{"id":34113,"date":"2020-03-30T15:32:51","date_gmt":"2020-03-30T15:32:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/packetstormsecurity.com\/news\/view\/31076\/Federal-Officials-Are-Using-Your-Cellphone-Data-To-Respond-To-The-Outbreak.html"},"modified":"2020-03-30T15:32:51","modified_gmt":"2020-03-30T15:32:51","slug":"federal-officials-are-using-your-cellphone-data-to-respond-to-the-outbreak","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.threatshub.org\/blog\/federal-officials-are-using-your-cellphone-data-to-respond-to-the-outbreak\/","title":{"rendered":"Federal Officials Are Using Your Cellphone Data To Respond To The Outbreak"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"Illustration<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Photo: Spencer Platt (Getty)<\/p><\/div>\n

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has teamed up with state and local governments across America to track people\u2019s cellphone location data and trace the novel coronavirus\u2019s spread, according to a new Wall Street Journal<\/a><\/span> report.<\/p>\n

Mobile advertising companies\u2014as opposed to the cellphone carriers themselves\u2014have been forwarding information from users \u201cin certain areas of geographic interest\u201d to federal authorities by way of the CDC, people familiar with the matter told the Wall Street Journal. It\u2019s apparently all part of a bid to create a nationwide government portal that monitors the outbreak using geolocation data from as many as 500 cities. <\/strong><\/p>\n

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Officials argue this information, which has been anonymized and aggregated, can help them tailor their epidemic response to the virus\u2019s spread as well as map out the outbreak\u2019s economic impact using variables like how many miles a person drove or how many shops they visited.<\/p>\n

This government surveillance (to use a loaded conspiracy buzzword, that, in this case, seems pretty spot-on) can also cue authorities in on whether people are following CDC social distancing guidelines<\/a><\/span> or official shelter-in-place mandates. In one case the Wall Street Journal cited, researchers contacted the police after determining via geolocation data that large groups of New Yorkers were still visiting Brooklyn\u2019s Prospect Park despite warning notices.<\/p>\n

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