Gravy Analytics Launches PrivacyCheck to Expand Its Industry-Leading Privacy Practices

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Oct 11, 2022, 10:00 ET

Privacy-enhancing technology helps companies find and remove sensitive location data from their systems

DULLES, Va., Oct. 11, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Gravy Analytics, the leading provider of enterprise location intelligence, today announced the release of PrivacyCheck, a privacy-enhancing technology (PET) that helps organizations ensure location data generated at sensitive locations is not used, shared, or resold.

A sample of locations flagged by PrivacyCheck

The popularity of consumer mobile devices and location-enabled apps has given rise to massive location data collection. This data provides insight into human mobility, helping organizations decide where to advertise to prospective buyers, measure changes in the population, understand evacuation patterns in response to natural disasters, and much more. Today, location analytics built on pseudonymous location data is relied on by organizations across industries to make critical and timely business decisions that improve productivity, efficiency, and safety.

However, the use of location data generated by consumer mobile devices to support these use cases raises serious concerns about consumer privacy. As consumers move through the real world, they come into contact with a variety of places. Some of these places are sensitive, such as healthcare facilities or places of worship. In 2019, Gravy added a privacy feature to its APIs preventing access to data collected at these and other sensitive locations. Gravy has since integrated this privacy technology into its patented AdmitOne™ data processing platform, ensuring that no data collected from devices at sensitive locations enters Gravy's location-powered datasets, analytics, or advertising audiences.

"Consumer privacy has always been a cornerstone of our business," said Jeff White, Gravy Analytics' founder and CEO. "However, developing strong data privacy practices is a difficult task, particularly in today's dynamic environment. We recognize the challenges of working with location data and the potential for our knowledge to benefit others."

Now, Gravy Analytics is making its privacy-enhancing technology available to any organization that works with location data. PrivacyCheck can be used by publishers, data controllers, data aggregators, or developers to enhance their handling of precise location data. Whether generated by mobile apps, websites, navigation systems, or IoT devices, any company collecting and storing location data can use the service to find and remove data that matches more than 500K privacy-sensitive locations from their systems.

PrivacyCheck will check for data that matches healthcare-related places—including women's health centers—as well as data matching other sensitive places in categories like religion, education, children, and social services. Customers can even configure the categories checked by PrivacyCheck to precisely meet their organization's specific privacy requirements. As a Java library, PrivacyCheck is designed to be integrated into customers' existing systems; no precise location data needs to be shared with Gravy to use PrivacyCheck, keeping sensitive data secure.

"Consumer privacy is the responsibility of everyone in the location technology space, and we all need to do our part to ensure that the data we collect and use is privacy-friendly," continued White. "That's why we're making the same, best-in-class, privacy-enhancing technology we use here at Gravy available to others that rely on location data."

Because privacy-sensitive locations can change at any time, PrivacyCheck is offered as a managed, subscription service. PrivacyCheck is regularly updated with the latest privacy-sensitive locations, allowing customers to validate their datasets on a regular basis to ensure their data remains "privacy checked".

To learn more about PrivacyCheck, please visit gravyanalytics.com/privacy-check-.

About Gravy Analytics
Where people go and why tells the story of our world. Founded in 2011, Gravy Analytics is the enterprise location technology company providing actionable intelligence to businesses. Using its patented technology, the company brings data about people, places, and events together to understand human mobility, helping companies enhance their sales and marketing strategies and optimize business operations. Today, the company's intelligence powers leading-edge solutions for a wide range of industries—from advertising to market research, financial services to supply chain risk management—that rely on knowing how people, products, and materials move throughout the world. For more information, please visit gravyanalytics.com.

Press Contact:
SHIFT Communications for Gravy Analytics
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SOURCE Gravy Analytics