The data analyzed by The Pillar highlights the invasive threat posed by mobile data. The app ceased providing information about users' locations, age and gender in April 2020, according to the policy. Grindr's privacy policy bills the app as a "safe space" where users can "discover, navigate and interact with others in the Grindr Community." The site says it has shared a variety of personal data with ad partners in the past, including device IDs, device location, connection information, and user age and gender. Privacy experts have long voiced concern about the ease with which anonymized data can be used by data trackers to determine a person's identity based on the location, time and activity, all of which can be collected through permission granted when an app is installed. The site then hired an independent data consulting firm to analyze the "commercially available" data.
On Tuesday, after Burrill's resignation was announced, Pillar reported that through a vendor it had obtained device location data that was allegedly collected via Grindr. News of Burrill's resignation, reported earlier by National Catholic Reporter, came after online Catholic news site The Pillar reported allegations of his behavior to the conference. The US Conference of Catholic Bishops said in a memo Tuesday that Monsignor Jeffrey Burrill had resigned as its general secretary after the staff had learned on Monday of "impending media reports alleging possible improper behavior." The priest was responsible for coordinating all administrative matters for the organization.
A top official with the US Catholic church resigned after cellphone data obtained through a broker appeared to show he was a frequent user of the gay dating app Grindr, reigniting privacy concerns about who has access to consumers' digital records.