Databroker Files: All you need to know about how adtech data exposes the EU to espionage

A recent investigation has revealed the vulnerability of the European Union to espionage due to the unregulated trade of mobile phone location data. This investigation, spearheaded by netzpolitik.org, exposed how easily commercial datasets can be exploited, raising serious concerns about the security of EU institutions and personnel. The European Commission has expressed its concern, and Members of Parliament are calling for action. The investigation analyzed datasets containing 278 million location pings from Belgium, obtained from data brokers. These datasets, offered as free samples, were used to track the movements of high-ranking EU personnel, including location data from within NATO headquarters. The data included 13 billion location records from various countries, demonstrating the global scope of the issue. The findings have significant implications for European security, as ad tracking and the uncontrolled trade of personal data pose a direct threat. The ability to reconstruct movement profiles from unique device identifiers exposes sensitive locations like workplaces and homes, potentially jeopardizing national security and individual privacy. This situation underscores the need for legislative action to curb the practices of data brokers. The Databroker Files investigation is part of an ongoing project that began in the summer of 2024. The next step is to examine how existing regulations like GDPR are insufficient to stop this kind of data collection and to propose solutions.