U.S. Military Is Buying Location Data of People Around the World Through Ordinary Apps

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U.S. Military Is Buying Location Data of People Around the World Through Ordinary Apps

By CircleID Reporter
November 17, 2020, 9:01 pm PST Views: 15,240 Add Comment

The U.S. military is buying the granular movement data of ordinary people worldwide, harvested from innocuous-seeming apps, reports Motherboard. Among the apps connected to this type of data sale is a Muslim prayer and Quran app with more than 98 million downloads worldwide. Other apps include a Muslim dating app, a Craigslist app, an app for following storms, and other small-type utility apps. The report revealed that the U.S. military obtains the location data from outfits such as X-Mode that in turn obtain the data directly from apps.

U.S. Special Operations Command spokesperson who confirmed the data purchase told Motherboard they “strictly adhere to established procedures and policies for protecting the privacy, civil liberties, constitutional and legal rights of American citizens.”

Muslim Pro, a Muslim prayer and Quran app, said they will no longer share user data with X-Mode following this recent investigation.

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By CircleID Reporter — CircleID’s internal staff reporting on news tips and developing stories. Do you have information the professional Internet community should be aware of? Contact us.
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