Fog Reveal is a tracking tool that aggregates location data from

mobile app A mobile application or app is a computer program or software application designed to run on a mobile device such as a smartphone, phone, tablet computer, tablet, or smartwatch, watch. Mobile applications often stand in contrast to desktop appli ...

s. It is a product of FOG Data Science.

FOG Data Science

FOG Data Science is a

limited liability company A limited liability company (LLC) is the United States-specific form of a private limited company. It is a business structure that can combine the pass-through taxation of a partnership or sole proprietorship with the limited liability of ...

based in Virginia. It was founded in 2016 by two former

United States Department of Homeland Security The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is the U.S. United States federal executive departments, federal executive department responsible for public security, roughly comparable to the Interior minister, interior, Home Secretary ...

officials. Matthew Broderick, managing partner at the company, was director of operations for the DHS from 2005 to 2006.

Functionality

FOG Data Science purchases commercially available location data from Virginia-based company Venntel, collected from hundreds of mobile apps that sell information on user interests and movements, including the apps of

Starbucks Starbucks Corporation is an American multinational List of coffeehouse chains, chain of coffeehouses and Starbucks Reserve, roastery reserves headquartered in Seattle, Washington. It was founded in 1971 by Jerry Baldwin, Zev Siegl, and Gor ...

and

Waze Waze Mobile Ltd, (; ) doing business as Waze (), formerly FreeMap Israel, is a subsidiary company of Google that provides satellite navigation software on smartphones and other computers that support the Global Positioning System (GPS). In ad ...

. The information is derived from

advertising ID An advertising ID is a unique user identifier (ID) assigned to a mobile device (smart phone, tablet computer), or operating environment, to help advertising services personalize their offers. It can be sent to advertisers and other third parties wh ...

s, unique user IDs assigned to mobile devices allowing advertisers to track people's movements, habits, and usage of apps. Subscriptions to the service cost at least $7,500 per year. While the data is anonymized, officials have commented that competent law enforcement could use the information to identify individuals. According to FOG Data Science partner Matthew Broderick, their historical data profiles go back three years.

Use by law enforcement

Fog Reveal is used by local, state and federal law enforcement agencies in the United States, since at least 2018. Documents procured by the

Electronic Frontier Foundation The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is an American international non-profit digital rights group based in San Francisco, California. It was founded in 1990 to promote Internet civil liberties. It provides funds for legal defense in court, ...

through the

Freedom of Information Act Freedom of Information Act may refer to the following legislations in different jurisdictions which mandate the national government to disclose certain data to the general public upon request: * Freedom of Information Act (United States) of 1966 * F ...

revealed that FOG Data Science had 40 contracts with "nearly two dozen agencies," including the

Dallas Police Department The Dallas Police Department, established in 1881, is the principal law enforcement agency serving the city of Dallas, Texas. Organization The department is headed by a chief of police who is appointed by the city manager who, in turn, is hir ...

and the

Rockingham County, North Carolina Rockingham County is a County (United States), county located in the U.S. state of North Carolina. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 91,096. Its county seat is Wentworth, North Carolina, Wentworth. The county ...

sheriff's office. The software has been used to track individuals without requiring a

search warrant A search warrant is a court order that a magistrate or judge issues to authorize Police, law enforcement officers to conduct a Search and seizure, search of a person, location, or vehicle for evidence of a crime and to Confiscation, confiscate an ...

. According to a 2022

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investigation supported by the

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, law enforcement agencies used Fog Reveal "to search hundreds of billions of records from 250 million mobile devices, and harnessed the data to create location analyses known among law enforcement as 'patterns of life.'" In December 2024, it was discovered that Fog Data Science was instructing law enforcement agencies to list the locations of doctor's offices and lawyers of potential suspects.

Reception

Privacy advocates raised concerns that the use of Fog Reveal by law enforcement agencies could constitute an unreasonable search and seizure, violating the

Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution The Fourth Amendment (Amendment IV) to the United States Constitution is part of the Bill of Rights. It prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures and sets requirements for issuing warrants: warrants must be issued by a judge or magistra ...

. Electronic Frontier Foundation adviser Bennett Cyphers described the software as "sort of a

mass surveillance Mass surveillance is the intricate surveillance of an entire or a substantial fraction of a population in order to monitor that group of citizens. The surveillance is often carried out by Local government, local and federal governments or intell ...

program on a budget."

References

External links

Fog Reveal log-inArchived

Fog Revealed: A Guided Tour of How Cops Can Browse Your Location Data

Data brokers Law enforcement databases in the United States Mass intelligence-gathering systems Mass surveillance industry Surveillance databases