LocationSmart

Last updated

LocationSmart
TypePrivate
Industrylocation as a service
Founded1995
Founders
  • Masoud Motamedi
  • Mario Proietti
Headquarters Carlsbad, California
Parent TechnoCom Corporation
Website https://www.locationsmart.com

LocationSmart, originally called TechnoCom Location Platform, is a location-as-a-service (LaaS) company based in Carlsbad, California, that provides location APIs to enterprises and operates a secure, cloud-based and privacy-protected platform. In February 2015, it acquired a competitor, Locaid. [1] [2]

Contents

LocationSmart provides near real-time location data for devices including smartphones, feature phones, tablets, M2M, IoT and other connected devices on Tier 1 and Tier 2 wireless networks in the U.S. and Canada. This includes AT&T, [3] Verizon Wireless, [4] T-Mobile US, Sprint Corporation, [5] MetroPCS, U.S. Cellular, Rogers Communications, Bell Canada and Telus. [6]

History

Founded in 1995, TechnoCom Corporation was headquartered in Los Angeles and called one of the area's fastest growing companies in 2003 by Deloitte & Touche. [7] In 2012, the TechnoCom Location Platform was rebranded as LocationSmart. [8]

On May 17, 2018, media outlets reported that the LocationSmart website allowed anyone to obtain the realtime location of any cell phone using any of the major U.S. wireless carriers (including AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, and Sprint), as well as some Canadian carriers, to within a few hundred yards, given only the phone number. [9] Approximately 200 million customers may have been exposed. No consent was required, and there was no ability to opt-out. In addition, the data could be requested by anyone anonymously, with no authentication, authorization, or payment required. [10] Security researcher Robert Xiao, who discovered the vulnerability, stated that the LocationSmart API failed to implement basic checks and that the vulnerability could have been found by anyone with little effort. In response, LocationSmart took the vulnerable service offline and claimed the company "takes privacy seriously". [11]

Clients

LocationSmart uses a variety of location methods that include cellular network location, Wi-Fi location, IP address location, landline location, hybrid location via a software development kit (SDK), browser location and global site identification (GSID) location.

LocationSmart provides location services for enterprises and Fortune 500 companies. LocationSmart is also used by US states to offer online gaming within the state borders. [12]

LocationSmart is a member of CTIA, the Transportation Intermediaries Association (TIA), and the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP).

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Telus</span> Subsidiary of Telus Corp, a Canadian telecommunications company

Telus Communications Inc. (TCI) is the wholly owned principal subsidiary of Telus Corporation, a Canadian national telecommunications company that provides a wide range of telecommunications products and services including internet access, voice, entertainment, healthcare, video,smart home automation and IPTV television. The company is based in the Vancouver, British Columbia, area; it was originally based in Edmonton, Alberta, before its merger with BC Tel in 1999. Telus' wireless division, Telus Mobility, offers UMTS, and LTE-based mobile phone networks. Telus is the incumbent local exchange carrier in British Columbia and Alberta. Telus' primary competitors include Shaw Communications. It also competes in the mobile sector with Shaw Communications, Rogers Communications and Bell Canada. Telus is a member of the British Columbia Technology Industry Association.

Verizon is an American wireless network operator that previously operated as a separate division of Verizon Communications under the name Verizon Wireless. In a 2019 reorganization, Verizon moved the wireless products and services into the divisions Verizon Consumer and Verizon Business, and stopped using the Verizon Wireless name. Verizon is the largest wireless carrier in the United States, with 142.8 million subscribers at the end of Q4 2021.

Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited, commonly referred to as Deloitte, is an international professional services network headquartered in London, England. Deloitte is the largest professional services network by revenue and number of professionals in the world and is considered one of the Big Four accounting firms along with EY, KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC).

