Webloc, a geolocation surveillance system developed by Cobwebs Technologies and sold by Penlink, tracks hundreds of millions of people globally using data harvested from consumer mobile applications.

Key Points

• Webloc aggregates location data from up to 500 million mobile devices, allowing users to monitor historical movements and personal characteristics of entire populations.
• Confirmed customers include domestic intelligence agencies in Hungary, the National Civil Police in El Salvador, and various U.S. entities like ICE, the military, and local police departments.
• Technical analysis reveals that Webloc is often sold as an add-on to the Tangles web intelligence platform, with server infrastructure spanning at least 21 countries.
• The system is linked to "Trapdoor," a social engineering platform capable of creating fake websites and phishing links to extract device information or facilitate malware deployment.
• Research indicates that government agencies in Europe and the U.K. remain highly nontransparent regarding their potential use of these ad-based surveillance technologies.

Why it Matters

The use of commercial advertising data for warrantless government surveillance raises significant concerns regarding civil liberties, privacy, and the potential for mission creep in law enforcement. This practice bypasses traditional legal safeguards, creating a global infrastructure for mass monitoring that lacks adequate democratic oversight or regulatory transparency.