Republican FTC Commissioner supports amended complaint against Kochava

Federal Trade Commissioner Melissa Holyoak, a Republican appointee who joined the agency earlier this year, has expressed support for charging data broker Kochava with engaging in unfair business practices by allegedly selling smartphone users’ precise geolocation data without their consent. Holyoak, formerly the solicitor general of Utah, emphasized the breach of trust and threat to Americans’ freedom posed by such disclosures.

“When private parties like the defendants disclose precise geolocation information revealing political, medical, or religious activities without consumers’ consent to willing purchasers, their conduct breaches that trust and jeopardizes Americans’ freedom,” Holyoak stated.

The FTC’s action against Kochava began in August 2022, with allegations that the company sold location data that could reveal sensitive information about individuals, such as visits to doctors’ offices or places of worship. On Monday, the FTC expanded its complaint to include Kochava’s subsidiary, Collective Data Solutions, as an additional defendant.

The FTC’s allegations against Kochava include selling precise geolocation data and mobile advertising IDs—unique identifiers that persist unless reset by the user. Kochava has defended its practices, claiming the data is not “personally identifiable” and arguing that the FTC’s allegations, even if true, would not constitute unfair conduct.

Kochava maintains that it has always operated in compliance with privacy laws. The company introduced a “privacy block” feature shortly before the FTC’s lawsuit, which removes known health services locations from its marketplace.

In February, U.S. District Court Judge B. Lynn Winmill in Idaho denied Kochava’s motion to dismiss the case, ruling that the FTC’s claims were “legally and factually plausible.” He noted that the FTC’s allegations, if proven, could support the claim that Kochava’s practices caused substantial and unavoidable injury to consumers.

Judge Winmill highlighted that Kochava allegedly provided customers with vast amounts of essentially non-anonymized information about mobile device users, including their past physical locations and personal characteristics such as age, ethnicity, gender, and political affiliations.

Commissioner Holyoak pointed out that even though Kochava sold information to private businesses, government officials could purchase data from brokers, raising concerns about potential wrongful surveillance. She stressed the importance of consumer trust in technology, particularly tools that hold sensitive personal data, to prevent misuse by government and private entities alike.

“For consumers to realize the benefits of technology, they must be able to trust that technology—including tools that hold their sensitive personal data—will remain secure from wrongful government surveillance,” Holyoak concluded.