世界中のスマホの位置をGoogleとAppleの広告識別子を悪用して追跡するサービス「Locate X」の存在が明らかに [5axry1★] (6)

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アメリカのニュージャージー州に拠点を置くデータプライバシー団体のAtlas Data Privacy Corpが、「Locate X」という位置情報追跡サービスを提供するBabel Streetというテクノロジー企業を訴えました。Locate XはAppleやGoogleのスマートフォンに組み込まれている広告識別子を悪用して人々の位置情報を追跡するサービスであり、Babel Streetは政府機関だけでなく個人の顧客にもLocate Xを販売しているとのことです。

https://gigazine.net/news/20241024-locate-x-phone-locations-network/

Inside the U.S. Government-Bought Tool That Can Track Phones at Abortion Clinics
https://www.404media.co/inside-the-u-s-government-bought-tool-that-can-track-phones-at-abortion-clinics/

The demonstration videos show that Locate X has various features that can make interpreting the location data easy. Clicking an option called “clustered” shows the device’s most frequently visited locations, which often pinpoints a residential address or place of work. The “animation” feature shows point-by-point where a device traveled inside a specific time period, rather than displaying all of the locations at once.
A “signal proximity check” shows which other nearby locations the device went to in a short period of time.

The data itself has a delay of around two to three days and results can take a few minutes or even up to 40 minutes to display results, according to the tests. The tool can cost around $28,000, according to procurement documents.

https://theintercept.com/document/babel-street-treasury-ofac-contract-2021/

The Global Surveillance Free-for-All in Mobile Ad Data
https://krebsonsecurity.com/2024/10/the-global-surveillance-free-for-all-in-mobile-ad-data/

Babel Street’s LocateX platform also allows customers to track individual mobile users by their Mobile Advertising ID or MAID, a unique, alphanumeric identifier built into all Google Android and Apple mobile devices.

Babel Street can offer this tracking capability by consuming location data and other identifying information that is collected by many websites and broadcast to dozens and sometimes hundreds of ad networks that may wish to bid on showing their ad to a particular user.

WARRANTLESS SURVEILLANCE

Atlas says the Babel Street trial period allowed its investigator to find information about visitors to high-risk targets such as mosques, synagogues, courtrooms and abortion clinics.
In one video, an Atlas investigator showed how they isolated mobile devices seen in a New Jersey courtroom parking lot that was reserved for jurors, and then tracked one likely juror’s phone to their home address over several days.

While the Atlas investigator had access to its trial account at Babel Street, they were able to successfully track devices belonging to several plaintiffs named or referenced in the lawsuit.
They did so by drawing a digital polygon around the home address or workplace of each person in Babel Street’s platform, which focused exclusively on the devices that passed through those addresses each day.

One unique feature of Babel Street is the ability to toggle a “night” mode, which makes it relatively easy to determine within a few meters where a target typically lays their head each night (because their phone is usually not far away).

Location tracking of phones is out of control. Here’s how to fight back.

https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2024/10/phone-tracking-tool-lets-government-agencies-follow-your-every-move/

Fighting back

There are multiple settings that phone users must choose to close off the constant leaking of their locations.
For users of either Android or iOS, the first step is to audit which apps currently have permission to access the device location. This can be done on Android by accessing Settings > Location > App location permissions and, on iOS, Settings > Privacy & Security > Location Services.

Android users who want to block intrusive location gathering have more settings to change than iOS users.
The first thing to do is access Settings > Security & Privacy > Ads and choose “Delete advertising ID.”
Then, promptly ignore the long, scary warning Google provides and hit the button confirming the decision at the bottom. If you don’t see that setting, good for you. It means you already deleted it. Google provides documentation here.

https://policies.google.com/technologies/ads

iOS, by default, doesn’t give apps access to “Identifier for Advertisers,” Apple’s version of the unique tracking number assigned to iPhones, iPads, and AppleTVs. Apps, however, can display a window asking that the setting be turned on, so it’s useful to check.
iPhone users can do this by accessing Settings > Privacy & Security > Tracking. Any apps with permission to access the unique ID will appear.
While there, users should also turn off the “Allow Apps to Request to Track” button. While in iOS Privacy & Security, users should navigate to Apple Advertising and ensure Personalized Ads is turned off.

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