Judge Dismisses F.T.C. Lawsuit Against a Location Data Broker
Summary
The Federal Trade Commission argued that Kochava’s sale of geolocation data from smartphones could be used to expose people’s visits to private places like abortion clinics. In a ruling, the judge wrote that regulators had not provided sufficient evidence to back up their claims that the company was unfairly selling information on the precise locations of millions of people’s mobile phones. The ruling deals at least a temporary blow to recent aggressive efforts by the commission to crack down on the sale and use of potentially sensitive information, like data on consumers’ drug prescriptions, religious affiliations or sexual orientation. Kochava, based in Sandpoint, Idaho, is a mobile analytics firm that uses location data to help marketers target and measure ad campaigns. The case dismissal highlights the uphill battle regulators are facing in trying to restrict or bar certain kinds of data collection and usage.
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