S.T.O.P. Welcomes FTC Location Settlement, Calls For State Ban

S.T.O.P. welcomed the settlement as a major privacy win ahead of the incoming Trump administration, but renewed its call on New York State...

View this email in your browser For Immediate Release S.T.O.P. Welcomes FTC Location Settlement, Calls For State Ban (New York, NY, 12/3/2024) - Today, the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project (S.T.O.P.), a New York-based privacy and civil rights group, welcomes a proposed settlement by the Federal Trade Commission to ban some of the most prominent location data brokers from collecting, disclosing, and selling users’ location data at sensitive sites, including places of worship, health facilities, labor union offices, correctional facilities, and other locations. The settlement specifically takes action against Gravy Analytics Inc. and its subsidiary Venntel Inc., highlighting their use of geofence warrants and sale of sensitive location data without user consent. S.T.O.P. welcomed the settlement as a major privacy win ahead of the incoming Trump administration, but renewed its call on New York State to ban location data harvesting completely. SEE: 404 Media - FTC Bans Location Data Company That Powers the Surveillance Ecosystem https://www.404media.co/ftc-bans-location-data-company-that-powers-the-surveillance-ecosystem/ Federal Trade Commission - FTC Takes Action Against Gravy Analytics, Venntel for Unlawfully Selling Location Data Tracking Consumers to Sensitive Sites https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2024/12/ftc-takes-action-against-gravy-analytics-venntel-unlawfully-selling-location-data-tracking-consumers “This FTC settlement has huge implications for abortion access, protest, gender affirming care, free exercise, and just about everything else under threat from the incoming administration,” said Surveillance Technology Oversight Project Executive Director Albert Fox Cahn. “But we need to go further and pass state laws that ban this sort of predatory geoharvesting completely. It’s long past time New York pass our first-in-the-nation law banning large-scale location tracking with or without a warrant.” Last year, S.T.O.P. welcomed a privacy update from Google whereby location history in Google Maps will only be saved on a user’s device. In April 2020, the civil rights group helped introduce the nation’s first proposed ban on geofence warrants. The New York law would outlaw reverse keyword search warrants and police use of commercial databases to track location data. SEE: Press Release - S.T.O.P. Welcomes Google Location Privacy Update https://www.stopspying.org/latest-news/2023/12/13/stop-welcomes-google-location-privacy-update S.T.O.P - Geolocation Tracking Ban https://www.stopspying.org/location-tracking The Surveillance Technology Oversight Project is a non-profit advocacy organization and legal services provider. S.T.O.P. litigates and advocates for privacy, fighting excessive local and state-level surveillance. Our work highlights the discriminatory impact of surveillance on Muslim Americans, immigrants, and communities of color. --END-- Copyright © 2021 Surveillance Technology Oversight Project, All rights reserved. Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.