said in the announcement. According to the FTC, Gravy Analytics used geofencing “to identify and sell lists of consumers who attended certain events related to medical conditions and places of worship and sold additional lists that associate individual consumers to other sensitive characteristics.”

If the proposed order takes effect, “Gravy Analytics and Venntel will be prohibited from selling, disclosing, or using sensitive location data in any product or service, and must establish a sensitive data location program,” the FTC said. One of the FTC’s two Republicans partially dissented from the decision, which may not be finalized until after President-elect Trump takes office.