Security News > 2020 > September > Spain's highway agency is monitoring speeding hotspots using bulk phone location data

Spain's highways agency is using bulk mobile phone data for monitoring speeding hotspots, according to local reports.

Equipped with data on customers handed over by local mobile phone operators, Spain's Directorate-General for Traffic may be gathering data on "Which roads and at what specific kilometer points the speed limits are usually exceeded," according to Granadan newspaper Ideal.

Mobile networks Vodafone, Movistar, and Orange were all said to be handing over user data to the INE, with the bulk information fetching €500,000 - a sum split between all three firms.

In April the initiative was reactivated for the so-called DataCovid plan, where the same type of bulk location data was used to identify areas where Spaniards were ignoring COVID-19 lockdown laws.

The DGT then apparently hit on the idea of using speed data derived from cell tower pings to identify locations where drivers may have been breaking the speed limit.

News URL

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2020/09/25/spain_bulk_phone_data_speeding/