FTC Joins Push for Rules on Trade of Smartphone Location Data

The Supreme Court’s June decision to overturn Roe v. Wade set off widespread concerns that location data collected and shared by smartphones could be used to prosecute people who receive or provide abortions. There’s scant regulation of the industry built around the selling and buying of personal data, which IDC says generates $15 billion annually. That puts a lot of weight on the privacy protections set by location-data brokers themselves.

These safeguards are inconsistent at best. Over the summer, a Bloomberg Businessweek reporter signed up for a free trial on the website of Advan Research Corp., a New York-based ...