Report shows police can track you to abortion clinic with this device

You can track your smartphone with a tool called Locate X. It is used by law enforcement and other US government agencies and they do not need a warrant to track you.

This may or may not be news to you. Locate X was developed by a data watchdog called Babel Street, which previously had coverage in 2020. At the time, many reports revealed A Secret Service document related to the agency's agreement with the company to use the tool.

however, 404 media There is a new look to the tool that includes a test run of the active program, and that's to say the least.

A tool to track your abortion clinic visits

Upon investigation, step 404 was able to focus on the individual cell phone displayed as a red dot in the Medialocate X tool.

The device tracked the cell phone from an apparent residence in Alabama to a Lowe's store, then down the road to a church and finally to an abortion clinic in Florida. Red Dot remained at the abortion clinic for two hours before returning to the obvious residence. The tool tracked the phone to the clinic only once.

In 2022, Roe v. Since Wade's repeal, Alabama has outright banned abortion in most cases. Republican-controlled states that have banned abortion, including Alabama, are seeking to further criminalize those seeking abortions in places like Florida.

All cell phone surveillance history presented above was obtained without a warrant. It is worth noting that the device alone cannot identify the user connected to the phone, but authorities can certainly use additional tools at agencies' disposal to identify a user.

Additionally, 404 Media's Snippet Locate X app is not issued by any government or law enforcement agency. Babel Street directly accessed the evidence through data exfiltration company Atlas Privacy. The company, which is currently suing data brokers that run tools like LocateX, was able to obtain the evidence by claiming it was a private investigation company. No suspension was imposed on the investigation.

404 Noting that media companies like Apple and Google have put more emphasis on protecting user location data on iPhones and Android devices in recent years. However, third-party apps, advertisers, and data brokers still collect varying amounts of user information that makes tools like LocateX possible.

as Krebs on security Last week, Atlas Privacy Law Enforcement filed a lawsuit against Babel Street, alleging that it violated a New Jersey law that allows government officials and their families to be completely removed from data brokers' records.

If you are currently concerned about your cell phone being used to track your location with tools like Locate X, you can decline tracking requests from mobile apps for now.