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> Government has telcos track people

Yes

> and that data ends up available on the black market for anyone to purchase, for a fairly modest fee

Probably not. Those DBs are fake most ( all ? ) the time.

The Russian leaked ones have proven to be legit many times over by investigative journalists cross-referencing those with other databases (e.g. flight tracking or leaked food delivery databases).

In Russia case no, they are not fake. Navalny tracked his killers by analyzing flight and train travel data identifying people who always travel with him. They used data sold in the black market.

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