Police may track you to an abortion clinic with this device, the report said

Your smartphone is probably being tracked by a tool called Find X. Law enforcement and other US government agencies use it. And it doesn’t need a warrant to follow you either.

This may or may not be news to you. Locate X, created by a data surveillance company called Babel Street, previously received an installation in 2020. At that time, many reports not covered a Secret Service document regarding the agency’s contract with the company to use the tool.

However, 404 Media it has a new look for the tool that includes a trial run of the operating system – and it’s concerning to say the least.

A tool that can track your abortion clinic visits

In the case, according to 404 Media, Locate X was able to focus on each cell phone displayed as a red dot on the tool.

The device tracked the cell phone from an apparent residence in Alabama to a Lowe’s store, then a highway to a church, and finally to an abortion clinic in Florida. The red dot stayed at the abortion clinic for two hours before returning to her home. The tool tracked the call to the clinic only once.

Since Roe v. Repealed in 2022, Alabama completely banned abortion in most cases. Republican-controlled states that have legalized abortion, including Alabama, have sought to continue criminalizing those who seek out-of-state abortions in places like Florida where it is strictly prohibited but legal to some extent.

The cell phone tracking history provided above was all obtained without consent. It is worth noting that the tool alone cannot identify the user connected to the phone, but law enforcement can use additional tools from agencies to identify the user.

In addition, Locate X’s use of the 404 Media piece was not provided to law enforcement or a state agency. The trial was accessed directly on Babel Street by data mining firm Atlas Privacy. The company, which is currently suing the data brokers that enable tools like Locate X, was able to get a trial by simply claiming to be an independent investigative agency. No restrictions were placed on the case.

As 404 Media points out, companies like Apple and Google have put a lot of emphasis in recent years on getting users’ location data on iPhones and Android devices. However, third-party apps, advertisers, and data brokers still collect varying levels of information from users that make tools like Find X possible.

As Krebs on Security reports, last week, Atlas Privacy filed a lawsuit against Babel Street, alleging that it violated a New Jersey law that allows law enforcement, government officials, and their families to be completely removed from the records of data brokers.

If you are currently worried about your mobile phone being used to track your location with tools like Find X, you can currently deny the requests of mobile tracking apps.