The Federal Trade Commission is suing Sandpoint, Idaho-based Kochava, alleging its digital tracking data service can identify people visiting sensitive places, like religious spaces or medical offices offering reproductive healthcare.
Established in 2011, Kochava pulls precise geolocation data from millions of Americans’ cell phones each week to package up and sell online. The data comes from phone apps, which have Kochava’s code embedded by the app developers.
In a recruiting video posted to YouTube in July, the company’s founder and CEO, Charles Manning, said of the company’s mission, “We’re here to [expletive] win.”
In a lawsuit filed on August 29, the government alleges the company doesn’t do enough to prevent customers buying its tracking data from piecing together information that can identify users. That puts people, who may…
