Security Agencies Worldwide Found to Use Ad-Based Surveillance System

An investigation by Bloomberg into Penlink’s ad-based surveillance system Webloc builds off Citizen Lab research, identifying additional customers of the tracking technology. The findings that Webloc has been acquired by security agencies in a number of countries aligns with potential customers we identified in our April report.

Senior researcher Wolfie Christl notes that Webloc “is a powerful mass surveillance tool that’s trickling down from military and intelligence agencies to federal law enforcement and then to state and local police.” 

Our report used open source research, freedom of information requests, and server infrastructure mapping to identify Webloc customers in the US, El Salvador, and Hungary. Since then, the Austrian Ministry of the Interior has also been confirmed as a customer. The Bloomberg investigation identified customers in additional countries including the UK, Netherlands, Germany, Mexico, Singapore, Saudi Arabia, UAE, and Israel. 

The lawfulness of using these systems in Europe and the UK is highly controversial. While intrusive and disproportionate ad-based mass surveillance is problematic everywhere, its use in authoritarian countries identified by reporting is particularly dangerous.