Company:Mobilewalla
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| Type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Data broker |
| Founded | March 7, 2011 in Singapore |
| Founder | Anindya Datta |
| Headquarters | Chamblee, Georgia |
| Website | mobilewalla |
Mobilewalla is an American data broker company that collects and sells mobile device data.[1] It was founded in 2011 by Dr. Anindya Datta, a professor with the School of Computing, National University of Singapore.
During 2016 US elections, the firm targeted evangelicals with cell phone locations in real time of 6 months preceding the election.[2]
End of May 2020, the firm targeted George Floyd protesters located in New York, Los Angeles, Minneapolis and Atlanta and published a report 2 weeks after showing demographics data: ethnicity, gender and age distribution.[3][4] Datta proffered that the report was prepared to satisfy the curiosity of its employees, and not on behest of any law enforcement or public agency.[3] This however prompted various legislators to seek further clarifications with the company on the data itself.[5][3]
In December 2024, the Federal Trade Commission filed a complaint against Mobilewalla alleging multiple violations of consumer protection laws.[6]
References
- ↑ Kaye, Kate (2020-10-14). "Mobile’s dirty little data secret under Washington’s microscope". https://www.thedrum.com/news/2020/10/14/mobile-s-dirty-little-data-secret-under-washington-s-microscope.
- ↑ "Firm That Tracked Protesters Targeted Evangelicals During 2016 Election" (in en-us). Vice. 2020-06-26. https://www.vice.com/en/article/mobilewalla-tracked-protesters-targeted-evangelicals-during-2016-election/.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 "Almost 17,000 Protesters Had No Idea A Tech Company Was Tracing Their Location" (in en). 25 June 2020. https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/carolinehaskins1/protests-tech-company-spying.
- ↑ Mobilewalla (June 17, 2020). "George Floyd Protester Demographics: Insights Across 4 Major US Cities". https://f.hubspotusercontent40.net/hubfs/4309344/MW%20Protester%20Demographic%20Analysis.pdf.
- ↑ "Mobile's dirty little data secret under Washington's microscope" (in en). https://www.thedrum.com/news/2020/10/14/mobile-s-dirty-little-data-secret-under-washington-s-microscope.
- ↑ "FTC Takes Action Against Mobilewalla for Collecting and Selling Sensitive Location Data" (in en). 2024-12-03. https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2024/12/ftc-takes-action-against-mobilewalla-collecting-selling-sensitive-location-data.
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