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In the age of cell phones, Privacy is a myth.

crash_davis

By crash_davis
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crash_davis

crash_davis 23161

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I laugh when I read people bitch about Google but then they actively use Facebook, or how Iphone users are so sure their shit is private because Apple ran a few commercials stating so. In addition to your cell providers (and by default the government), there are countless other companies which have access to your personal information via your apps on your phones. Apple and Google know that most of your apps are sending packets to known and unknown servers at regular intervals. Those packets can contain all sorts of info about you, but most assuredly they contain your location. The data gets sold to probably anyone willing to pay the price. AT&T, or people who work at AT&T, sold people's location data to bounty hunters. That's just one example of the risk. Once your data is collected, you have NO recourse in who uses or what, how, where and when that info is used.

Long read but great article from the NYT. 

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/12/19/opinion/location-tracking-cell-phone.html

I wouldn't doubt if app collecting the data for the dataset in the article is Facebook. Be weary of Facebook. Be very weary of Facebook.

I copied and pasted the last section of the article. If you remotely care about your privacy, read the article and delete apps which you do not use on a regular basis. The more apps you have, the more chances of your personal shit being collected and sold. And get the fuck off Facebook. That's one evil fucking company.

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IF THIS INFORMATION IS SO SENSITIVE, why is it collected in the first place?

For brands, following someone’s precise movements is key to understanding the “customer journey” — every step of the process from seeing an ad to buying a product. It’s the Holy Grail of advertising, one marketer said, the complete picture that connects all of our interests and online activity with our real-world actions.

Once they have the complete customer journey, companies know a lot about what we want, what we buy and what made us buy it. Other groups have begun to find ways to use it too. Political campaigns could analyze the interests and demographics of rally attendees and use that information to shape their messages to try to manipulate particular groups. Governments around the world could have a new tool to identify protestors.

Pointillist location data also has some clear benefits to society. Researchers can use the raw data to provide key insights for transportation studies and government planners. The City Council of Portland, Ore., unanimously approved a deal to study traffic and transit by monitoring millions of cellphones. Unicef announced a plan to use aggregated mobile location data to study epidemics, natural disasters and demographics.

For individual consumers, the value of constant tracking is less tangible. And the lack of transparency from the advertising and tech industries raises still more concerns.

Does a coupon app need to sell second-by-second location data to other companies to be profitable? Does that really justify allowing companies to track millions and potentially expose our private lives?

Data companies say users consent to tracking when they agree to share their location. But those consent screens rarely make clear how the data is being packaged and sold. If companies were clearer about what they were doing with the data, would anyone agree to share it?

What about data collected years ago, before hacks and leaks made privacy a forefront issue? Should it still be used, or should it be deleted for good?

If it’s possible that data stored securely today can easily be hacked, leaked or stolen, is this kind of data worth that risk?

Is all of this surveillance and risk worth it merely so that we can be served slightly more relevant ads? Or so that hedge fund managers can get richer?

The companies profiting from our every move can’t be expected to voluntarily limit their practices. Congress has to step in to protect Americans’ needs as consumers and rights as citizens.

Until then, one thing is certain: We are living in the world’s most advanced surveillance system. This system wasn’t created deliberately. It was built through the interplay of technological advance and the profit motive. It was built to make money. The greatest trick technology companies ever played was persuading society to surveil itself.

 

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XYZ

XYZ 2154

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So this pervasive effort to collect information about your habits and shit is just for the purpose of advertising? So that a company has a 1% higher probability of selling you some shitty product that you didn’t really want?

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bernorange

bernorange 8377

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Original purpose or intent doesn't really matter.  Once the infrastructure is in place for collecting the data and visualizing it (reading/interpreting it), is can be abused in any number of ways.

The real problem, IMO, is that private players collecting this data can be co-opted into functioning as front end data miners for domestic surveillance by govco.  Much like Snowden has already revealed, intelligence apparatus in the USA enjoys using this mechanism to get around pesky laws and restrictions on domestic surveillance.

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hornbri

hornbri 1467

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You have the option of turning off the sharing of location data with app's that should help. But most of these apps work best when you share the data, people willing are willing to give up that information for convenience (even if they do not understand what they are giving up). 

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crash_davis

crash_davis 23161

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9 minutes ago, bernorange said:

Original purpose or intent doesn't really matter.  Once the infrastructure is in place for collecting the data and visualizing it (reading/interpreting it), is can be abused in any number of ways.

The real problem, IMO, is that private players collecting this data can be co-opted into functioning as front end data miners for domestic surveillance by govco.  Much like Snowden has already revealed, intelligence apparatus in the USA enjoys using this mechanism to get around pesky laws and restrictions on domestic surveillance.

