According to TechCrunch, journalists found it “easy” to spy on top European Union officials using commercially obtained location data sold by brokers, despite Europe having some of the strongest data protection laws globally. Reporters obtained a dataset containing 278 million location data points from millions of phones around Belgium, including granular location histories of Europe’s top officials working directly for the European Commission. The data included 2,000 location markers from 264 officials’ devices and around 5,800 markers from more than 750 devices in the European Parliament. This location data gets uploaded by ordinary phone apps and sold to data brokers, who then resell it to governments and militaries. EU officials said they’re “concerned” about this trade and have issued new guidance to staff, while Europe’s data protection watchdogs have been slow to take enforcement action against the billion-dollar data brokering industry.
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<h2 id="the-data-broker-economy”>The Data Broker Economy
Here’s the thing that should worry everyone: your phone’s location data is basically a commodity being traded in a shadow economy. We’re talking about a billion-dollar industry where companies buy and sell information about where you live, work, and travel. And the craziest part? This happens through apps you probably use every day. They collect your location, package it up, and sell it to brokers who then resell it to whoever’s buying – including governments and military organizations.
Remember that Gravy Analytics breach last year? That exposed location data for tens of millions of people. But here’s what’s even more concerning – that wasn’t a one-off situation. It’s the entire business model. These brokers operate in this gray area where they claim the data is “anonymized,” but journalists just proved how easy it is to identify specific individuals, including people in sensitive government positions.
Why GDPR Isn’t Working
So Europe has GDPR, right? Some of the toughest privacy laws in the world. How is this still happening? Basically, there’s a massive enforcement gap. The laws exist on paper, but the regulators aren’t keeping up with the data brokers. These companies have found ways to operate within technical compliance while completely undermining the spirit of the law.
Think about it – we’ve got EU officials who helped create these privacy protections now discovering their own location data is for sale. That’s pretty ironic, isn’t it? It shows that even the people making the rules aren’t safe from the very industry they’re supposed to be regulating.
What You Can Actually Do
Now for the practical side. Both Apple and Android offer some protection, but you have to be proactive about it. Apple users can anonymize their device identifiers, while Android owners should regularly reset their device’s identifier. Apple’s support page explains how to limit tracking, but let’s be real – most people don’t even know these settings exist.
The bigger issue is that this puts the burden on individuals rather than holding companies accountable. You shouldn’t need to be a privacy expert to prevent your location data from being sold to the highest bidder. Especially when that data could end up revealing where you live, where your kids go to school, or when your house is empty.
The Bigger Picture
This isn’t just about EU officials. If reporters can track hundreds of government workers this easily, imagine what determined adversaries could do. We’re talking about national security risks, corporate espionage opportunities, and straight-up stalking capabilities being sold like any other commodity.
The fact that this data is so readily available – journalists got it as a “free sample” – should terrify everyone. It means your movements are cheaper and easier to obtain than most people realize. And until regulators start treating data brokers with the same seriousness they treat other privacy violations, this shadow economy will just keep growing.