TracFone Wireless, Inc. (TFWI) is an American prepaid, no-contract mobile phone provider. TFWI is a subsidiary of Verizon Communications, and offers products and services under several brands. It operates as a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO), holding agreements with the three largest United States wireless network operators to provide service: AT&T Mobility, T-Mobile US, and Verizon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alltel</span> Former American telecommunications company

Alltel Wireless was a wireless service provider, primarily based in the United States. Before acquisitions by Verizon Wireless and AT&T, it served 34 states and had approximately 13 million subscribers. As a regulatory condition of the acquisition by Verizon, a small portion of Alltel was spun off and continued to operate under the same name in six states, mostly in rural areas. Following the merger, Alltel remained the ninth largest wireless telecommunications company in the United States, with approximately 800,000 customers. On January 22, 2013, AT&T announced they were acquiring what remained of Alltel from Atlantic Tele-Network for $780 million in cash.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sprint Corporation</span> American telecommunications company

Sprint Corporation was an American telecommunications company. Before it merged with T-Mobile US on April 1, 2020, it was the fourth-largest mobile network operator in the United States, serving 54.3 million customers as of June 30, 2019. The company also offered wireless voice, messaging, and broadband services through its various subsidiaries under the Boost Mobile and Open Mobile brands and wholesale access to its wireless networks to mobile virtual network operators.

Amp'd Mobile was a cellular phone service launched in the United States in late 2005, and in Canada in early 2007. The company was a Mobile Virtual Network Operator offering 3G voice and data services over the Verizon Wireless EV-DO network, including text and picture messaging, push-to-talk, and over-the-air downloadable applications and content from its Amp'd Live service. Its primary non-venture capital investors were MTV Networks and Universal Music Group. The service targeted 18- to 35-year-olds, and was the first integrated mobile entertainment company for youth, young professionals and early adopters, similar to Helio.

The term, Subsidy Password, is used by Motorola and other handset manufacturers to refer to the 8-digit code unlock code necessary to remove the operator lock from cell phones. This code is randomly assigned to individual cell phones by the OEM on request of the mobile service operator and prevents the use of a particular phone on a cellular network other than that to which the phone was originally sold.

Chikka, short for Chikka Text Messenger, was an Internet-based instant messaging application that supports free SMS or text messaging between online users and offline mobile subscribers. Chikka was released by Chikka Philippines, Inc. in the early 2000 and eventually established its connection with the country's network operators Smart Communications (2001), Globe Telecom (2002) and Sun Cellular (2004). With up to billions of messages being exchanged between online and mobile communities worldwide through Chikka, it is probably the world's first commercially successful integration of web and mobile utilities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">HTC Titan (Windows Mobile phone)</span>

The HTC Titan is a Windows Mobile 6.1 Pocket PC PDA and phone manufactured by High Tech Computer Corporation of Taiwan. It is the successor to the HTC Apache upon which it improves by adding more ROM, GPS, EVDO Rev. A, additional hard keys, a scroll-wheel, spring-loaded keyboard, and a higher resolution camera. The Windows Mobile 6.1 operating system includes Office Mobile along with HTML email through Microsoft Outlook Mobile. Windows Media Player is included, allowing the Titan to act as a digital audio and digital movie player.

The LG VX9700 is a CDMA touch screen cell phone made by LG. The phone features touch screen navigation, a 3.2-megapixel camera with face recognition and many photo enhancing tools, a camcorder, customizable shortcut menus, handwriting recognition, and a multitask music player. The LG Dare is the third phone to have Rev. A technology - after the Sprint Mogul and Touch.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Verizon Communications</span> American telecommunications company

Verizon Communications Inc., commonly known as Verizon, is an American multinational telecommunications conglomerate and a corporate component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The company is headquartered at 1095 Avenue of the Americas in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, but is incorporated in Delaware.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">T-Mobile US</span> American telecommunications company

T-Mobile US, Inc. is an American wireless network operator headquartered in Overland Park, Kansas and Bellevue, Washington, U.S. Its largest shareholder is a multinational telecommunications company Deutsche Telekom AG, which as of August 2022, holds 48.4 percent of the common stock. T-Mobile US is the second-largest wireless carrier in the United States, with more than 110 million subscribers as of the end of Q2 2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">HTC Hero</span> Smartphone developed by HTC

HTC Hero is the third phone manufactured by HTC running the Android platform, announced on June 24, 2009 in London.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LG Optimus One</span> Series of entry-level touch-screen smartphones manufactured by LG Electronics

The LG Optimus One is an entry-level series of touch-screen smartphones manufactured by LG Electronics, Inc. It was released running the Android 2.2 Froyo, and later LG released software to upgrade it to Android 2.3 Gingerbread. Although the basic physical form factor of each variant is the same, the variants have differences in hard button shape and layout, the form of the metal side bezel and the user interfaces added by LG or various carriers. Versions of the Optimus One exist that operate on various frequency bands and either GSM or CDMA-based network protocols. They may also feature one or more variations in hardware, such as a faster processor, the addition of a physical keyboard, a modem with higher theoretical speeds, or a better digital camera.

