Citizen Lab: Law Enforcement Used Webloc to Track 500 Million Devices via Ad Data

Citizen Lab reports that law enforcement agencies globally use Webloc, an advertising-based geolocation surveillance system, to track up to 500 million mobile devices without warrant.

• •Webloc is developed by Israeli company Cobwebs Technologies and sold by Penlink after their merger in 2023
• •The system provides access to location coordinates, device identifiers, and profile data harvested from mobile apps and digital advertising
• •Law enforcement customers include ICE, U.S. military, DHS, and police departments across the U.S. and internationally
• •Authorities can monitor device locations up to three years in the past and infer locations from IP addresses
• •Cobwebs Technologies was previously deplatformed by Meta in 2021 for reconnaissance and social engineering activities targeting activists and opposition politicians