I thought I understood the extent to which the broad availability of mobile location data has exacerbated countless privacy and security challenges. That is, until I was invited along with four other publications to be a virtual observer in a 2-week test run of Babel Street, a service that lets users draw a digital polygon around nearly any location on a map of the world, and view a time-lapse history of the mobile devices seen coming in and out of the area.

The issue isn't that there's some dodgy company offering this as a poorly-vetted service: It's that *anyone* willing to spend a little money can now build this capability themselves.

I'll be updating this story with links to reporting from other publications also invited, including 404 Media, Haaretz, NOTUS, and The New York Times. All of these stories will make clear that mobile location data is set to massively complicate several hot-button issues, from the tracking of suspected illegal immigrants or women seeking abortions, to harassing public servants who are already in the crosshairs over baseless conspiracy theories and increasingly hostile political rhetoric against government employees.

https://krebsonsecurity.com/2024/10/the-global-surveillance-free-for-all-in-mobile-ad-data/