Police tool can find people through ordinary phone apps

A company called Penlink sells police a tool named Webloc that can find people using their cellphones. It works through technology found in common apps, including weather, gaming, email and religious apps. Bloomberg Technology reports that the tool is sold to police in the US, the UK and other countries.

What the tool is

Webloc is made by Penlink. The reporting describes it as a way to locate people by using ad technology, the behind-the-scenes systems that many free apps use to show ads. The same technology that helps an app show you an ad can also be tied to where your phone is.

Who it affects

Anyone who has apps like these on a phone could be touched by this. The apps named are ordinary ones that many people use every day: weather, games, email and religious apps. Police in the US, the UK and other countries are the buyers named in the report.

What is not known yet

The material available does not say how precise the locations are or how often police use the tool. It does not name which specific apps are involved, or what legal rules police must follow to use it. It also does not say how many people have been tracked. Those details would help show how far the practice reaches.

What to do

The simplest step is to check which apps on your phone can see your location. Your phone settings list them.

• Open your location settings and review each app.
• Turn off location for apps that do not need it, such as many games.
• Choose location only while using the app, where your phone offers it.