Penlink's Webloc technology, originally developed by Israeli startup Cobwebs, allows law enforcement to track hundreds of millions of mobile phones globally without a warrant in the US. The system collects location data from common apps—weather, gaming, email, and religious—and can map movements over the past 12 months with hourly updates. US agencies including ICE, branches of the US military, and over a dozen police forces use it, alongside authorities in the UK, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Singapore, Netherlands, Germany, Austria, and Hungary.
Despite a 2018 Supreme Court ruling requiring warrants for telecom location data, the Justice Department argues purchased commercial data is exempt. Critics like the ACLU's Nathan Freed Wessler call the expansion "ridiculous" and warn of investigations into people the government has no business targeting. Penlink states it complies with laws and provides tools only for lawful enforcement and national safety.
Source: Hacker News · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing