The Federal Trade Commission will ban data broker Kochava and its subsidiary Collective Data Solutions from selling precise location data without consumers’ explicit consent, ending a case the agency filed in 2022 over data tied to hundreds of millions of mobile devices.
KEY FACTS
- Case The FTC sued Kochava in August 2022 over the sale of precise geolocation data.
- Data The company said its feed covered billions of devices and billions of geo transactions.
- Risk The data could reveal visits to sensitive sites such as clinics, shelters and places of worship.
- Order The proposed settlement also requires consent checks, deletion rules and incident reports.
The complaint said Kochava sold access to location data through a subscription service on the Amazon Web Services Marketplace for $25,000. It said clients could use the feed to track mobile users to and from sensitive locations, including mental health and addiction recovery facilities, reproductive health clinics, shelters for homeless people and domestic violence survivors.
The FTC said consumers were not aware of the sharing and had not consented to it, which left them exposed to harms including stalking, discrimination and physical violence. Kochava filed a separate lawsuit against the agency and said it would add a privacy-focused block for health service locations before the enforcement action advanced.
Under the proposed order filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Idaho, the companies would be barred from selling, licensing, transferring or disclosing precise location data unless they have affirmative express consent and the data is used to provide a service the consumer directly requested. They would also need programs to verify consent, let consumers ask who received their data, and set retention and deletion schedules.
The proposed order will take effect only if a judge approves it. The FTC has also moved in recent years against other data brokers over location tracking data, including InMarket Media, Outlogic, Gravy Analytics and Mobilewalla.
WHY IT MATTERS
The case adds another federal limit on the commercial market for precise location data, which can expose where people live, work and seek sensitive services. It also signals that companies handling such data may face consent checks, retention rules and disclosure obligations before they can trade it.