{"id":43717,"date":"2024-01-18T14:07:19","date_gmt":"2024-01-18T19:07:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/d56fg8tfg.fitnews.club\/finance\/ftc-order-will-ban-inmarket-from-selling-precise-consumer-location-data\/"},"modified":"2024-01-18T14:07:19","modified_gmt":"2024-01-18T19:07:19","slug":"ftc-order-will-ban-inmarket-from-selling-precise-consumer-location-data","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/d56fg8tfg.fitnews.club\/finance\/ftc-order-will-ban-inmarket-from-selling-precise-consumer-location-data\/","title":{"rendered":"FTC Order Will Ban InMarket from Selling Precise Consumer Location Data"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Data aggregator InMarket Media will be prohibited from selling or licensing any precise location data to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that the company did not fully inform consumers and obtain their consent before collecting and using their location data for advertising and marketing.<\/p>\n

Under the proposed order<\/a>, InMarket will also be prohibited from selling, licensing, transferring, or sharing any product or service that categorizes or targets consumers based on sensitive location data.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll too often, Americans are tracked by serial data hoarders that endlessly vacuum up and use personal information. Today\u2019s FTC action makes clear that firms do not have free license to monetize data tracking people\u2019s precise location,\u201d said FTC Chair Lina M. Khan. \u201cWe\u2019ll continue to use all our tools to protect Americans from unchecked corporate surveillance.\u201d<\/p>\n

Texas-based InMarket collects location information from a variety of sources, including its own apps and from third-party apps that incorporate its software development kit (SDK). InMarket cross-references consumers\u2019 location histories with advertising-related points of interest to identify consumers who have visited those locations and then sorts consumers, based on their visits to these points of interest, into audience segments to which it can target advertising based on their past behavior.<\/p>\n

InMarket has maintained nearly 2,000 such audience segment lists that have included such categories as \u201cparents of preschoolers,\u201d \u201cChristian church goers,\u201d and \u201cwealthy and not healthy.\u201d InMarket can display ads based on this information to users of apps that incorporate its SDK and also offers a product that sends ads to consumers based on their location.<\/p>\n

In its complaint<\/a>, the FTC says InMarket failed to obtain informed consent from users of its own apps, shopping rewards app CheckPoints and shopping list app ListEase. For example, when the company requests to use a consumer\u2019s location data, it states that the data will be used for the app\u2019s function, such as to provide shopping reward points or to remind consumers about items on their shopping list, and fails to inform users that the location data will also be combined with other data obtained about those users and used for targeted advertising.<\/p>\n

The FTC says that InMarket also failed to ensure that third-party apps that incorporate the company\u2019s SDK have obtained informed consent. In fact, the company failed to tell third party apps that the location data provided through InMarket\u2019s SDK will be combined with other data to create profiles of consumers, according to the complaint.<\/p>\n

The FTC also says that the company\u2019s policy of retaining geolocation data for five years was unnecessary to carry out the purposes for which it was collected and increased the risk that this sensitive data could be disclosed, misused, and linked back to the consumer, thereby exposing sensitive information about the consumer.<\/p>\n

This is the second case the FTC has brought in recent weeks involving the unfair collection of location data, which can reveal sensitive information about a person\u2019s life. Earlier this month, the FTC announced a settlement with X-Mode Social and its successor Outlogic<\/a> over allegations 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 addition to the ban on selling or licensing precise location data\u2014a first for the FTC\u2014the proposed order <\/b>also requires InMarket to take several steps to strengthen protections for consumers. Under the proposed order, the company:<\/p>\n