It isn't the only app that the US military buys location data from. But given history of the US government using such data for counter-terrorism, the report by VICE is likely to cause huge controversy and consternation.
Here is a summary from Vice Motherboard's report.
"X-Mode then sells access to this sort of data to a wide range of different clients. Motherboard has previously shown that one of those clients includes a private intelligence firm whose goal is to use location data to track people down to their 'doorstep'."
Some of those clients have included US military contractors.
There is no evidence, yet, that apps such as Muslim Pro and others sell data directly to the US military.
But Senator Ron Wyden told Vice: "In a September call with my office, lawyers for the data broker X-Mode Social confirmed that the company is selling data collected from phones in the United States to U.S. military customers, via defense contractors. Citing non-disclosure agreements, the company refused to identify the specific defense contractors or the specific government agencies buying the data."
"X-Mode licenses its data panel to a small number of technology companies that may work with government military services, but our work with such contractors is international and primarily focused on three use cases: counter-terrorism, cybersecurity and predicting future COVID-19 hotspots," X-Mode added in its email to Vice.
On social media the reaction was swift
This is not only shocking and outrageous, but entirely predictable. When you hear me going on about reading T&Cs or calling out apps for having weak af Privacy policies - this is the logical conclusion. Muslims are securitised and scrutinised, on an industrial scale. https://t.co/2ekm4bkGTY
— Shaf Choudry (@shaftag) November 16, 2020
Most Muslim Americans I know have this app — I’ve downloaded it on many phones, including mine over the years, to update grandparents on prayer times. Everyone knows surveillence of our community is constant but people relied on Muslim Pro and did not expect this: https://t.co/AzGwE7bjsD
— Naba Khan (@nabakkhan) November 16, 2020
What prayer app are we using instead? Just revoked location privileges because I figured I’d use it until I found a new one but then...just went ahead and deleted #MuslimPro @MuslimPro pic.twitter.com/F17z3eMkKS
— Raquel Evita Saraswati (@RaquelEvita) November 16, 2020
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