EU Officials' Location Data For Sale: Report

Location Data of EU Officials Exposed Through Data Brokers

Investigations conducted by journalists across Europe revealed a surprising vulnerability: the relative ease with which the location histories of high-ranking European Union officials could be tracked.

This tracking was achieved through commercially available location data, acquired from data brokers, despite the existence of robust data protection regulations within the continent.

Data Acquisition and Scope

EU authorities have expressed significant concern regarding the commercial exchange of mobile phone location data belonging to both citizens and officials.

New guidelines have been issued to staff members in an effort to mitigate this tracking, as detailed in a report published by Netzpolitik.

A collaborative effort by a group of reporters resulted in the acquisition of a dataset containing 278 million location data points.

This dataset, initially provided as a sample by a data broker, encompassed the location information of millions of individuals within Belgium.

The majority of this location data originates from everyday applications installed on personal mobile phones.

These applications transmit the data to data brokers, who subsequently sell it to governmental organizations and military entities.

Impact on EU Officials

The obtained dataset also contained detailed location histories of prominent European officials.

This included individuals directly employed by the European Commission, headquartered in Brussels.

Reporters successfully identified hundreds of devices linked to personnel working in sensitive areas related to the EU.

Specifically, over 2,000 location markers were traced from the devices of 264 officials, and approximately 5,800 location markers were associated with more than 750 devices within the European Parliament.

GDPR and Enforcement Challenges

Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) represents some of the most stringent data protection laws globally.

However, enforcement actions against data brokers have been notably slow, according to Netzpolitik’s findings.

The data brokering industry has experienced substantial growth, evolving into a multi-billion dollar market centered around the sale and trade of personal location data and other private information.

Mitigation Strategies

Users of Apple devices can employ methods to anonymize their device identifiers, thereby reducing tracking potential.

Android users can also enhance their privacy by periodically resetting their device’s identifier.

Recent Data Breaches

In the previous year, a data breach at Gravy Analytics compromised the location data of tens of millions of individuals.

This exposed sensitive information, including frequently visited locations, residential addresses, and workplaces.

Researchers analyzing the leaked data highlighted its potential for extensive tracking of individuals’ movements and activities.