The most unsettling part is not that the machine can find you, but how little it needs to start.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n![\"Illustration](\"https:\/\/media.reclaimthenet.org\/images\/2026\/10\/x1Yf6ODCdgv6.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nBy Ken Macon<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The police are using a new AI-powered tool that can locate where a photo was taken \u2013 even if it\u2019s an indoor photo \u2013 and identify the exact home, by matching it to online listings on property sites.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The tool, called Raven, is made by Graylark Technologies, and 404 Media reports<\/u><\/a> that the Los Angeles Police Department and the Miami-Dade Sheriff\u2019s Office have bought access to it.<\/p>\n\n\n\nGraylark CEO Daniel Heinen explained on LinkedIn that Raven provides \u201cthe ability to geolocate interior images across millions of short-term rental units worldwide.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In one demonstration of how the tool works, a photo of a washer\/dryer taken from X and posted online led to an Airbnb listing in Charlotte, North Carolina. In another, a bathroom photo taken from social media and run through Raven led to a Vrbo listing in Montecito, California.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The report said that the tool can find the home \u201cwithout using location data or other metadata attached to the image.\u201d Instead, it relies on the content of the photo to match it with property listings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Graylark\u2019s Heinen said that the company had not set out to develop this capability. \u201cI\u2019ll be honest, we didn\u2019t train it to do that,\u201d he is quoted as saying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Miami-Dade police spokesman said that the force\u2019s use of Raven \u201chas been limited and largely exploratory.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSomething as mundane as a Zillow picture leftover from when your house was previously listed for sale can be enough to pinpoint your address,\u201d said Neeraj, of Coin Center<\/u><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\nHe added, \u201cThe warrant has been replaced by an invoice.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Data brokers, according to Coin Center, \u201cgather records from advertising exchanges, apps, retailers, credit bureaus, public filings, loyalty programs, websites, and even other brokers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They then connect those fragments using digital markers like cookies, and the result is \u201ca profile of a particular person: where they live, where they work, where they travel, their interests, and even who they spend time with.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They don\u2019t just stop at the information that is useful to advertisers. According to California\u2019s privacy agency<\/u><\/a>, brokers can also infer health searches, \u201cwhether or not you have children,\u201d \u201chow much you\u2019d be willing to pay for a given product.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\nThis information is sold \u201cto advertisers, compliance departments, insurance agencies, and increasingly, the government,\u201d Coin Center says. The California privacy agency also warns that brokers \u201cmay also sell information to buyers with malicious intent, such as hate groups, hostile foreign governments, and scammers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"Software](\"https:\/\/media.reclaimthenet.org\/images\/2026\/10\/xAnezAFQmOyW.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nMuch of the location data that ends up with brokers actually originates in the real-time bidding (RTB) process that powers the online ad auction system. The US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency\u2019s own documents show<\/u><\/a> that \u201cRTB-sourced location data is recorded when an advertisement is served.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\nCitizen Lab has described the ad auction system<\/u><\/a> as \u201cdesigned to enable targeting single individuals based on their mobile advertising ID, cookie ID, IP address, and other identifiers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\nBut how does the government fit into this system? According to Coin Center, \u201cwhen a private company has already collected the data and is happy to sell it, then the government does not need a warrant. It is simply engaging in a typical commercial transaction in the open market.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Associated Press has reported that the US Supreme Court has never addressed the issue of the government buying data from brokers, although in 2018 it ruled in the Carpenter v. United States<\/u><\/a> case that police needed a warrant to obtain historical movement data from cellphone companies on a criminal suspect.<\/p>\n\n\n\nChief Justice John Roberts wrote at the time that cell-site location information gives the government \u201cnear perfect surveillance and allow it to travel back in time.\u201d But the ruling was narrow and only covered the situation when the data is compelled from a carrier, not when it is bought from a broker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The AP report said that the Supreme Court has not addressed this specific issue, but there have been attempts in Congress to stop the practice. The Fourth Amendment Is Not For Sale Act<\/u><\/a>, which would have prohibited agencies from buying personal information from data brokers, passed in the House in April 2024 but never got a vote in the Senate.