In 2018, all of the major mobile phone service providers in the United States were caught selling location data to a company called LocationSmart. T-Mobile, AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint would sell the real-time location data of their customers to this data aggregator. Then, LocationSmart would sell access to the real-time location data they had bought from mobile service providers to Securus through a company called 3Cinteractive. In moments, prison tech company Securus could track a user to their present location.
Under pressure from lawmakers and the public enraged at this revelation, all four mobile service providers promised to stop selling user data to LocationSmart. Each said they would take steps to end their current contracts. In early January, 2019, Motherboard reporter Joseph Cox found out these companies were dragging their feet to carry out their promise.
He contacted a bounty hunter who worked for Microbilt, a credit reporting company based in Georgia. Cox gave a phone number and $300 to the bounty hunter who promptly found the location of his phone. The bounty hunter was able to do this because Microbilt bought access to real-time location data owned by Zumingo, who bought this data from T-Mobile.
Contracts with LocationSmart came under scrutiny, but that company is just one big player in an entire industry of location data aggregation. Even though LocationSmart was fired as a location data customer, that doesn’t mean cell companies closed up shop.
The list of culprits covers the vast majority of our mobile service options. That means the best course of action is to keep pressure on T-Mobile, AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon to stick to their promise.
Don’t take chances, find out if access to your real-time location has been sold, and find out who bought it. Contact me at Mignolet@Bellsouth.net.