Massive Fine To Company For Using Wi-Fi Signals to Track Phone Users

Firm Pays $950,000 Penalty for Using Wi-Fi Signals to Secretly Track Phone Users

InMobi ad network, which reaches more than 1 billion devices, settles FTC charges.

Dan Goodin | June 22, 2016

[Blogger's note: This article illustrates that mobile phone users activities can be tracked and that others may be tracking your behavior now.]
A mobile advertising company that tracked the locations of hundreds of millions of consumers without consent has agreed to pay $950,000 (£640,000) in civil penalties and implement a privacy program to settle charges that it violated federal law.
The US Federal Trade Commission alleged in a complaint filed Wednesday that Singapore-based InMobi undermined phone users' ability to make informed decisions about the collection of their location information. While InMobi claimed that its software collected geographical whereabouts only when end users provided opt-in consent, the software in fact used nearby Wi-Fi signals to infer locations when permission wasn't given, FTC officials alleged. InMobi then archived the location information and used it to push targeted advertisements to individual phone users.

"In a big blow to Inmobi which is already going through a defining phase, the company will pay $950,000 in fine for tracking children without parental consent." Source: http://www.nextbigwhat.com/t/bigblow-inmobi-will-pay-950-000-fine-for-tracking-children-without-parental-consent/1114

<more at http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2016/06/advertiser-that-tracked-100-million-phone-users-without-consent-pays-950000/; related articles and links: https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2016/06/mobile-advertising-network-inmobi-settles-ftc-charges-it-tracked (Mobile Advertising Network InMobi Settles FTC Charges It Tracked Hundreds of Millions of Consumers’ Locations Without Permission
Company Will Pay $950,000 For Tracking Children Without Parental Consent. June 22, 2016) and http://www.nextbigwhat.com/t/bigblow-inmobi-will-pay-950-000-fine-for-tracking-children-without-parental-consent/1114 (BigBlow : InMobi Will Pay $950,000 Fine For Tracking Children Without Parental Consent. June 22, 2016); further: http://fortune.com/2016/06/22/ad-tracking-fine/ (This Ad Firm That Tracked Kids Got Smacked With a $4 Million Fine. June 22, 2016)>