The US government doesn't need 3rd party data collectors. They can go directly to the cell providers to know exactly where you are at all times. Cell towers are always triangulating your location. 

Foreign governments, yes they prob can and do use data collectors. But I'm sure Russian and China are already hacked into the cell networks anyway.

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crash_davis

crash_davis 23161

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13 minutes ago, hornbri said:

You have the option of turning off the sharing of location data with app's that should help. But most of these apps work best when you share the data, people willing are willing to give up that information for convenience (even if they do not understand what they are giving up). 

If the denied apps are tied via SDKs to other apps which have permission, the denied apps can still get location information. The article below is specific to Android but I imagine IOS is not so immune either.

https://www.theverge.com/2019/7/8/20686514/android-covert-channel-permissions-data-collection-imei-ssid-location

Quote

Even if you say “no” to one app when it asks for permission to see those personally identifying bits of data, it might not be enough: a second app with permissions you have approved can share those bits with the other one or leave them in shared storage where another app — potentially even a malicious one — can read it. The two apps might not seem related, but researchers say that because they’re built using the same software development kits (SDK), they can access that data, and there’s evidence that the SDK owners are receiving it. It’s like a kid asking for dessert who gets told “no” by one parent, so they ask the other parent.

According to a study presented at PrivacyCon 2019, we’re talking about apps from the likes of Samsung and Disney that have been downloaded hundreds of millions of times. They use SDKs built by Chinese search giant Baidu and an analytics firm called Salmonads that could pass your data from one app to another (and to their servers) by storing it locally on your phone first. Researchers saw that some apps using the Baidu SDK may be attempting to quietly obtain this data for their own use.

COVERT CHANNELS AND SIDE CHANNELS

That’s in addition to a number of side channel vulnerabilities the team found, some of which can send home the unique MAC addresses of your networking chip and router, wireless access point, its SSID, and more. “It’s pretty well-known now that’s a pretty good surrogate for location data,” said Serge Egelman, research director of the Usable Security and Privacy Group at the International Computer Science Institute (ICSI), when presenting the study at PrivacyCon.

The study also singles out photo app Shutterfly for sending actual GPS coordinates back to its servers without getting permission to track locations — by harvesting that data from your photos’ EXIF metadata — though the company denied that it gathers that data without permission in a statement to CNET.

 

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crash_davis

crash_davis 23161

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1 hour ago, Armybrat said:

So, they sell my info to S&W, Colt, Ruger, and Adam & Eve toy shop? 

It's hard to understand the implications of location privacy. Post a billboard outside your house and car everyday showing all the places that you went to that day, everyday. It's not that dire but know that with the right connections, anyone can get access to your location.

Another issue is internet usage. Know that at any point, your home ISP and cell providers can see and read everything you do on the internet. These aren't mindless companies. There are 10s to 100s of people who have complete access to everything you do on the net including reading your emails. Not such a big deal? It's akin to everyday letting everyone of those people open and read all of your physical mail but much worst because you do so much more online than what gets send through physical mail.

Some people are ok with it, but at the very least, it should give you some pause and question is it all worth it for unfiltered access into your life?

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Armybrat

Armybrat 41011

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44 minutes ago, crash_davis said:

It's hard to understand the implications of location privacy. Post a billboard outside your house and car everyday showing all the places that you went to that day, everyday. It's not that dire but know that with the right connections, anyone can get access to your location.

Another issue is internet usage. Know that at any point, your home ISP and cell providers can see and read everything you do on the internet. These aren't mindless companies. There are 10s to 100s of people who have complete access to everything you do on the net including reading your emails. Not such a big deal? It's akin to everyday letting everyone of those people open and read all of your physical mail but much worst because you do so much more online than what gets send through physical mail.

Some people are ok with it, but at the very least, it should give you some pause and question is it all worth it for unfiltered access into your life?

Yes, I’m aware of that and have been from the getgo. I was just being facetious.

. My nephew’s wife has been a computer scientist with IBM for decades and has informed the family of such spying going on years ago.

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Iceman

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44 minutes ago, crash_davis said:

It's hard to understand the implications of location privacy. Post a billboard outside your house and car everyday showing all the places that you went to that day, everyday. It's not that dire but know that with the right connections, anyone can get access to your location.

Another issue is internet usage. Know that at any point, your home ISP and cell providers can see and read everything you do on the internet. These aren't mindless companies. There are 10s to 100s of people who have complete access to everything you do on the net including reading your emails. Not such a big deal? It's akin to everyday letting everyone of those people open and read all of your physical mail but much worst because you do so much more online than what gets send through physical mail.

