GEO · 002 / OF 011
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Geospatial & Satellite
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Mobile location data investigation uses commercial location datasets, cell-site records, and app-derived location signals to establish where a device, and by extension its owner, was at a given time. The commercial data broker ecosystem harvests location data from hundreds of mobile applications, aggregates it by device advertising identifier, and sells it to government agencies, law enforcement, and commercial clients without requiring a warrant. Investigators can legally access portions of this ecosystem through data brokers, public contract records, and freedom of information requests to reconstruct patterns of life, confirm or refute alibis, and document surveillance programmes targeting journalists and activists.
Use this methodology when documenting warrantless government purchases of commercial location data, confirming or refuting a named individual's presence at a location, mapping device movement patterns linked to surveillance of journalists or activists, or tracing the broker chain supplying a specific government client. No single data point establishes presence at a location. The pattern, corroborated across contract records, court filings, and independent location signals, is what holds evidentiary weight.
GEO-002 sets out the methodology for identifying, acquiring, and corroborating mobile location data to evidentiary standard.
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Forensic count
Eight workflow steps, six tooling sources, five false-positive checks, six chain-of-custody requirements. |
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Required Tools
Six platforms: contract databases, FOIA, cell tower mapping, and commercial aggregators.
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OPSEC
Device segregation, account hygiene, and legal limits on acquiring individual location data.
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Workflow
Eight-step sequence from scoping the investigative question to seeking comment before publication.
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False Positives
Device sharing, accuracy radius, cell-site coverage, data gaps, and identifier resets.
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Chain of Custody
Six requirements covering source logging, hashing, accuracy documentation, and post-publication destruction.
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Key Queries
Five operator queries across contract databases, court records, FOIA, and cell tower tools.
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Download the card.
A PDF version of GEO-002 is available below for Signal subscribers.
The rest of this card is for Signal subscribers.
What remains: the step sequence, the tool list, the false-positive checks and the chain-of-custody note. Signal is €90 a year, or €9 a month. Students, €49 a year.
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