On Thursday, a federal judge in Idaho dismissed a lawsuit filed by the Federal Trade Commission last year against leading location-data broker Kochava. In the ruling, the judge wrote that regulators had not provided enough evidence to support their allegation that the company was unfairly selling information about the precise location of millions of cell phones. rice field.
But the court has given the FTC an opportunity to strengthen its case if it wishes to proceed with the case.
The ruling is at least a temporary blow to recent aggressive efforts by the commission to crack down on the sale and use of potentially sensitive information, including consumer drug prescriptions, religious and sexual orientation data. give.
Based in Sandpoint, Idaho, Kochava is a mobile analytics company that uses location data to help marketers target and measure advertising campaigns. The company typically collects more than 90 location data points per day from approximately 35 million active mobile device users, according to the judge’s ruling. Location coordinates can “reveal where each mobile device has been about every 15 minutes.”
among them Complaints about Cochavafiled last August, the FTC uses geolocation data the company sells on tens of millions of smartphones to target churches, mosques, synagogues, abortion clinics, domestic violence shelters, medical It claimed it could be used to track people’s visits to private places such as centers, homeless shelters.
Location data can be used not only to track when patients visit abortion clinics, but also to track the location of medical professionals who provide medical procedures such as abortions, according to regulators.
For example, in a study of location data brokers several years ago, a New York Times reporter was able to use a mobile device location data set to track smartphone users from their home in the suburbs of Newark to a Planned Parenthood clinic.
“The sale of such data results in unwarranted intrusion into the most private areas of consumers’ lives and causes or may cause serious harm to consumers,” the FTC complaint states. .
However, a judge in the United States District Court for the District of Idaho dismissed the agency’s argument that the sale of Kochava’s location data was a serious violation of consumer privacy and amounted to substantial harm.
The court also agreed with the FTC that Kochava’s sale of location data could allow third parties to track and harm smartphone users visiting sensitive locations. said regulators have not provided sufficient evidence that consumers are, or may be, suffering. Suffer – material harm.
In the statement Douglas FarrarAn FTC spokesperson said, “We are pleased that the court has agreed to our important arguments, and we look forward to continuing to advance our arguments on behalf of U.S. consumers. ”
Charles Manning Kochava’s founder and CEO welcomed the judge’s ruling, saying the company complies with “all rules and laws,” including privacy laws.
“We hope that challenging the FTC will bring necessary regulatory clarification that will ultimately benefit consumers and advertisers,” he said in a statement.
The dismissal of this lawsuit highlights the uphill battle facing regulators trying to limit or prohibit certain types of data collection and use.
In an administrative action earlier this week, the Federal Trade Commission proposed banning Meta from monetizing the personal data of users under the age of 18 on Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp, and other corporate platforms. Such a blanket ban could bar Meta from using youth data for purposes such as ad targeting and “powering its own data models and algorithms,” the agency said. administrative order.
Meta says it will “fight hard” against the FTC’s measures and hopes to win.
