(TheLibertyRevolution.com)- The Intercept recently ran a lengthy exposé on Anomaly Six, a US government contractor founded by two former military intelligence officers, and how that company has amassed an enormous amount of personal information by purchasing smartphone app location harvesting data.
According to The Intercept, in the months before Russia invaded Ukraine, Anomaly Six, or A6, wanted to develop a surveillance system to track the movements of people’s phones using data purchased from Twitter by joining forces with Zignal Labs and its social media surveillance. The goal was to provide the US government the capability to spy on the Russian forces that were massing on the border with Ukraine. And to prove that the system would work, A6 spied on the National Security Agency and the Central Intelligence Agency using their cellphones.
The Intercept article is incredibly long and loaded with so much detail that at times, it’s not especially easy to follow as the writers take you deep into the weeds.
According to the writers, there is a good chance that A6 “knows an immense amount about you.” It is one of many companies that buy the location data and tracking for “hundreds of millions of people around the world” that gets collected because most people don’t realize some of the apps on their smartphones are constantly tracking location data and relaying it to advertisers. And once that data is compiled, others, in the private sector or the government, can buy it.
Like most investigative pieces from The Intercept, this article is exposing how easy it is for governments and the private sector to violate the privacy of citizens by exploiting technology.
The article goes into extensive detail on what Anomaly Six and Zignal Labs were up to. And the reason the writers were able to get so far into the weeds is someone leaked the material to them.
The source who provided the material was gravely concerned about having government contractors like Anomaly Six and Zignal Labs “revealing social posts, usernames, and locations of Americans” to “Defense Department” users.
It is long and very detailed. But to fully grasp the extent of the data these companies can get their hands on, it is well worth the time.
Read the full piece HERE.
