CDC Allegedly Tracked U.S. Phones To Monitor COVID Lockdown Protocols

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CDC Pandemic Lockdown Phone Tracking Overview: 

• Who: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) bought access to location data from tens of millions of Americans phones, according to documents obtained by Motherboard.
• Why: The CDC says it wanted to track pandemic lockdown compliance and use the data for other CDC purposes.
• Where: The tracking occurred in the United States.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) bought access to location data from tens of millions of Americans phones to track pandemic lockdown compliance with some of its monitoring focused on people in the Navajo Nation, Motherboard reports.

The documents revealing the tracking were released to Motherboard through a Freedom of Information Act request. 

According to the report, the documents also show that although the CDC used the pandemic as a reason to buy access to the data, it intends to use it for more general CDC purposes.

CDC Allegedly Purchased Aggregated Data Showing Group Trends

The CDC bought access to location data harvested from tens of millions of phones in the United States. Location data is information on a device’s location, which can show where a person lives, works and travels, Motherboard reports.

The CDC bought aggregated data, which shows trends of groups of people, not of individuals, however researchers have raised alarms that anonymous data can be traced back to individuals.

The data was reportedly purchased from SafeGraph for $420,000, Motherboard reported. The company is controversial, and Google reportedly banned the company from the Play Store last June.

Data Said To Be Used To Monitor Pandemic Curfews

The CDC used the data for monitoring curfews during the pandemic, such as hourly monitoring of activity in curfew zones, neighbor-to-neighbor visits, visits to churches, schools and pharmacies, according to Motherboard The documents date from 2021.

The CDC also identifies 21 potential uses of the data. These include tracking the patterns of those visiting K-12 schools and “examination of the effectiveness of public policy on [the] Navajo Nation.”

The documents noted that the centers also planned to use the data to “support non-COVID-19 programmatic areas and public health priorities across the agency.” 

These included travel to parks and green spaces, physical activity and mode of travel and population migration before, during and after natural disasters.

“The mobility data obtained under this contract will be available for CDC agency-wide use and will support numerous CDC priorities,” the documents are said to state. 

The CDC did not respond to Motherboard’s request for comment.

Meanwhile, as coronavirus cases dipped to their lowest levels since December, mask mandates have slowly started to lift in almost all states across the country. 

On Feb. 25, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released its new guidelines.

“Wear a mask with the best fit, protection, and comfort for you,” the CDC wrote on its website. 

What do you think of the CDC’s use of location tracking data? Let us know in the comments!

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