Anomaly Six (A6) is a

media intelligence Media intelligence uses data mining and data science to analyze public, social and editorial media content. It refers to marketing systems that synthesize billions of online conversations into relevant information. This allow organizations to me ...

company. It sells global-location-data products to the United States government and the private sector. The company has embedded its software in over 500

mobile applications A mobile application or app is a computer program or software application designed to run on a mobile device such as a phone, tablet, or watch. Mobile applications often stand in contrast to desktop applications which are designed to run on des ...

, giving it the ability to track hundreds of millions of mobile phones. In one presentation, the company claimed it could track 3 billion phones in real time.

History

The company was founded in 2018 by two former military intelligence officers. It is based in

Alexandria, Virginia Alexandria is an independent city (United States), independent city in the northern region of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia, United States. It lies on the western bank of the Potomac River approximately south of Downto ...

. The company purchases cell phone location data from advertisers who in turn get the information from embedded

software development kit A software development kit (SDK) is a collection of software development tools in one installable package. They facilitate the creation of applications by having a compiler, debugger and sometimes a software framework. They are normally specific to ...

s (SDK) in commonly used phone applications. The publishers of apps frequently allow third parties to insert SDKs into their apps for a fee. Some of the apps have Anomaly Six’s own SDK embedded in them. This system often relies on disclosures in the complex terms of service that must be agreed to in order to use an application. Most apps' privacy policies do not disclose whether or not SDKs are embedded in their product. In September 2020, U.S. Special Operations Command Africa, an operational unit of the

United States Special Operations Command The United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM or SOCOM) is the unified combatant command charged with overseeing the various special operations component commands of the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, and Air Force of the United States Arm ...

, paid Anomaly 6 $589,500 for a "Commercial Telemetry Feed". This is the first reported contract between the United States government and Anomaly 6. In April 2022, it was revealed that the company had demonstrated its surveillance ability by tracking the mobile phones of members of the

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian intelligence agency, foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gat ...

and

NSA The National Security Agency (NSA) is a national-level intelligence agency of the United States Department of Defense, under the authority of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI). The NSA is responsible for global monitoring, collecti ...

. The company revealed the tracking during a meeting between A6 and

Zignal Labs Zignal Labs is a SaaS-based media intelligence software service company that serves marketing and public relations departments. It was founded in 2011 and is headquartered in San Francisco. History Zignal Labs was founded in 2011 by Josh Ginsber ...

. The two companies were in talks to discuss a potential partnership, which they decided not to proceed on.

References

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External links

Official website
Mass surveillance Companies based in Alexandria, Virginia Technology companies of the United States