Fog Reveal

FOG Data Science is a limited liability company based in Virginia. It was founded in 2016 by two former United States Department of Homeland Security officials. Matthew Broderick, managing partner at the company, was director of operations for the DHS from 2005 to 2006.

FOG Data Science purchases commercially available location data from Virginia-based company Venntel,{{Cite web |last=Belanger |first=Ashley |date=2022-11-23 |title=Sneaky ways cops could access data to widely prosecute abortions in the US |url=https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2022/11/sneaky-ways-cops-could-access-data-to-widely-prosecute-abortions-in-the-us/ |access-date=2022-11-24 |website=Ars Technica |language=en-us}} collected from hundreds of mobile apps that sell information on user interests and movements, including the apps of Starbucks and Waze. The information is derived from advertising IDs, unique user IDs assigned to mobile devices allowing advertisers to track people's movements, habits, and usage of apps.{{Cite web |last=Burke |first=Garance |last2=Dearen |first2=Jason |date=September 1, 2022 |title=Tech tool offers police ‘mass surveillance on a budget’ |url=https://apnews.com/article/technology-police-government-surveillance-d395409ef5a8c6c3f6cdab5b1d0e27ef |website=AP News}}{{cite web |first=Dell |last=Cameron|title=What Is 'Fog Reveal,' the Police App Tracking Your Phone? |url=https://gizmodo.com/what-is-fog-reveal-police-app-tracking-your-phone-1849514556 |website=Gizmodo |access-date= September 11, 2022 |language=en-us |date=September 9, 2022}}{{cite web |last1=Mathur |first1=Chandraveer |title=The US government has been buying vast amounts of phone location data, and that's probably not great |url=https://www.androidpolice.com/aclu-docs-show-us-government-agencies-buying-personal-location-data-of-its-citizens/ |website=Android Police |access-date=September 11, 2022 |date=July 18, 2022}}{{cite web |last1=Potts |first1=Caleb |title=Surveillance companies are using mobile ads to obtain scarily accurate location data |url=https://www.androidpolice.com/2020/12/11/surveillance-companies-are-using-mobile-ads-to-obtain-scarily-accurate-location-data/ |website=Android Police |access-date=September 11, 2022 |date=December 11, 2020}}{{cite web |title=Big Ass Data Broker Opt-Out List |url=https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ElB7VXmr5JEkFaLJpO7YLGrAuasedmq-rZC-8TUMxTM/edit# |website=Google Docs |access-date=September 11, 2022 |language=en}} Subscriptions to the service cost at least $7,500 per year. While the data is anonymized, officials have commented that competent law enforcement could use the information to identify individuals. According to FOG Data Science partner Matthew Broderick, their historical data profiles go back three years.

Fog Reveal is used by local, state and federal law enforcement agencies in the United States, since at least 2018. Documents procured by the Electronic Frontier Foundation through the Freedom of Information Act revealed that FOG Data Science had 40 contracts with "nearly two dozen agencies," including the Dallas Police Department and the Rockingham County, North Carolina sheriff's office. The software has been used to track individuals without requiring a search warrant.{{Cite web|url=https://www.eff.org/ro/deeplinks/2022/08/fog-revealed-guided-tour-how-cops-can-browse-your-location-data|title=Fog Revealed: A Guided Tour of How Cops Can Browse Your Location Data|first=Will|last=Greenberg|date=August 31, 2022|website=Electronic Frontier Foundation}}

According to a 2022 Associated Press investigation supported by the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, law enforcement agencies used Fog Reveal "to search hundreds of billions of records from 250 million mobile devices, and harnessed the data to create location analyses known among law enforcement as 'patterns of life.'"{{cite web |title=Chino_2019 -20_Attachments |url=https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/22187494-chino_2019-20_attachments#document/p25 |website=DocumentCloud |access-date=September 11, 2022}}

In December 2024, it was discovered that Fog Data Science was instructing law enforcement agencies to list the locations of doctor's offices and lawyers of potential suspects.{{Cite web |last=Brodkin |first=Jon |date=2024-12-10 |title=Location data firm helps police find out when suspects visited their doctor |url=https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2024/12/location-data-firm-helps-police-find-out-when-suspects-visited-their-doctor/ |access-date=2024-12-16 |website=Ars Technica |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |last=Cox · |first=Joseph |date=2024-12-10 |title=Location Data Firm Offers to Help Cops Track Targets via Doctor Visits |url=https://www.404media.co/location-data-firm-offers-to-help-cops-track-targets-via-doctor-visits/ |access-date=2024-12-16 |website=404 Media |language=en}}

Privacy advocates raised concerns that the use of Fog Reveal by law enforcement agencies could constitute an unreasonable search and seizure, violating the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution. Electronic Frontier Foundation adviser Bennett Cyphers described the software as "sort of a mass surveillance program on a budget."

• Geo-fence warrant
• Mass surveillance in the United States
• Stingray phone tracker

{{reflist}}

• {{cite news |last1=Cyphers |first1=Bennett |title=Inside Fog Data Science, the Secretive Company Selling Mass Surveillance to Local Police |url=https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/08/inside-fog-data-science-secretive-company-selling-mass-surveillance-local-police |work=Electronic Frontier Foundation |date=31 August 2022 |language=en}}
• {{cite news |last1=Guariglia |first1=Matthew |title=What is Fog Data Science? Why is the Surveillance Company so Dangerous? |url=https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/06/what-fog-data-science-why-surveillance-company-so-dangerous |work=Electronic Frontier Foundation |date=31 August 2022 |language=en}}
• [https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2022/09/cops-wanted-to-keep-mass-surveillance-app-secret-privacy-advocates-refused/ Cops wanted to keep mass surveillance app secret; privacy advocates refused], Ars Technica, September 1, 2022
• [https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/how-an-obscure-cellphone-tracking-tool-provides-police-mass-surveillance-on-a-budget How an obscure cellphone tracking tool provides police ‘mass surveillance on a budget’], PBS NewsHour, September 1, 2022
• [https://www.techvisibility.com/2022/09/03/the-police-found-to-be-using-fog-reveal-app-to-keep-tabs-on-private-citizens-causes-outrage/ The Police Found To Be Using ‘Fog Reveal’ App To Keep Tabs On Private Citizens — Causes Outrage], TechVisibility, September 3, 2022
• [https://www.vice.com/en/article/fog-reveal-local-cops-phone-location-data-manual/ Here Is the Manual for the Mass Surveillance Tool Cops Use to Track Phones], VICE, September 1, 2022

• [https://www.fogreveal.com/ Fog Reveal log-in] [https://web.archive.org/web/20220904020922/https://www.fogreveal.com/ Archived]
• [https://www.eff.org/ro/deeplinks/2022/08/fog-revealed-guided-tour-how-cops-can-browse-your-location-data Fog Revealed: A Guided Tour of How Cops Can Browse Your Location Data], Electronic Frontier Foundation

Category:Data brokers

Category:Law enforcement databases in the United States

Category:Mass intelligence-gathering systems

Category:Mass surveillance industry

Category:Surveillance databases