How Targeted Advertising Gives Your Location to the Government

How Targeted Advertising Gives Your Location to the Government

From EFFector by Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF)

March 11, 2026 · 42 min

About this episode

This episode discusses how targeted advertising can lead to government surveillance and warrantless tracking of individuals' locations.

We've all had the unsettling experience of seeing an ad online that reveals just how much advertisers know about our lives. You're right to be disturbed. Those very same online ad systems have been used by the government to warrantlessly track peoples' locations, new reporting has confirmed.

Topics covered

  • targeted advertising
  • government surveillance
  • privacy
  • location tracking
  • online advertising

Keywords

  • advertising
  • location
  • government
  • surveillance
  • privacy
  • tracking

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Electronic Frontier Foundation, Targeted Advertising

Places: Government

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