<\/p>\n\n\n\nEven the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has not been able to impose a blanket ban on the practice, as seen in the case of Gravy Analytics<\/u><\/a>, which was prohibited from selling location data \u201cexcept in limited circumstances involving national security or law enforcement.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\nMeanwhile, the FBI claims it doesn\u2019t need a warrant to use this type of information for investigations, although this has not been tested in court yet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Office of the Director of US National Intelligence (ODNI) said in its 2022 report<\/u><\/a> that the government would never have been allowed to \u201ccompel billions of people to carry location tracking devices on their persons at all times,\u201d but that is exactly what is happening with the help of data brokers.<\/p>\n\n\n\nThe report also spelled out that this type of data, known as commercially available information (CAI), \u201ccould be used, for example, to identify every person who attended a protest or rally based on their smartphone location or ad-tracking records.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Senator Ron Wyden has been vocal in his criticism of the practice, calling it an \u201coutrageous end-run around the Fourth Amendment\u201d and proposing legislation that would force the government to get a warrant before buying personal data from brokers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The FBI has been quite open about it, with director Kash Patel telling the Senate in March this year, \u201cWe do purchase commercially available information that is consistent with the Constitution and the laws under the Electronic Communications Privacy Act \u2013 and it has led to some valuable intelligence for us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Previously, in 2023, then-director Christopher Wray told senators that the FBI had in the past bought location data, but was not doing it at the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The NSA is a different story, and in January 2024, Senator Wyden released documents<\/u> showing<\/a> that the agency \u201cbuys Americans\u2019 internet records, which can reveal which websites they visit and what apps they use.\u201d Wyden had to fight \u201cfor nearly three years\u201d to make this public, and put a hold on the nomination of the NSA director to get it.<\/p>\n\n\n\nIn a letter to the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Avril Haines, Wyden said, \u201cThe U.S. government should not be funding and legitimizing a shady industry whose flagrant violations of Americans\u2019 privacy are not just unethical, but illegal.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The ODNI report that was eventually declassified confirmed that the data in question \u201cclearly provides intelligence value\u201d and \u201ccan reveal sensitive and intimate information about individuals.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Meanwhile, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in January asked industry how \u201ccommercially available advertising data\u201d might help its deportation and enforcement mission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In June, 404 Media said<\/u><\/a> a $10 million procurement order it had seen indicated that ICE was buying records related to immigrants\u2019 tax identifiers. Senator Wyden reacted by saying, \u201cIt looks for all the world like Trump is trying to skirt the law and a court order to fuel his mass-deportation campaign.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\nCitizen Lab published a report about Webloc<\/u><\/a>, which is sold by Penlink, and described it as \u201ca global geolocation surveillance system that monitors hundreds of millions of people based on data purchased from consumer apps and digital advertising.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\nThe Canadian group said that Webloc offers records \u201cfrom up to 500 million mobile devices across the globe\u201d and lets customers look \u201cup to three years in the past.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Those customers, Citizen Lab said, include the US military, ICE, the Texas Department of Public Safety, NYC district attorneys, and police in Los Angeles, Dallas, Baltimore, Durham, Tucson, and Elk Grove.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The ATF ran a Webloc \u201cpilot,\u201d but that ended after lawmakers learned of \u201cmore than 300 warrantless searches,\u201d more than 200 of which were tied to active cases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In one instance, a prosecutor and a judge in an arson case both objected to the use of the tool; the ATF \u201cwas ultimately forced to backtrack and obtain a traditional court order.\u201d The agency then said Webloc \u201cdoes not meet our needs\u201d and cancelled it, the AP reported in June<\/u><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\nThe AP report said, \u201cOther law enforcement agencies, including the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security continue to buy commercial geolocation data.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A report by Georgetown\u2019s American Dragnet<\/u><\/a> in 2022 said, \u201cICE could locate 3 in 4 adults through their utility records,\u201d and that the agency \u201chas access to the driver\u2019s license data of 3 in 4 (74%) adults.