FTC Bans Data Broker From Selling Location Data

Data brokers don’t have a “free license” to sell sensitive location data, FTC Chair Lina Khan said Tuesday, announcing the agency’s first ban on selling location data. The agency announced a nonmonetary settlement with Virginia-based X-Mode Social and Outlogic, its successor. Until May, the company lacked policies "to remove sensitive locations from the raw location data it sold,” the FTC said. X-Mode/Outlogic didn’t “implement reasonable or appropriate safeguards against downstream use of the precise location data it sells, putting consumers’ sensitive personal information at risk,” it added. The commission approved a consent order 3-0 with the company. X-Mode now faces fines of up to $50,120 per violation for future infractions. X-Mode must implement a program with continuous review of its data sets and prevent disclosure of sensitive location data. In addition, it must delete all location data it previously collected. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., applauded the agency for “taking tough action to hold this shady location data broker responsible.” He said that in 2020, he “discovered that the company had sold Americans' location data to U.S. military customers through defense contractors.” The FTC action is “encouraging,” but Congress needs to pass legislation allowing regulators to hold data brokers more accountable, Wyden said. An attorney for X-Mode didn’t comment Tuesday.