‘Frightening, dangerous’ — RTÉ probe finds thousands of Irish smartphone location data for sale

An undercover investigation by RTÉ Prime Time has found data showing the specific movement of tens of thousands of smartphones in Ireland is available to purchase, a new report to be broadcast tonight will show.

Individual phones in the data could be tracked back to specific residential addresses after entering high-security prisons, military bases, and Leinster House, as well as sensitive locations like health clinics and mental health facilities. RTÉ Prime Time made the decision not to attempt to identify individuals attending secure and sensitive locations due to privacy concerns.

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The data available for purchase shows the minute-by-minute movement of phones, while the locations provided are specific enough to show movement within home addresses, as well as the patterns of life of the smartphone owner.

A large sample which contained the movement of 64,000 phones in Ireland over two weeks earlier this year was given to RTÉ Prime Time for free during the investigation in which a team of journalists posed as founders of a newly-established data analytics and marketing firm.

The sample data was available to purchase from one company and the undercover RTÉ Prime Time team was told the data could be provided as a constantly updated feed, with a 24-to-72 hour delay. The availability of the data has raised major worries about personal privacy, but also national and domestic security, including at the highest levels of the Department of Justice.

When asked about privacy concerns, sellers said a privacy breach does not occur because the owner of the phone is not identified.

They also noted that the smartphone owners would have given permission for the sale of the location data through the terms and conditions of installed apps.

From the data, RTÉ Prime Time was able to quickly identify the home addresses and routines of life of specific individuals by examining the tracks of devices which entered certain locations then returned to residential addresses.

One was a person who works in Leinster House, in the parliamentary office of government TD, Barry Ward. The individual did not want to be identified but did confirm the information in the dataset was accurate. The data showed that individual’s routine and exact movements, including their routes into and out of Leinster House, when they were in their local supermarket, location of weekend activities, and times they returned and left home.

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“What has really shocked me is the extent to which you can take that data parcel, break it down to an individual, trace the individual's movements to the extent that you can identify where they live, where they work...or where they go on a day-to-day basis,” Mr Ward told RTÉ Prime Time. 

“The notion that the information about their movements is free and available to buy for anyone is frightening, totally inappropriate, and definitely dangerous,” he said.

Several contributors to the investigation by RTÉ Prime Time said it raises significant questions for the Data Protection Commission (DPC).

Dr Cathal Berry, a former commander of the Irish Army Ranger Wing, military governor of Portlaoise Prison and former independent TD, said:

“This is where the regulators come in, and this is where our politicians come in to make sure that we have the appropriate guardrails in place, that people's data isn't being exploited,”

Having been aware of the availability of the data by RTÉ Prime Time, the Data Protection Commission said in a statement it is “extremely concerned.” It said that “information about an individual’s location can pose a serious risk to their security and wellbeing.”

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“We are currently working to identify the data broker in question and if they are headquartered in Ireland, we will take action ourselves.”

Watch the full report tonight on RTÉ Prime Time at 9.35pm on RTÉ One and RTE Player.

The report is by journalist Kate McDonald and producer Aaron Heffernan, with additional reporting from Kristo Mikkonen.