U.S. Contractor Bought Global Phone Location Data and Showed Everyone How

Mike Yeagley, a former government contractor, says he purchased commercial location data tracking hundreds of millions of phones worldwide — legally — and is now warning that anyone with a credit card can do the same.

Mike Yeagley purchased bulk commercial phone location data covering users across multiple countries through legal data broker channels.
Yeagley says the data is precise enough to track individuals to specific buildings, including sensitive government and military sites.
He is now publicly demonstrating the purchase process to pressure policymakers into restricting the commercial data broker market.
No federal law currently bars private buyers from purchasing this category of location data in the United States.
The disclosure adds momentum to stalled congressional efforts to pass a comprehensive federal privacy statute.

A former U.S. government contractor purchased commercial location data tracking mobile phones across dozens of countries and is now publicly detailing how he did it, exposing a largely unregulated market that privacy advocates say poses direct national security risks.

Mike Yeagley, who previously worked with federal agencies on data analysis, told 404 Media that he acquired the data through commercial brokers — the same channels available to advertisers, hedge funds, and private investigators.

The data, he said, is granular enough to identify individuals visiting military installations, foreign embassies, and intelligence facilities.

Yeagley said his goal in going public was to demonstrate that no technical barrier prevents hostile actors from buying equivalent datasets. “The market is open,” he told the outlet in a Monday interview. “Anyone can do this.”

Data brokers collect location signals primarily through software development kits embedded in consumer apps. Users rarely know their coordinates are being sold onward.

The Federal Trade Commission has taken enforcement action against individual brokers in recent years but has not imposed sector-wide restrictions. Congress has not passed a federal privacy law governing location data sales.

Senate Commerce Committee hearings on data broker regulation are scheduled to resume this autumn, with a floor vote on the American Privacy Rights Act still unscheduled as of Monday.