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\u201cIn 1989 much of your life was already on file. It just wasn\u2019t in any one file,\u201d Kyle Schneps wrote in Coin Center\u2019s newsletter<\/u><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\u201cPrivacy was inherent in that cost,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Supreme Court recognized this in 1989, in the Department of Justice v. Reporters Committee case, and named it: \u201cpractical obscurity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But, Schneps continued, \u201cAI erases these last vestiges of practical obscurity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With AI, a model \u201creturns not a pile but a biography: where you have lived and with whom, what you were sued over, what all of it seems to mean.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The difference is that \u201cassembling you costs nothing, and staying unassembled is your job alone.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Schneps added, \u201cthe biography is also often partly wrong, which is its own harm \u2013 you cannot correct a file you never see.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cCookie banners, privacy policies, opt-outs, broker removal requests \u2013 all exist only if you find and act on them, and they protect you precisely as far as you keep up,\u201d Schneps wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cGovernment surveillance used to be limited by both the amount of work it took to track the movements of a single person and protections of the 4th amendment. AI completely eliminates that first part,\u201d Coin Center wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So, how do you starve the data brokers of your data, or at least, of as much of it as possible?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kill the ad ID, and make sure you do not give apps permission to access your location unless they really need it, and then only when you are using them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On an iPhone, go to Settings, then Privacy & Security, and then Tracking, and turn off \u201cAllow Apps to Request to Track.\u201d Apple explains<\/u><\/a> that if you do this, an app \u201ccan\u2019t access the system advertising identifier (IDFA).\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/media.reclaimthenet.org\/images\/2026\/10\/w3dAi6xdQNZt.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nOn Android, go to Settings, then Privacy, then Ads, and \u201cDelete Advertising ID.\u201d Google says<\/u><\/a> that after deletion, \u201cAny attempts to access the identifier will receive a string of zeros instead of the identifier.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\nNext, restrict apps\u2019 access to your location. On an iPhone, go to Settings, then Privacy & Security, then Location Services. Here you can turn off Precise Location for apps that don\u2019t really need it – and they will \u201conly see an approximate area.\u201d And set apps to only be able to access your location while you are using them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Android, go to Settings, then Privacy, then Permission Manager, and then Location. Here you can \u201cAlways prefer Approximate for apps that do not need exact GPS.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While you are at it, remove apps you do not use since each install is a potential data leakage point. We said this back in March 2026<\/u><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\nMalwarebytes advises using a separate email<\/u><\/a> for important accounts, and aliases for shopping and newsletters, \u201cmaking it harder for brokers to build a unified profile.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\nIf you live in California, you can tell more than 600 data brokers to delete your data \u2013 all in one go, via the state\u2019s Delete Request and Opt-out Platform (DROP)<\/u><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\nDROP was launched in January 2026, and data brokers had until August 1, 2026, to start processing the requests, and then they have 90 days to do it. After that, they have to \u201cre-check and delete new matching data at least every 45 days.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The service requires your name, date of birth, and ZIP code to submit a request, but the more information you enter, the better, as \u201cthe more likely your data will be deleted.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Once you submit your request, you will get \u201cyour 8-digit DROP ID\u201d \u2013 which you should save for future reference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Oregon, Texas, and Vermont also require data brokers to register with the state, but as Malwarebytes put it, \u201conly California currently offers a centralized platform like DROP.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Malwarebytes advises people in those states to \u201cfollow their listed processes to submit requests directly to each broker\u201d and to \u201cmaintain a spreadsheet with dates, brokers, and confirmations.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In California, brokers who ignore the request face \u201cpenalties of $200 per day, plus enforcement costs.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you\u2019re in the UK or EU, there\u2019s no single portal to turn to in order to stop data brokers, but there are rights you can exercise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The right to object is covered in GDPR\u2019s Article 21<\/u><\/a>, which states that citizens have the right \u201cto object at any time to processing\u201d for direct marketing, \u201cwhich includes profiling.