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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
National
Ariel Bogle

Revealed: Home Affairs paying to access controversial tool tracking mobile phone movements

Home Affairs Samantha Floreani United States
Business people using mobile phones as they walk
Home Affairs acknowledges using technology from US intelligence company Babel Street but won’t discuss how it is used or which data sources it has access to. Photograph: Jacob Lund/Alamy

Home Affairs has paid an American intelligence company to access Locate X, a controversial tool that can track the movement of smartphones.

The agency has had access to the product since at least 2021, according to correspondence between Home Affairs and Babel Street obtained by Guardian Australia under freedom of information laws.

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