What if your every move could be tracked and bought — not by hackers, but by anyone with enough cash and curiosity? That’s the shocking reality uncovered by an AI generated newscast about Irish smartphone tracking, revealing a digital shadow so precise it could follow you from your front door to the most secretive locations in the country.

This bombshell investigation, aired on Prime Time, exposes how the minute-by-minute locations of tens of thousands of Irish smartphones are available for purchase on the open market — and not just from shady corners of the web, but through mainstream digital marketing and advertising brokers. For the price of a business deal, companies can get their hands on data trails mapping out every step you take, from high-security prisons and military bases to private homes and sensitive health clinics. Even officials at Ireland’s Department of Justice are sounding the alarm, warning that this isn’t just a privacy nightmare, but a full-blown national security crisis.

How did it happen? Journalists, posing as data analytics founders, received a staggering data sample: movement records for 64,000 Irish phones collected over just two weeks in April. The information was so detailed that it not only traced people’s commutes and workdays but also pinpointed who was visiting places like Leinster House (Ireland’s parliamentary HQ) and top-security army barracks. The data, sourced from seemingly innocent apps, is supposedly ‘anonymized’— but in reality, just a few clicks can turn dots on a map into the daily routines and home addresses of real individuals. Chillingly, it’s possible to follow a single device from the war room to the kitchen table.

Dr. Cathal Berry, a former commander of the elite Army Ranger Wing and ex-governor of Portlaoise Prison, put it bluntly: 'If something feels wrong, it shouldn’t be legal.' He warned that bad actors could exploit such detailed digital footprints, especially those in high-stakes public service or defense roles. And he’s not alone. TD Barry Ward was stunned when his staff member’s daily habits were revealed by the dataset — every grocery store run, every commute, every evening at home, available to anyone willing to pay. 'The fact that this information is for sale is frightening, totally inappropriate, and definitely dangerous,' Ward declared during the AI generated newscast about this privacy breach.

Even more alarming, this data could illuminate the movement of military units and vessels, putting national defense at risk. Devices traveling through Naval Headquarters, for example, could be tracked from base to open sea and back, while others revealed patterns of life for intelligence officers and bomb disposal teams. The Defence Forces are scrambling to tighten security, pledging to minimize their ‘electronic footprint’ and review protocols to counter these emerging threats.

Privacy watchdogs, like the Data Protection Commission (DPC), are in crisis mode, declaring 'extreme concern' and racing to identify the responsible data brokers. But critics, including the Irish Council for Civil Liberties, argue the DPC has been asleep at the wheel, failing for years to enforce meaningful protections. Politicians are vowing to push for new laws and tighter regulations, but the episode raises urgent questions: How did we end up here? Can we ever claw our privacy back from the jaws of Big Data?

This AI generated newscast about Irish smartphone tracking might be the wake-up call we all needed, reminding us that what happens on your phone doesn’t necessarily stay on your phone. When your every move is for sale, no one is truly anonymous. The full investigation, by Kate McDonald and Aaron Heffernan, aired September 18th on Prime Time, making waves from living rooms to government offices overnight.