{"id":43584,"date":"2024-01-09T12:49:44","date_gmt":"2024-01-09T17:49:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/d56fg8tfg.fitnews.club\/finance\/ftc-order-prohibits-data-broker-x-mode-social-and-outlogic-from-selling-sensitive-location-data\/"},"modified":"2024-01-09T12:49:44","modified_gmt":"2024-01-09T17:49:44","slug":"ftc-order-prohibits-data-broker-x-mode-social-and-outlogic-from-selling-sensitive-location-data","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/d56fg8tfg.fitnews.club\/finance\/ftc-order-prohibits-data-broker-x-mode-social-and-outlogic-from-selling-sensitive-location-data\/","title":{"rendered":"FTC Order Prohibits Data Broker X-Mode Social and Outlogic from Selling Sensitive Location Data"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Data broker X-Mode Social and its successor Outlogic will be prohibited from sharing or selling any sensitive location data to settle Federal Trade Commission allegations that the company sold precise location data that could be used to track people\u2019s visits to sensitive locations such as medical and reproductive health clinics, places of religious worship and domestic abuse shelters.<\/p>\n

In its first settlement with a data broker concerning the collection and sale of sensitive location information, the FTC also charged that Virginia-based X-Mode Social and Outlogic, LLC, the successor firm to which X-Mode transferred most of its operations in 2021, failed to put in place reasonable and appropriate safeguards on the use of such information by third parties. Today\u2019s action underscores the FTC\u2019s strong commitment to restraining the collection, sale, or disclosure of consumer’ sensitive location data.<\/p>\n

\u201cGeolocation data can reveal not just where a person lives and whom they spend time with but also, for example, which medical treatments they seek and where they worship. The FTC\u2019s action against X-Mode makes clear that businesses do not have free license to market and sell Americans\u2019 sensitive location\u00a0data,\u201d said FTC Chair Lina M. Khan. \u201cBy securing a first-ever ban on the use and sale of sensitive location data, the FTC is continuing its critical work to protect Americans from intrusive data brokers and unchecked corporate surveillance.\u201d<\/p>\n

The raw location data that X-Mode\/Outlogic has sold is associated with mobile advertising IDs, which are unique identifiers associated with each mobile device. This raw location data is not anonymized, and is capable of matching an individual consumer\u2019s mobile device with the locations they visited. In fact, some companies offer services that help companies match such data to individual consumers.<\/p>\n

X-Mode\/Outlogic sells and licenses precise location data that it collects from third-party apps that incorporate its software development kit (SDK) into their apps, from its own mobile apps, and by purchasing location data from other data brokers and aggregators. The company sells consumer location data to hundreds of clients in industries ranging from real estate to finance, as well as private government contractors for their own purposes, such as advertising or brand analytics.<\/p>\n

According to the FTC\u2019s complaint<\/a>, until May 2023, the company did not have any policies in place to remove sensitive locations from the raw location data it sold. The FTC says X-Mode\/Outlogic did not implement reasonable or appropriate safeguards against downstream use of the precise location data it sells, putting consumers\u2019 sensitive personal information at risk.<\/p>\n

The information revealed through the location data that X-Mode\/Outlogic sold not only violated consumers\u2019 privacy but also exposed them to potential discrimination, physical violence, emotional distress, and other harms, according to the complaint.<\/p>\n

The FTC also says the company failed to ensure that users of its own apps, Drunk Mode and Walk Against Humanity, as well as third party apps that used the X-Mode\/Outlogic\u2019s SDK were fully informed about how their location data would be used. For example, X-Mode\/Outlogic provided third party apps that use the company\u2019s SDK with sample privacy disclosures that did not fully inform consumers about which entities would receive the data and also failed to ensure these third-party apps obtained informed consumer consent to grant X-Mode\/Outlogic access to their sensitive location data.<\/p>\n

The company also failed to employ the necessary technical safeguards and oversight to ensure that it honored requests by some android users to opt out of tracking and personalized ads, according to the complaint.<\/p>\n

The company’s business has also involved creating custom audience segments based on characteristics of consumers. For at least one contract, X-Mode provided a private clinical research company information for marketing and advertising purposes about consumers who had visited certain internal medical facilities and then pharmacies or specialty infusion centers within a certain radius in the Columbus, Ohio area.<\/p>\n

The FTC says these practices violate the FTC Act\u2019s prohibition against unfair and deceptive practices.<\/p>\n

In addition to the limits on sharing certain sensitive locations, the proposed order<\/a>\u00a0requires X-Mode\/Outlogic to create a program to ensure it develops and maintains a comprehensive list of sensitive locations, and ensure it is not sharing, selling or transferring location data about such locations. Other provisions of the proposed order require the company to:<\/p>\n