Some people are ok with it, but at the very least, it should give you some pause and question is it all worth it for unfiltered access into your life?

free porn has a value...

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Parliament

Parliament 14383

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It's hard to understand the implications of location privacy. Post a billboard outside your house and car everyday showing all the places that you went to that day, everyday. It's not that dire but know that with the right connections, anyone can get access to your location.
Another issue is internet usage. Know that at any point, your home ISP and cell providers can see and read everything you do on the internet. These aren't mindless companies. There are 10s to 100s of people who have complete access to everything you do on the net including reading your emails. Not such a big deal? It's akin to everyday letting everyone of those people open and read all of your physical mail but much worst because you do so much more online than what gets send through physical mail.
Some people are ok with it, but at the very least, it should give you some pause and question is it all worth it for unfiltered access into your life?
Or all the FBI, CIA, DoD, etc. people they see going back and forth to work.
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blacklab

blacklab 11998

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12 hours ago, South Austin said:

I started assuming several years ago that Google, Facebook, and the United States government know that I watch porn, and am particularly fond of all-girl massages.

That's strange. When I looked you up in the google database it showed your preference as movies featuring "Two dudes, and another dude"

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52-80

52-80 19281

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4 hours ago, ClubWhatever said:

This is bullshit.  I’m not being offered stuff I’m interested in.  I don’t turn off any settings and yet  it’s like they have no idea what I like, what I do, or where I go.  I think there’s just too many people for companies to give a fuck about.  

Lol

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Cajun

Cajun 11766

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23 hours ago, crash_davis said:

It's hard to understand the implications of location privacy. Post a billboard outside your house and car everyday showing all the places that you went to that day, everyday. It's not that dire but know that with the right connections, anyone can get access to your location.

Another issue is internet usage. Know that at any point, your home ISP and cell providers can see and read everything you do on the internet. These aren't mindless companies. There are 10s to 100s of people who have complete access to everything you do on the net including reading your emails. Not such a big deal? It's akin to everyday letting everyone of those people open and read all of your physical mail but much worst because you do so much more online than what gets send through physical mail.

Some people are ok with it, but at the very least, it should give you some pause and question is it all worth it for unfiltered access into your life?

But, but VPN?

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Dbeasy

Dbeasy 15239

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That's why you should always leave your phone at home when you go out to kill people. So I'm told. 


By deduction, I now assume anyone who I see that doesn’t have a phone with them at that moment is trying to kill me. I will take the appropriate countermeasure actions.
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PilotsError

PilotsError 2338

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On 12/20/2019 at 12:22 PM, BurntEyes said:

I don't murder people, but I do understand it also helps when engaged in government overthrow activity.

I'm guessing it's a  good move for rape sessions too, but how would one record their "victories".

 

This is ultimately its true purpose.  Stifling government opposition.

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hayden_horn

hayden_horn 11371

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20 hours ago, blacklab said:

That's strange. When I looked you up in the google database it showed your preference as movies featuring "Two dudes, and another dude"

weird, because when i looked south austin up, it showed his preference was mother - son porn. explains a lot, really. we can put the blame for the entire sub-genre on south austin's mom.

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Captainant

Captainant 27986

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21 hours ago, Cajun said:

I was being facetious.

I use VPN and figured it was nothing more than a sugar pill.

Eh VPN is a great step for security generally - however your phone still needs to connect and authenticate to a several antennas to work. So it's always going to be trivial to track someone who is in physical possession of a powered up cell phone. 

On the note of your ISP seeing everything you do: you should NOT be using your ISP's provided DNS. That's primarily how they track and sell your traffic info, how they throttle other services like Netflix and YouTube, etc, and is prone to getting overloaded in periods of heavy usage. You should change your router to use Google (8.8.8.8) or CloudFlare's(1.1.1.1) DNS service, you'll get better response times and be directed to the preferred infrastructure for that application. Plus, some support DNS encryption which is especially great since DNS queries are normally cleartext and easy to intercept or alter with man in the middle attacks

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LABEVO

LABEVO 928

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It isn’t really google, fb, but all tech companies who have an advertising business “track” user via the ad networks that target individuals based on location, device ID, etc. Even if you have location sharing off, they use these networks to track via a variety of methods like connecting to WiFi. 

The ad network aren’t really tracking individuals but splicing enough data across systems to approximate. It goes so far as buying in mass every time you purchase with credit card. 

The intent is to link your device ID to track where you go and spend money. 

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