Family Safety App “Life360” Caught Selling Location Data of Millions of Users
A shocking report by The Markup reveals that family safety app “Life360” has been selling its users’ location data since 2016, and is considered one of the location data brokerage industry’s top sources.
According to the report, the “Life360” app, is “selling data on kids’ and families’ whereabouts to approximately a dozen data brokers who have sold data to virtually anyone who wants to buy it”. Industry insiders who spoke under the condition of anonymity described the trove of data provided to them by “Life360” as one of the largest sources of data for the entire industry, and one of the “most valuable offerings due to the sheer volume and precision of the data”.
Selling their users’ data has proven to be a lucrative business for “Life360”, according to report: “In 2016, the company made $693,000 from selling data it collected. In 2020, the company made $16 million—nearly 20 percent of its revenue that year—from selling location data, plus an additional $6 million from its partnership with Arity”.
Parachute’s shocking report on the state of privacy in safety apps, published in May 2020, was first to identify the pervasive data collection practices in the “Life360” app through the use of forensic analysis. But today’s revelations by The Markup offer a chilling look inside the backroom dealings of safety apps like “Life360” who have turned the selling of their users’ trust, dignity, and fundamental human right to privacy into a business.
As John Scott-Railton, a senior researcher at Citizen Lab puts it, “Life360 promises to help you keep your family safe. In fact, they are selling your family data to strangers.”
Parachute texts, calls and emails your friends and loved ones and sends them your live video, audio and location in the event of an emergency. Parachute never has and never will send any of your information to data collection companies and other shadowy data dealers. Get the full details at parachute.live/privacy and read our forensic report on the shocking state of privacy in safety apps