The consumption kind “was included in an email thread between a Fog representative and Bryan Kimbell, chief human trafficking investigator at the Office of the Attorney General in Georgia,” according to 404 Media.

Solutions like Fog Data Science have actually set off issues about how authorities may utilize place tracking to prosecute abortions. “For several thousand dollars annually, the software lets police trace unique borders around large, customized regions to generate a list of devices in the area. Police can use Fog Reveal to geofence entire buildings or street blocks—like the area surrounding an abortion clinic—and get information on devices used within and surrounding those buildings to identify suspects,” Ars composed in November 2022.

The EFF’s 2022 examination discovered that Fog acquired information from the company Venntel, which is the topic of a Federal Trade Commission action. The FTC recently revealed a proposed settlement with Venntel and its owner, Gravy Analytics. The FTC declared that “Gravy Analytics and Venntel violated the FTC Act by unfairly selling sensitive consumer location data, and by collecting and using consumers’ location data without obtaining verifiable user consent for commercial and government uses.”

“Surreptitious surveillance by data brokers undermines our civil liberties and puts servicemembers, union workers, religious minorities, and others at risk,” Samuel Levine, director of the FTC Bureau of Consumer Protection, stated in the statement. According to the FTC, Gravy Analytics utilized geofencing “to identify and sell lists of consumers who attended certain events related to medical conditions and places of worship and sold additional lists that associate individual consumers to other sensitive characteristics.”

If the proposed order works, “Gravy Analytics and Venntel will be prohibited from selling, disclosing, or using sensitive location data in any product or service, and must establish a sensitive data location program,” the FTC stated. Among the FTC’s 2 Republicans partly dissented from the choice, which might not be completed up until after President-elect Trump takes workplace.