Summary
A Citizen Lab investigation reveals a surveillance system Webloc, now sold by U.S.-based Penlink, exploits mobile advertising data and app SDKs to track the locations and behaviors of up to 500 million devices globally, providing warrantless access to military, intelligence, and law enforcement agencies across multiple countries. The report also exposes related tools including Trapdoor, a phishing and device-exploitation platform, and documents widespread civil liberties violations, GDPR concerns, and links to spyware vendor Quadream.
Take Action:
Every app on your phone has a hidden advertising ID that acts like a digital name tag, letting surveillance companies track your every move. Go to your phone settings right now: on iPhone go to Settings > Privacy > Tracking and disable "Allow Apps to Request to Track", on Android go to Settings > Privacy > Ads and delete your advertising ID. While you're there, go to Location Services and switch every app's location access to "Never". At most, enable "While Using" if you (not the app) absolutely need it like navigation.
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