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20 - ORGANIZATIONS/PRIVATE/SafeGraph.md
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@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ A continuous GPS trace is a de-facto identifier: the location of a device at 3 a
### The CDC Contract and Federal Location-Data Procurement
In 2020 the U.S. [[Centers for Disease Control and Prevention|CDC]] contracted with SafeGraph for cell-phone location data to monitor compliance with [[COVID-19]] pandemic movement restrictions. The contract, reported in *The Wall Street Journal* and elsewhere, made publicly visible what had been an open practice in the federal procurement of commercial location data: agencies including the CDC, the Department of Homeland Security, and components of the intelligence community purchase commercially collected location data from brokers rather than obtaining it through legal process, because the data is offered for sale on the open market and its purchase is not subject to the warrant requirement that would attach to compelled disclosure.[^3]
In 2020 the U.S. [[Centers for Disease Control and Prevention|CDC]] contracted with SafeGraph for cell-phone location data to monitor compliance with [[COVID-19]] pandemic movement restrictions. The contract, reported in *[[The Wall Street Journal]]* and elsewhere, made publicly visible what had been an open practice in the federal procurement of commercial location data: agencies including the CDC, the [[Department of Homeland Security]], and components of the intelligence community purchase commercially collected location data from brokers rather than obtaining it through legal process, because the data is offered for sale on the open market and its purchase is not subject to the warrant requirement that would attach to compelled disclosure.[^3]
The legal framing is the [[third-party doctrine]]: data voluntarily disclosed to a third party (the application developer, the broker) loses the Fourth Amendment protection it would have if held by the user. The CDC contract, by surfacing the practice, drew attention to the broader federal procurement of commercial location data and to the specific role of SafeGraph as a supplier. The 2026 Dialog leak renewed scrutiny of the same firm because its founder, Hoffman, chairs the off-the-record gathering whose government-side attendees include the congressional oversight principals responsible for the agencies that buy SafeGraph's data.[^1]