ATF cancels phone tracking contract after lawmakers raise concerns
Lawmakers said ATF conducted more than 300 warrantless searches before ending the Webloc pilot, which used commercially acquired location data.
- The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives discontinued a pilot program using the surveillance tool Webloc after Rep. Michael Cloud and Sen. Ron Wyden expressed reservations about warrantless mobile device tracking.
- Such 'ad tech' data allows agencies to bypass warrant requirements to identify mobile devices in specific areas. Sen. Ron Wyden called the practice an 'unacceptable end-run around the Fourth Amendment.'
- ATF conducted more than 300 warrantless searches using Webloc, including more than 200 tied to active cases. The tool, made by Penlink, sources location data from consumer apps and advertising networks.
- Sen. Ron Wyden called the decision 'a victory for Americans' constitutional rights.' ATF Director Robert Cekada previously acknowledged purchasing geolocation data, despite a 2018 Supreme Court ruling requiring warrants.
- Other users of Webloc include the military, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and local police in Elk Grove, Calif. and Durham. Research from Citizen Lab indicates the technology expanded to agencies in Salvador and Hungarian intelligence.
35 Articles
35 Articles
ATF cancels controversial commercial geolocation contract
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) canceled a contract with Penlink that used ad-surveillance technologies to track the location of Americans.The contract was canceled a little more than a month after ATF Director Robert Cekada acknowledged under questioning from Rep. Michael Cloud, R-Texas, in a congressional hearing that the agency was purchasing the geolocation data of Americans through a contract for “an ad-tech ty…
Associated Press News
ATF cancels phone tracking contract after lawmakers raise concerns
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has canceled its contract for a surveillance tool that allows warrantless tracking of mobile devices.
Telemundo Fresno
The Office of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives of the United States (ATF) cancelled its contract to use a surveillance tool to track mobile devices without a warrant, after two legislators, a prosecutor and a judge raised doubts about the legality of the tool in criminal investigations.
The Office of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives of the United States (ATF) cancelled its contract to use a surveillance tool to track mobile devices without a warrant, after two legislators, a prosecutor and a judge raised doubts about the legality of the tool in criminal investigations.
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