<![CDATA[At least one German state-level criminal police department (LKA) purchased location data from digital advertising for surveillance, despite lacking a lawful basis, prompting an investigation by the state's data protection authority.]]>At least one German state-level criminal police department (LKA) purchased location data from digital advertising for surveillance, despite lacking a lawful basis, prompting an investigation by the state's data protection authority.

Highly problematic on many levels:
https://netzpolitik.org/2026/daten-schwarzmarkt-deutsche-polizei-nutzt-offenbar-rechtswidrig-databroker/

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/topic/605af37f-4464-45bb-ab11-cb5c735cd49b/at-least-one-german-state-level-criminal-police-department-lka-purchased-location-data-from-digital-advertising-for-surveillance-despite-lacking-a-lawful-basis-prompting-an-investigation-by-the-state-s-data-protection-authority.RSS for NodeFri, 05 Jun 2026 21:28:18 GMTTue, 02 Jun 2026 11:42:40 GMT60<![CDATA[Reply to At least one German state-level criminal police department (LKA) purchased location data from digital advertising for surveillance, despite lacking a lawful basis, prompting an investigation by the state's data protection authority. on Tue, 02 Jun 2026 11:52:23 GMT]]>The above investigation was supported by me and the University of Toronto's Citizen Lab.

We recently published a massive report on the ad-based mass surveillance system Webloc and its uses in the US, El Salvador and Hungary:
https://mastodon.social/@wchr/116375617333864571

Mecklenburg-Vorpommern LKA did not disclose who they bought from.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/wchr/statuses/116680369358907829https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/wchr/statuses/116680369358907829Tue, 02 Jun 2026 11:52:23 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to At least one German state-level criminal police department (LKA) purchased location data from digital advertising for surveillance, despite lacking a lawful basis, prompting an investigation by the state's data protection authority. on Tue, 02 Jun 2026 11:50:54 GMT]]>Whoever provided the data to LKA Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, the data provider and its suppliers also lack a lawful basis to process and share personal data from mobile apps and digital advertising with German police under the GDPR. I further discussed this here:
https://mastodon.social/@wchr/116403306330427864

Put differently, German police unlawfully used data that was unlawfully processed and shared by many parties from apps to data brokers to surveillance tech firms.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/wchr/statuses/116680363534480091https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/wchr/statuses/116680363534480091Tue, 02 Jun 2026 11:50:54 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to At least one German state-level criminal police department (LKA) purchased location data from digital advertising for surveillance, despite lacking a lawful basis, prompting an investigation by the state's data protection authority. on Tue, 02 Jun 2026 11:48:33 GMT]]>So, it is likely that more than one German state police dept bought ad-based surveillance tech, which typically involves data on millions of people secretly gathered from their phones.

Not a single German state data protection authority (out of 16) sees a lawful basis for the police utilizing this data, according to their statements.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/wchr/statuses/116680354259918598https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/wchr/statuses/116680354259918598Tue, 02 Jun 2026 11:48:33 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to At least one German state-level criminal police department (LKA) purchased location data from digital advertising for surveillance, despite lacking a lawful basis, prompting an investigation by the state's data protection authority. on Tue, 02 Jun 2026 11:44:57 GMT]]>@netzpolitik_feed and Bayerischer Rundfunk sent freedom of information requests and media inquiries to all 16 German state LKAs:

- LKA Mecklenburg-Vorpommern: confirmed the (past) use of advertising data
- LKA Brandenburg: confirmed the use of 'commercial data'
- LKAs in 5 states: we don't use advertising data
- LKAs in 9 states: we won't tell you, neither confirm nor deny

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/wchr/statuses/116680340137565808https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/wchr/statuses/116680340137565808Tue, 02 Jun 2026 11:44:57 GMT