Kochava

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Kochava is a data broker company. In 2022, the US Federal Trade Commission investigated Kochava, for selling consumer's private data. [1] In 2024, the FTC added Collective Data Solutions LLC, a subsidiary of Kochava, as a defendant. [2]

In February 2024, a judge ruled the FTC could sue Kochava. [3] The FTC's lawsuit asserted that Kochava specialized in collecting data on individuals' locations as gleaned from mobile device data, then sold that data to various companies. [4]

Some articles noted that the FTC case might have major implications for the industry of data analytics. [5]

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References

  1. FTC Sues Kochava for Selling Data that Tracks People at Reproductive Health Clinics, Places of Worship, and Other Sensitive Locations. Agency Alleges that Kochava’s Geolocation Data from Hundreds of Millions of Mobile Devices Can Be Used to Identify People and Trace Their Movements, FTC website, August 29, 2022.
  2. FTC Adds Kochava Subsidiary To Shore Up Data Broker Suit, July 15, 2024, Tonya Riley, Bloomberg News.
  3. Data broker allegedly selling de-anonymized info to face FTC lawsuit after all. Kochava tried to argue that selling sensitive info doesn’t directly cause harms. by Ashley Belanger – Feb 6, 2024, Ars Technica website.
  4. Second Amended Complaint, FTC versus Kochava, Case No. 2:22-cv-00377-BLW, US District Court for the District of Idaho.
  5. Data brokers know everything about you – what FTC case against ad tech giant Kochava reveals, by Anne Toomey McKenna January 12, 2024, website theconversation.com