According to a new report from The Markup, tracking service Life360 has sold the precise location data of several million of its users.
Life360 describes itself as a “family safety platform” that allows family members to keep an eye on each other using tracking software installed on smartphones. The app is available on both Android and iOS. The software is used by about 33 million people around the world. But Life360 apparently sells location data of children and adults to a dozen data brokers, who then share the data with other companies. Two former Life360 employees said Life360 is one of the largest data sources in the industry and expressed concerns about how the data is used and that there are no safeguards in place to prevent misuse. The employees claim Life360 takes no precautions to ensure that location data cannot be traced back to individuals. However, the most obvious information identifying the user is removed. But Life360 does not aggregate the data or reduce the accuracy to protect privacy.
Life360 CEO: “We see data as an important part of our business model”
Life360 CEO, Chris Hulls, explained opposite The Markup says data is a “critical part of the business model” that enables Life360’s core services to be offered for free.
We can neither confirm nor deny that Life360 is one of the largest sources of data in the industry. We view data as an important part of our business model that allows us to keep Life360's core services free for the majority of our users, including the features that have improved driving safety and saved numerous lives.
An engineer who worked for X-Mode, a location data provider, said the raw location data he received from Life360 was one of his "most valuable offerings" because of the "sheer volume and precision of the data." Life360 has sold data to X-Mode, Cuebiq, Arity, Safegraph and others that provide location data to other services. Life360 discloses some of its data sharing in its privacy policy, but there are also companies that are not listed. Hulls writes:
Data partners will only be disclosed if the partners request transparency or there is a specific reason for doing so.
“You can see where your children are and anyone who buys this information”
He confirmed that X-Mode buys data from Life360 and that it is one of "about a dozen data partners." Hulls added that the company would support legislation that would require disclosure of such partners. Some of the data providers only use aggregated location information from Life360. For example, Cuebiq uses aggregated data to track COVID-19 "mobility trends" with the CDC. X-Mode, on the other hand, has provided Life360 data to the U.S. Department of Defense, while SafeGraph also provides it to the CDC. Life360 notes in the fine print of its privacy policy that the data is sold. But people may not be aware of how the data is shared after it ends up with data brokers. As Justin Sherman, a fellow at the Duke Tech Policy Lab, told The Markup:
Families would probably not like the slogan “You can see where your children are and anyone who buys this information can too.”
Life360 acquires AirTag competitor Tile
There is also an opt-out feature, but not all users may be aware of it. Life360 is an app used primarily by parents to monitor their children and teens, and has raised concerns about its intrusion on privacy. Life360 has stated that it does not share the location data of users under 13. But the data of children over 13 and adults is practically fair game. Tile, a company that makes Bluetooth-based trackers that compete with Apple's AirTags, is being acquired by Life360 in a deal worth $205 million taken over. Life360 says that with the purchase of Tile, it can offer an "all-encompassing solution" for tracking pets, people and objects - a claim that is definitely alarming given the privacy concerns raised in today's report. (Photo by World Image / Bigstockphoto)
