Your Location Data Isn’t as Anonymous as You Think

We all know that our phones and apps keep tabs on our locations—and it feels like most of us have come to terms with the fact that way too much of this data makes it into the hands of companies that want to advertise to us. The problem? No one really thinks about how that data is actually being stored, or how anonymous it isn’t.

According to a recent investigation by The New York Times, the data collected by the devices, apps, services, and websites we use gets passed along to a handful of private data-collection companies, who then funnel it into massive databases.

The Times was given access to one such file that included data on over 12 million devices from 2016 to 2017, representing a total of more than 50 billionindividually pinged geographic locations. All of these locations can be easily pinpointed on satellite maps, and they include…well, everywhere: celebrity homes, secure government facilities like the Pentagon, and just about every major city or public location you can think of.

MORE: https://lifehacker.com/your-location-data-isnt-as-anonymous-as-you-think-1840540886

Your Location Data Isn’t as Anonymous as You Think