QUESTION
What types of location data are concerning in regards to privacy and surveillance?
2:24:04
·
109 sec
Albert Fox Cahn explains that location data from activities like attending protests, places of worship, health facilities, and schools can be accessed and weaponized by various groups.
- Location data reveals sensitive information about people's lives and whereabouts
- This data is inexpensive to obtain, costing just a few hundred dollars for a dataset
- It allows tracking of individuals' movements and the places they visit throughout the day
- There are concerns about lack of privacy and the implications for democracy
- While Europe has stronger privacy regulations, in the U.S. data brokers can sell location data to anyone
Jennifer Gutiérrez
2:24:04
I'm gonna pass it to council member, Renee, but I just wanted to ask questions on intro 539, which is the first time that we're technically hearing this cell and geolocation data.
2:24:14
Can you share what types of location data you're you all are most concerned about?
Albert Fox Cahn
2:24:20
I mean, when we think about location data, we think about nearly everything we do.
2:24:24
If you go to a political protest, if you go to a house of worship, if you go to a reproductive OF HEALTH CARE FACILITY.
2:24:30
IF YOU GO TO THE YOUR KIDS SCHOOL AND ANY SENSITIVE SITE WE go to in our lives is up to for grabs for the highest bidder, and it's not just something that we see being routinely weaponized by law enforcement, but also something that we see being used by political extremists that can be used by any number of groups.
2:24:53
And it it's really cheap.
2:24:55
Right?
2:24:55
It would just take a few $100 to get the geolocation data of everyone in this room right now, to get l dataset that we could then use to track where people go throughout the day, what how they're living their lives, what other places they go to.
2:25:11
And to me, this really does go to the heart of what it means to be a democracy.
2:25:16
You know, we need to be able to have the capacity to go places without second guessing how that's gonna be weaponized.
2:25:26
And, you know, this is something where, you know, we've seen regulators in Europe really taking these privacy concerns more seriously.
2:25:34
But, you know, right now, we see this huge market in the US for data brokers that will sell this information seemingly to anyone.
2:25:45
And and really, it's something that I I'm glad to see the city taking a leadership role in pushing back against.
