Anonymized location-tracking data proves anything but: Apps squeal on you like crazy
Found on The Register on Friday, 17 November 2017
It's the supposedly anonymous location data that proves to be problematic. The researchers obtained it from Safegraph, a company that aggregates location data from multiple mobile apps, but it could have come from other data traders.
Now it may be that the apps sharing location info with Safegraph obtained this information through the usual means – a click-agreement designed to elicit user consent from individuals who didn't read the terms of the deal.
Location tracking cannot be anonymous because you can map the geodata to the map of a city and see where the tracked person was; and as soon as the phone regularly spends longer periods of times in a private house, it's getting safe to assume that it's the home of this person; or of a close relative.