United States of America: Issued amended complaint by FTC against Kochava

On 15 July 2024, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) filed an amended complaint in the public lawsuit against Kochava Inc. and its wholly-owned subsidiary, Collective Data Solutions, LLC (CDS). The lawsuit follows a previous motion that was dismissed by the United States District Court for the District of Idaho in February 2024, which has now been overturned, allowing the FTC to proceed with its enforcement action against Kochava and CDS. The lawsuit alleges Kochava of having violated Section 5(a) of the Federal Trade Commission Act by selling sensitive geolocation data. The data, collected from hundreds of millions of mobile devices, could potentially trace individuals to and from sensitive locations such as health clinics, places of worship, and shelters for the homeless and victims of domestic violence and addiction recovery. The FTC's action seeks to prevent the further sale of this data and to mandate the deletion of the collected sensitive information.