The offer: Track-a-half million mobiles in real-time

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Today's News reveal that hundreds of thousands of swedes get their movement patterns, mapped by the mobile apps. The information offered for sale with the promise that the data is anonymous. However, it is possible easily to identify the common people, according to our analysis of the databases that are offered for sale.

– It is really uncomfortable, " said Björn in Nacka, as we found in the data.

the DN can now reveal how dataföretagens seller offers the buyer to track the huge quantities of mobiles, with detailed logging as an argument. In sales calls, also presented an offer to track the mobiles in real-time. With only a seconds delay, the buyers get a tracked phone's exact position.

are marketed, we contacted the companies known to trade with this kind of information. We stated that we, as representatives, an analytics company to buy the data if the swedes, in order to understand how people move in and build a basis for the establishment of shops. Databolagen jumped directly. We were offered both to buy complete databases and processed materials.

We are told that they are tracking hundreds of thousands of mobiles around Sweden. One of the companies gives a very precise figure: 339.266.

all Over the world, it is far more. Some companies go out with the figures on their websites, where it is spoken, if tracking of the tens of millions. Or more than so, according to one of the sellers:

" We work today with approximately 700 different apps with a global audience (total number of users, the reds. note.) at just under 200 million unique mobile devices, " says one of the sellers.

Björn Sjögren in Nacka is one of the hundreds of thousands of swedes who have been tracked without knowing it, which is what DN told you about in the review. Detailed information about where he's been for several months has been sold. Photo: Lars Lindqvist

Read also: So traced you around the clock – information is sold

the Talks also give an idea of the prices and it turns out, you don't need to spend millions to access large amounts of data. That at least lasts for some hundreds of pounds. The other asks for something more, but the lures on the other hand, with larger amounts of data. For just over 30,000 dollars a month is offered we will track half a million unique mobile phones.

the Delivery would be, according to the seller be through a file where each line corresponds to a positionsloggning, with information on, among other things, the time, coordinates and a unique identifier per mobile device that makes it possible to track a single mobile for a long time.

– We are flexible. You can get the data how, when and where you want, continue seller.

a wide range of companies with the location data as a business concept. Many deal only with u.s. data, sometimes with reference to european laws make trade difficult. But some claim to be able to sell the data even if the swedes. One of them offers direct an extract from his database, all that is required is a payment, the equivalent of about 10,000 dollars. In this way, DN see what information on the swede's movement patterns, which is actually sold.

the Companies make no secret of the fact that the tracking can tell you more about the people than was just they have been moving. A salesperson emphasizes how well the company's data can place people in the workplace and in this way draw conclusions about how rich they are. It is one of the most interesting data to identify, we are told:

– the Workplace, the sector or, in some cases, which specific companies they work for, it is very useful to identify such things as the average salary.

the Same sellers talking about the mapping of where people live. The seller emphasizes that it is not going to reveal the exact addresses, only the area, but attracts at the same time with you as a customer may buy a complete database with loggings in the clear. Only accept certain conditions, that to promise not to use the database to target messages to specific individuals.

Hundreds of mobile apps collect information on where ordinary swedes find themselves – and sells it on. Tracking is available round the clock. Photo: Lars Lindqvist Graphics: Stefan Rothmaier

accounting for the acquisition is kept secret, even for the one who buys the information. It is clear that the companies are offering app developers are paid to add in a special code that makes the apps start to send the gps data in the background, but which apps are most people don't want to tell you.

at Least four companies offer or will soon offer data about the swedes, according to the DN's data. London-based Tamoco, and Hospital Industries are two of them. Gps app Sygic. In addition, the US-based Fysical shortly begin trade with european data, including Swedish.

the DN has later contacted the companies and asked questions about the trade as it was presented by the sellers. Several of them defends himself with that data only be collected after the user has given consent. The tracking can also be turned off, there are several settings for this, both in the apps and in the settings for your phone's operating system, they emphasize.

”We give users control,” says a spokesperson for the Tamoco in a written comment to the DN. ”Tamoco respect to each request from the operating system that the user wants to opt-out of sharing location,” he continues.

that the users give their consent, and say they regularly review how it is handled in the apps that collect data. ”If we discover that an app-partner has not received the approval from the end user deletes the we all of the data that has been sent to us,” writes a spokesman in an email. A spokesperson for Sygic writes that ”it is our duty to inform the users of the Sygics apps and/or services, how we handle their data”, and stresses that the apps always ask for permission before they log in such a way that you can follow a user for a long time.

Tamoco do not deny that individual people, or really their mobiles, tracked separately, but the points of agreement between the company and the customer that governs how the information may be used: ”In some cases we can trace a device on an individual level – but we do not share it with third parties, without the necessary contractual protections in place.”

Although the Hospital stresses that the company has rules against certain use, which is to link the database with others or use it to target advertising based on where a person has moved. Read the entire response from the Hospital, from Tamoco and from Sygic. DN has sought also Fysical, without success.

DN:s investigative reporters Kristoffer Örstadius and Linus Larsson shows Björn Sjögren (to the left) a few of the thousands of sites his mobile phone logged in, and that is sold in a database. Björn has given DN permission to examine all the data about him. Photo: Lars Lindqvist

is certainly a use for this type of data, but far from the only one. Here are some additional examples:

■ An investor can see how many people move in and out in a limited edition look of the shops and draw conclusions about how the sales are going. If more people than usual visit the stores, buy H&M shares. If it is less, and sell before the numbers are reported for the rest of the market.

■ A coffee shop chain can identify people who have visited a coffee shop and target advertising to them, to get them to return. It is the physical world's equivalent to the tracking on the web, that makes you often see advertisements for products you recently searched for.

■ Analysis of how people move in a particular neighbourhood can show the addresses that are most attractive to establish a new store. Do you know something about where they live and work, you can guess how much money they want to make of a certain product.

DN:s assessment has shown that the tracking is also underway in private places, for example in the psykmottagningar, schools and cemeteries.

Read also: how to prevent apps from tracking your location