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\nThe next paragraph of the same article adds that once an objection is raised, \u201cthe personal data shall no longer be processed for such purposes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The UK\u2019s Information Commissioner\u2019s Office (ICO) says<\/u><\/a> that for direct marketing, \u201corganisations cannot refuse if you object to this.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\nIn addition, the ICO advises that the right to erasure can also be invoked when data is processed for direct marketing purposes. The regulator even provides a template<\/u><\/a> for this, which states, \u201cI wish to exercise my right of erasure under data protection law.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\nAfter an erasure request is made, the organisation should \u201ctell anyone else they have shared your data with about the erasure,\u201d the ICO said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There\u2019s a one-month deadline<\/u><\/a> for this, \u201cstarting from the day they receive the request,\u201d unless it\u2019s a complex request, in which case it can take up to three months.<\/p>\n\n\n\nThe ICO\u2019s template for an erasure request ends with, \u201cPlease send a full response within one calendar month confirming if you will comply with my request.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, the ICO also notes that organisations \u201ccan keep your name on a suppression list\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If your request is ignored, the next step is to complain to the ICO<\/u><\/a>. But be prepared to wait \u2013 the regulator says that complaints it needs to look at in more detail \u201care currently being assigned to case officers around 10 months after submission.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\nThe ICO adds, \u201cThe ICO can\u2019t award compensation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is not exactly reassuring, given that the ICO took on Experian in 2020<\/u><\/a> over \u201csignificant \u2018invisible\u2019 processing\u201d that affected \u201cmillions of adults in the UK\u201d \u2013 and the case was only resolved in 2024<\/u><\/a>, in Experian\u2019s favour.<\/p>\n\n\n\nIf you don\u2019t want to do it yourself, there are companies that will do it for you \u2013 for a fee. The best-known are DeleteMe, Incogni, and Optery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
DeleteMe says<\/u><\/a>, \u201cWe Remove Private Information from 969 Data Brokers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\nIncogni covers<\/u><\/a> \u201c420+ data broker sites\u201d and charges $7.99 a month, billed annually. Optery, meanwhile, says<\/u><\/a> its higher plans cover \u201c625+ Sites.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nBy Ken Macon<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The police are using a new AI-powered tool that can locate where a photo was taken \u2013 even if it\u2019s an indoor photo \u2013 and identify the exact home, by matching it to online listings on property sites.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The tool, called Raven, is made by Graylark Technologies, and 404 Media reports<\/u><\/a> that the Los Angeles Police Department and the Miami-Dade Sheriff\u2019s Office have bought access to it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Graylark CEO Daniel Heinen explained on LinkedIn that Raven provides \u201cthe ability to geolocate interior images across millions of short-term rental units worldwide.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n In one demonstration of how the tool works, a photo of a washer\/dryer taken from X and posted online led to an Airbnb listing in Charlotte, North Carolina. In another, a bathroom photo taken from social media and run through Raven led to a Vrbo listing in Montecito, California.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The report said that the tool can find the home \u201cwithout using location data or other metadata attached to the image.\u201d Instead, it relies on the content of the photo to match it with property listings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Graylark\u2019s Heinen said that the company had not set out to develop this capability. \u201cI\u2019ll be honest, we didn\u2019t train it to do that,\u201d he is quoted as saying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Miami-Dade police spokesman said that the force\u2019s use of Raven \u201chas been limited and largely exploratory.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSomething as mundane as a Zillow picture leftover from when your house was previously listed for sale can be enough to pinpoint your address,\u201d said Neeraj, of Coin Center<\/u><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He added, \u201cThe warrant has been replaced by an invoice.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Data brokers, according to Coin Center, \u201cgather records from advertising exchanges, apps, retailers, credit bureaus, public filings, loyalty programs, websites, and even other brokers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n They then connect those fragments using digital markers like cookies, and the result is \u201ca profile of a particular person: where they live, where they work, where they travel, their interests, and even who they spend time with.