Location Data Extraction and Retention
This chapter examines two separate case studies that pertain to the acquisition and retention of various forms of geocoded data extracted from locative media devices and associated infrastructure at scale, and where the political economic interests of governments and corporations are in tension. The first of these case studies examines the controversies that flowed from revelations that Google had been gathering Wi-Fi data as part of its international Street View operations. The second focuses on the US National Security Agency (NSA) and its far-reaching surveillance program, as revealed through the Edward Snowden papers. The chapter concludes by reflecting on the impacts of corporate and corporate-state data extraction and retention, and the legacies of the two specific cases under examination.