US Secret Service bought access to cellphone location data

The US Secret Service signed a contract to access Locate X, a service that aggregates location data from phone apps and allows law enforcement to track devices without a warrant. The contract with Babel Street was worth about $36,000 and ran from 2017 to 2018. A former employee said the Secret Service used Locate X in 2018 to seize illegal credit card skimmers at petrol stations. Lawmakers and civil liberties advocates criticised the practice, and Senator Ron Wyden introduced a bill to ban such purchases.

Date it happened

2018-01-01

Organisation involved

United States Secret Service

Product, system or model

Locate X

This is a record of what was reported, not a finding that anyone broke the law. If it names your organisation and you believe it is wrong, the corrections process is free and open to everyone.