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n They don\u2019t just stop at the information that is useful to advertisers. According to California\u2019s privacy agency<\/u><\/a>, brokers can also infer health searches, \u201cwhether or not you have children,\u201d \u201chow much you\u2019d be willing to pay for a given product.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n This information is sold \u201cto advertisers, compliance departments, insurance agencies, and increasingly, the government,\u201d Coin Center says. The California privacy agency also warns that brokers \u201cmay also sell information to buyers with malicious intent, such as hate groups, hostile foreign governments, and scammers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Much of the location data that ends up with brokers actually originates in the real-time bidding (RTB) process that powers the online ad auction system. The US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency\u2019s own documents show<\/u><\/a> that \u201cRTB-sourced location data is recorded when an advertisement is served.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Citizen Lab has described the ad auction system<\/u><\/a> as \u201cdesigned to enable targeting single individuals based on their mobile advertising ID, cookie ID, IP address, and other identifiers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n But how does the government fit into this system? According to Coin Center, \u201cwhen a private company has already collected the data and is happy to sell it, then the government does not need a warrant. It is simply engaging in a typical commercial transaction in the open market.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Associated Press has reported that the US Supreme Court has never addressed the issue of the government buying data from brokers, although in 2018 it ruled in the Carpenter v. United States<\/u><\/a> case that police needed a warrant to obtain historical movement data from cellphone companies on a criminal suspect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Chief Justice John Roberts wrote at the time that cell-site location information gives the government \u201cnear perfect surveillance and allow it to travel back in time.\u201d But the ruling was narrow and only covered the situation when the data is compelled from a carrier, not when it is bought from a broker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The AP report said that the Supreme Court has not addressed this specific issue, but there have been attempts in Congress to stop the practice. The Fourth Amendment Is Not For Sale Act<\/u><\/a>, which would have prohibited agencies from buying personal information from data brokers, passed in the House in April 2024 but never got a vote in the Senate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Even the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has not been able to impose a blanket ban on the practice, as seen in the case of Gravy Analytics<\/u><\/a>, which was prohibited from selling location data \u201cexcept in limited circumstances involving national security or law enforcement.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Meanwhile, the FBI claims it doesn\u2019t need a warrant to use this type of information for investigations, although this has not been tested in court yet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Office of the Director of US National Intelligence (ODNI) said in its 2022 report<\/u><\/a> that the government would never have been allowed to \u201ccompel billions of people to carry location tracking devices on their persons at all times,\u201d but that is exactly what is happening with the help of data brokers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The report also spelled out that this type of data, known as commercially available information (CAI), \u201ccould be used, for example, to identify every person who attended a protest or rally based on their smartphone location or ad-tracking records.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Senator Ron Wyden has been vocal in his criticism of the practice, calling it an \u201coutrageous end-run around the Fourth Amendment\u201d and proposing legislation that would force the government to get a warrant before buying personal data from brokers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The FBI has been quite open about it, with director Kash Patel telling the Senate in March this year, \u201cWe do purchase commercially available information that is consistent with the Constitution and the laws under the Electronic Communications Privacy Act \u2013 and it has led to some valuable intelligence for us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Previously, in 2023, then-director Christopher Wray told senators that the FBI had in the past bought location data, but was not doing it at the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The NSA is a different story, and in January 2024, Senator Wyden released documents<\/u> showing<\/a> that the agency \u201cbuys Americans\u2019 internet records, which can reveal which websites they visit and what apps they use.\u201d Wyden had to fight \u201cfor nearly three years\u201d to make this public, and put a hold on the nomination of the NSA director to get it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In a letter to the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Avril Haines, Wyden said, \u201cThe U.S. government should not be funding and legitimizing a shady industry whose flagrant violations of Americans\u2019 privacy are not just unethical, but illegal.