The article you provided is discussing how two American startups, Anomaly Six (A6) and Zignal Labs, reportedly met to discuss a potential partnership that would merge the ability to track the movements of billions of people via their smartphones with a constant stream of data purchased directly from Twitter. According to the article, A6 claims to have the ability to track up to 3 billion smartphones at any given time on a global scale, and that the combination of its cellphone location-tracking technology with the social media surveillance provided by Zignal Labs would permit the U.S. government to effortlessly spy on Russian forces or track Chinese nuclear submarines. The article also claims that the technology is powered by general ignorance of the ubiquity and invasiveness of smartphone software development kits (SDKs). SDKs are tools that allow app developers to add features and functionalities to their apps, such as push notifications, in-app purchases, and analytics. However, these SDKs can also be used to track users' location, behavior, and personal information. The article also claims that the loose trade in advertising data constitutes a loophole in the Fourth Amendment, which protects citizens from unreasonable searches and seizures by the government. Critics argue that this kind of tracking data collection and sharing could be seen as a violation of citizens' privacy rights.
