German State Police Purchased Mobile Location Data from Advertising Brokers (heise.de)

• LKAs Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Brandenburg purchased ad-based location data
• Legal basis disputed; data protection commissioner reviewing case
• Nine states refused information; parliamentary report confirms widespread practice

"Two German state criminal police offices (Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Brandenburg) admitted buying aggregated location data from commercial data brokers for investigations. The practice lacks clear legal basis; the data protection commissioner of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern has initiated a review. Nine other states refused to comment. A parliamentary scientific service report concluded such purchases are no longer exceptional. The data originates from smartphone apps collecting location for advertising purposes."