Overview
- Reporters obtained roughly 278 million Belgian location records and logged thousands of pings at EU and NATO facilities, including the Berlaymont, the European Parliament and NATO headquarters.
- Using the datasets, journalists identified private addresses and movement profiles for at least five EU workers, including three in senior roles, with two confirming the data matched their lives.
- The European Commission called the conclusions worrying and issued new guidance to staff on ad-tracking settings on work and home devices while notifying other EU bodies.
- NATO and Belgian military officials acknowledged the risk and asked media to avoid disclosures that could endanger personnel, underscoring concerns about espionage and hybrid threats.
- The data stems from smartphone apps and Mobile Advertising IDs funneled through brokers and marketplaces such as Datarade, a practice legal experts say violates GDPR, with MEPs urging tighter rules and Ireland’s DPC recently suspending an Irish broker after a similar probe.