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The ODNI report that was eventually declassified confirmed that the data in question \u201cclearly provides intelligence value\u201d and \u201ccan reveal sensitive and intimate information about individuals.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Meanwhile, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in January asked industry how \u201ccommercially available advertising data\u201d might help its deportation and enforcement mission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In June, 404 Media said<\/u><\/a> a $10 million procurement order it had seen indicated that ICE was buying records related to immigrants\u2019 tax identifiers. Senator Wyden reacted by saying, \u201cIt looks for all the world like Trump is trying to skirt the law and a court order to fuel his mass-deportation campaign.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Citizen Lab published a report about Webloc<\/u><\/a>, which is sold by Penlink, and described it as \u201ca global geolocation surveillance system that monitors hundreds of millions of people based on data purchased from consumer apps and digital advertising.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Canadian group said that Webloc offers records \u201cfrom up to 500 million mobile devices across the globe\u201d and lets customers look \u201cup to three years in the past.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Those customers, Citizen Lab said, include the US military, ICE, the Texas Department of Public Safety, NYC district attorneys, and police in Los Angeles, Dallas, Baltimore, Durham, Tucson, and Elk Grove.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The ATF ran a Webloc \u201cpilot,\u201d but that ended after lawmakers learned of \u201cmore than 300 warrantless searches,\u201d more than 200 of which were tied to active cases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In one instance, a prosecutor and a judge in an arson case both objected to the use of the tool; the ATF \u201cwas ultimately forced to backtrack and obtain a traditional court order.\u201d The agency then said Webloc \u201cdoes not meet our needs\u201d and cancelled it, the AP reported in June<\/u><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The AP report said, \u201cOther law enforcement agencies, including the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security continue to buy commercial geolocation data.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n A report by Georgetown\u2019s American Dragnet<\/u><\/a> in 2022 said, \u201cICE could locate 3 in 4 adults through their utility records,\u201d and that the agency \u201chas access to the driver\u2019s license data of 3 in 4 (74%) adults.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIn 1989 much of your life was already on file. It just wasn\u2019t in any one file,\u201d Kyle Schneps wrote in Coin Center\u2019s newsletter<\/u><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cPrivacy was inherent in that cost,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Supreme Court recognized this in 1989, in the Department of Justice v. Reporters Committee case, and named it: \u201cpractical obscurity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n But, Schneps continued, \u201cAI erases these last vestiges of practical obscurity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n With AI, a model \u201creturns not a pile but a biography: where you have lived and with whom, what you were sued over, what all of it seems to mean.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The difference is that \u201cassembling you costs nothing, and staying unassembled is your job alone.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Schneps added, \u201cthe biography is also often partly wrong, which is its own harm \u2013 you cannot correct a file you never see.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cCookie banners, privacy policies, opt-outs, broker removal requests \u2013 all exist only if you find and act on them, and they protect you precisely as far as you keep up,\u201d Schneps wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cGovernment surveillance used to be limited by both the amount of work it took to track the movements of a single person and protections of the 4th amendment. AI completely eliminates that first part,\u201d Coin Center wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So, how do you starve the data brokers of your data, or at least, of as much of it as possible?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Kill the ad ID, and make sure you do not give apps permission to access your location unless they really need it, and then only when you are using them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On an iPhone, go to Settings, then Privacy & Security, and then Tracking, and turn off \u201cAllow Apps to Request to Track.\u201d Apple explains<\/u><\/a> that if you do this, an app \u201ccan\u2019t access the system advertising identifier (IDFA).\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n On Android, go to Settings, then Privacy, then Ads, and \u201cDelete Advertising ID.\u201d Google says<\/u><\/a> that after deletion, \u201cAny attempts to access the identifier will receive a string of zeros instead of the identifier.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Next, restrict apps\u2019 access to your location. On an iPhone, go to Settings, then Privacy & Security, then Location Services. Here you can turn off Precise Location for apps that don\u2019t really need it – and they will \u201conly see an approximate area.