Personal Communications Devices, LLC, also d.b.a. PCD, was a privately held company that worked with wireless technology partners, including wireless service providers and mobile phone-manufacturers to develop, support and bring mobile phones to market in the Americas. PCD partnerships include Pantech-branded phones for Verizon and AT&T, Casio GzOne, HTC products, and most recently, Alcatel One Touch. PCD focused mainly on developing basic, low cost feature phones; with the Virgin Mobile Chaser being the only smart phone developed by the company. It debuted in December, 2011 at a retail price of $99.95 USD, and was the least expensive smart phone available on the market at that time.

Carrier IQ was a privately owned mobile software company founded in 2005 in Sunnyvale, California. It provided diagnostic analysis of smartphones to the wireless industry via the installation of software on the user's phone, typically in a manner that cannot be removed without rooting the phone. The company says that its software is deployed in over 150 million devices worldwide.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Link Motion Inc</span>

Link Motion Inc, formerly NetQin and NQ Mobile, is a multinational technology company that develops, licenses, supports and sells software and services that focus on the smart ride business. Link Motion sells carputers for car businesses, consumer ride sharing services, as well as legacy mobile security, productivity and other related applications. Link Motion maintains dual headquarters in Dallas, Texas, United States and Beijing, China. A Court Receiver, lawyer Robert Seiden, was appointed over Link Motion in February 2019 in the United States in the federal district court in the Southern District of New York by Judge Victor Marrero. The Receiver removed Wenyong “Vincent” Shi as chairman and chief executive officer, and replaced him by appointing Mr. Lilin “Francis” Guo.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ting Mobile</span> Wireless service company

Ting Mobile is an American mobile virtual network operator owned by Dish Wireless. Originally established in February 2012 by Tucows, Ting provides cellular service in the United States using the T-Mobile network, while some grandfathered accounts use the Verizon network. The service is sold off-contract with billing that adjusts the cost of service based on actual customer usage.

References

  1. "LocationSmart, Locaid to Merge for Cloud-Based Location Services". GPS World. February 26, 2015. Retrieved July 14, 2017.
  2. "5 Geofencing Tools for Customer Acquisition". Street Fight. December 3, 2015. Retrieved July 14, 2017.
  3. "iPhones as Homing Beacons: How AT&T and Verizon Help Companies Track Employees". CBS News .
  4. "ThingSpace". developer.verizon.com. Retrieved July 14, 2017.
  5. "Sprint names app enabling partners - Mobile World Live". Mobile World Live. March 23, 2011. Retrieved July 14, 2017.
  6. "How Rogers, Telus and Bell sell access to your location data to third-party companies". CBC News. Retrieved May 19, 2018.
  7. "TechnoCom to be Named One of Los Angeles Area's Fastest Growing Technology Companies by Deloitte & Touche". Business Wire. August 5, 2003. Retrieved May 20, 2018.
  8. "TechnoCom Rebrands Platform as LocationSmart". LocationSmart. April 16, 2012. Retrieved May 20, 2018.
  9. Whittaker, Zack. "Cell phone tracking firm exposed millions of Americans' real-time locations". www.zdnet.com. Retrieved May 17, 2018.
  10. Xiao, Robert (May 17, 2018). "LocationSmart API Vulnerability". www.robertxiao.ca. Retrieved May 17, 2018.
  11. "Location Service" . Retrieved May 24, 2020.
  12. "More Names Added to NJ Online Gambling Approval List as Launch Draws Near - Online Poker Report". Online Poker Report. November 20, 2013. Retrieved July 14, 2017.