According to TechCrunch, journalists found it was “easy” to spy on top European Union officials using commercially obtained location data sold by brokers, despite Europe having some of the strongest data protection laws. Reporters obtained a dataset containing 278 million location data points from millions of phones around Belgium, including granular location histories of Europe’s top officials working directly for the European Commission. The data included 2,000 location markers from 264 officials’ devices and around 5,800 markers from more than 750 devices in the European Parliament. Much of this data gets uploaded by ordinary phone apps and sold to data brokers, who then sell it to governments and militaries. EU officials said they’re “concerned” about this trade and have issued new guidance to staff, while data brokering has ballooned into a billion-dollar industry involving people’s private information.
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The GDPR Paradox
Here’s the thing that really gets me: Europe has GDPR, which is supposed to be the gold standard for data protection. But apparently it’s not stopping this massive location data marketplace from operating right under their noses. The reporters got this data as a free sample from a data broker, which means this stuff is just floating around waiting to be purchased. And we’re not talking about random citizens here – we’re talking about the people who literally make Europe’s data protection laws having their own movements tracked and sold. The irony is so thick you could cut it with a knife.
How This Actually Happens
Basically, when you install those “free” apps on your phone, many of them are quietly harvesting your location data in the background. They package it up and sell it to data brokers, who then turn around and sell it to pretty much anyone with a budget – including governments and military organizations. Remember last year when Gravy Analytics had that massive data breach that exposed tens of millions of people’s locations? That was just one broker. There are apparently many more operating in this shadowy ecosystem. And the scary part? Researchers said this data could be used to extensively track people’s recent whereabouts, including where they live and work.
What You Can Actually Do
So what can regular people do about this? Well, there are some basic steps. Apple users can anonymize their device identifiers, which makes it harder for trackers to follow you across apps and services. Android owners can regularly reset their device’s advertising ID. But let’s be real – most people don’t even know these settings exist, and the process isn’t exactly user-friendly. The bigger issue is that we’re relying on individuals to protect themselves from an entire industry that’s built around surveilling them without meaningful consent.
The Enforcement Failure
Now here’s the real problem: according to the Netzpolitik report, European watchdogs and officials have been “slow to take stronger enforcement action against data brokers.” Meanwhile, this industry keeps growing into a billion-dollar business. When you’ve got location data from EU officials themselves being traded like baseball cards, you have to wonder – is anyone actually in control here? The new guidance to staff is a start, but it feels like putting a bandage on a hemorrhage. If they can’t protect their own most sensitive personnel, what hope do the rest of us have?