\u201d And set apps to only be able to access your location while you are using them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On Android, go to Settings, then Privacy, then Permission Manager, and then Location. Here you can \u201cAlways prefer Approximate for apps that do not need exact GPS.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n While you are at it, remove apps you do not use since each install is a potential data leakage point. We said this back in March 2026<\/u><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Malwarebytes advises using a separate email<\/u><\/a> for important accounts, and aliases for shopping and newsletters, \u201cmaking it harder for brokers to build a unified profile.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you live in California, you can tell more than 600 data brokers to delete your data \u2013 all in one go, via the state\u2019s Delete Request and Opt-out Platform (DROP)<\/u><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n DROP was launched in January 2026, and data brokers had until August 1, 2026, to start processing the requests, and then they have 90 days to do it. After that, they have to \u201cre-check and delete new matching data at least every 45 days.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The service requires your name, date of birth, and ZIP code to submit a request, but the more information you enter, the better, as \u201cthe more likely your data will be deleted.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Once you submit your request, you will get \u201cyour 8-digit DROP ID\u201d \u2013 which you should save for future reference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Oregon, Texas, and Vermont also require data brokers to register with the state, but as Malwarebytes put it, \u201conly California currently offers a centralized platform like DROP.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Malwarebytes advises people in those states to \u201cfollow their listed processes to submit requests directly to each broker\u201d and to \u201cmaintain a spreadsheet with dates, brokers, and confirmations.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n In California, brokers who ignore the request face \u201cpenalties of $200 per day, plus enforcement costs.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you\u2019re in the UK or EU, there\u2019s no single portal to turn to in order to stop data brokers, but there are rights you can exercise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The right to object is covered in GDPR\u2019s Article 21<\/u><\/a>, which states that citizens have the right \u201cto object at any time to processing\u201d for direct marketing, \u201cwhich includes profiling.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The next paragraph of the same article adds that once an objection is raised, \u201cthe personal data shall no longer be processed for such purposes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The UK\u2019s Information Commissioner\u2019s Office (ICO) says<\/u><\/a> that for direct marketing, \u201corganisations cannot refuse if you object to this.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n In addition, the ICO advises that the right to erasure can also be invoked when data is processed for direct marketing purposes. The regulator even provides a template<\/u><\/a> for this, which states, \u201cI wish to exercise my right of erasure under data protection law.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n After an erasure request is made, the organisation should \u201ctell anyone else they have shared your data with about the erasure,\u201d the ICO said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There\u2019s a one-month deadline<\/u><\/a> for this, \u201cstarting from the day they receive the request,\u201d unless it\u2019s a complex request, in which case it can take up to three months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The ICO\u2019s template for an erasure request ends with, \u201cPlease send a full response within one calendar month confirming if you will comply with my request.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, the ICO also notes that organisations \u201ccan keep your name on a suppression list\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If your request is ignored, the next step is to complain to the ICO<\/u><\/a>. But be prepared to wait \u2013 the regulator says that complaints it needs to look at in more detail \u201care currently being assigned to case officers around 10 months after submission.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The ICO adds, \u201cThe ICO can\u2019t award compensation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is not exactly reassuring, given that the ICO took on Experian in 2020<\/u><\/a> over \u201csignificant \u2018invisible\u2019 processing\u201d that affected \u201cmillions of adults in the UK\u201d \u2013 and the case was only resolved in 2024<\/u><\/a>, in Experian\u2019s favour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you don\u2019t want to do it yourself, there are companies that will do it for you \u2013 for a fee. The best-known are DeleteMe, Incogni, and Optery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n DeleteMe says<\/u><\/a>, \u201cWe Remove Private Information from 969 Data Brokers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Incogni covers<\/u><\/a> \u201c420+ data broker sites\u201d and charges $7.99 a month, billed annually. Optery, meanwhile, says<\/u><\/a> its higher plans cover \u201c625+ Sites.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n