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

[Parkinsond]

Content source

https://thehackernews.com/2026/04/citizen-lab-law-enforcement-used-webloc.html

Hungarian domestic intelligence, the national police in El Salvador, and several U.S. law enforcement and police departments have been attributed to the use of an advertising-based global geolocation surveillance system called Webloc.

The tool was developed by Israeli company Cobwebs Technologies and is now sold by its successor Penlink after the two firms merged in July 2023, according to a report published by the Citizen Lab. Penlink, founded in 1986, is a provider of "mission-critical communications and digital evidence collection and analysis software" to law enforcement agencies in the U.S. and across the world.

The ad-based surveillance system, in a nutshell, makes use of data purchased from mobile apps and digital advertising to analyze the behaviours and movements of hundreds of millions of people.

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

Webloc surveils up to 500M devices using ad data; global law enforcement adoption raises warrantless tracking concerns.

thehackernews.com

 

[cartaphilus]

Nothing new. Story as old as time. Information has always been used as a form of currency even before currency existed.

People have to get used to the fact that anywhere you go with your smart watch or phone you are basically walking with a tracking device and a pattern of life can be made of your actions. That pattern can then be analyzed to make predictions etc etc etc.

All of this is highly compute, data size and human capital intensive. Or at least it was until recently. With the advent of AI and massive raise in data enter / compute node architecture. Tracking a person through a datanoise they leave behind has become a LOT easier.

The only privacy you have now is the fact that majority of people are not important enough to have any resources diverted towards them.

But if your adversary has the funds and resources and you are sufficiently intriguing....

 

[Sorrento]

I think @Parkinsond is very intriguing

 

[Wrecker4923]

Haha, with AI data centers popping up like mushrooms and thousands of posts, we probably don't stand a chance. You scrape the entire forum and out come identifiable information, even if IP addresses and other private account info aren't captured.

 

[Parkinsond]

I think @Parkinsond is very intriguing