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

[immortal13 4059]

1 hour ago, El Diablo said:

My phone has a rotary dial, am I safe?

Not if you live in Mayberry

[NeverMarryAStripper 21907]

2 hours ago, El Diablo said:

My phone has a rotary dial, am I safe?

Neighbors are listening in on your party line

[Jkwellborn 6702]

Neighbors are listening in on your party line

Those were the days. When I was a kid, we used to pull that shit when the neighbors wouldn’t get off the phone. Damn teenage girls talk all the time.

[Fudge Nuggets 19190]

On 12/20/2019 at 8:05 AM, 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.

But I was told if you don't have anything to hide then there is nothing to worry about.

[Judge Roybeanbag 11819]

14 minutes ago, Jkwellborn said:

Those were the days. When I was a kid, we used to pull that shit when the neighbors wouldn’t get off the phone. Damn teenage girls talk all the time.

The old Czech lady who lived next door to us would sometimes leave the phone off the hook, maybe on purpose, who knows?  But my mom would get us kids to bang on pots and pans really loud into the phone until the old lady figured out the problem.  

[NeverMarryAStripper 21907]

My mom is probably the last person in the world with a land line that you can get a busy signal on (I bet a lot you don't even know what that is) and a fax machine on a separate line.  She frequently leaves her phone off the hook.  When I call her and get a busy signal for an extended period I just send her a fax from my computer telling her that her phone is off the hook. 

[tbone_ 14123]

I remember busy signals. I also remember dialing “0” and requesting an emergency break because some girl I liked wouldn’t get off the damn phone.

[Nice Guy Eddie 13512]

On 12/21/2019 at 9:56 AM, crash_davis said:

Yes, VPN. However, the majority of people do not know or care to use VPN to protect their shit.

It would take close to zero effort for the phone/data carriers or Apple/Google to make VPN easy to use and close to a zero cost.  However it would kill a revenue stream for them so they won't do it.

 

[crash_davis 23113]

15 minutes ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

It would take close to zero effort for the phone/data carriers or Apple/Google to make VPN easy to use and close to a zero cost.  However it would kill a revenue stream for them so they won't do it.

 

Facebook had a VPN. I think they took it down due to privacy pressures. That's a special kind of stupid for the people who used that VPN.

[52-80 19158]

1 hour ago, NeverMarryAStripper said:

My mom is probably the last person in the world with a land line that you can get a busy signal on (I bet a lot you don't even know what that is) and a fax machine on a separate line.  She frequently leaves her phone off the hook.  When I call her and get a busy signal for an extended period I just send her a fax from my computer telling her that her phone is off the hook. 

Funny how that always happens when ArmyBrat is visiting her right?

[bernorange 8361]

WaPo article reprinted on another site (no paywall):

Quote

...
Short-range phone sensors and campuswide WiFi networks are empowering colleges across the United States to track hundreds of thousands of students more precisely than ever before. Dozens of schools now use such technology to monitor students' academic performance, analyze their conduct or assess their mental health.

But some professors and education advocates argue that the systems represent a new low in intrusive technology, breaching students' privacy on a massive scale. The tracking systems, they worry, will infantilize students in the very place where they're expected to grow into adults, further training them to see surveillance as a normal part of living, whether they like it or not.
...
Instead of GPS coordinates, the schools rely on networks of Bluetooth transmitters and wireless access points to piece together students' movements from dorm to desk. One company that uses school WiFi networks to monitor movements says it gathers 6,000 location data points per student every day.

School and company officials call location monitoring a powerful booster for student success: If they know more about where students are going, they argue, they can intervene before problems arise. But some schools go even further, using systems that calculate personalized "risk scores" based on factors such as whether the student is going to the library enough.
...
SpotterEDU chief Rick Carter, a former college basketball coach, said he founded the app in 2015 as a way to watch over student athletes: Many schools already pay "class checkers" to make sure athletes remain eligible to play.

The company now works with nearly 40 schools, he said, including such universities as Auburn, Central Florida, Columbia, Indiana and Missouri, as well as several smaller colleges and a public high school. More than 1.5 million student check-ins have been logged this year nationwide, including in graduate seminars and chapel services.

SpotterEDU uses Bluetooth beacons roughly the size of a deck of cards to signal to a student's smartphone once a student steps within range. Installers stick them on walls and ceilings - the less visible, Carter said, the better. He declined to allow The Washington Post to photograph beacons in classrooms, saying "currently students do not know what they look like."

School officials give SpotterEDU the students' full schedules, and the system can email a professor or adviser automatically if a student skips class or walks in more than two minutes late. The app records a full timeline of the students' presence so advisers can see whether they left early or stepped out for a break.
...

More:  https://www.pressdemocrat.com/news/10509416-181/colleges-are-turning-students-phones

 

[ImissWallyPryor 9046]

On 12/21/2019 at 8:43 AM, Cajun said:

But, but VPN?

I use Express VPN, Duck Duck Go, and Proton Mail. What do I win? A new Alexa?

[F250 28775]

36 minutes ago, ImissWallyPryor said:

I use Express VPN, Duck Duck Go, and Proton Mail. What do I win? A new Alexa?

Not a damn thing. Commercial VPN exist nodes are monitored.

 

 

[ImissWallyPryor 9046]

As opposed to what, nonexistent nodes?

[Cajun 11705]

What’s a node?

is it like a yute?

[NoName 16351]

On 12/21/2019 at 1:48 AM, ImissWallyPryor said:

I was watching the 30 for 30 on Bobby Knight last night, and I decided to Google his name. I got as far as Bo before my iPhone gave it’s first suggestion... Bobby Knight. Fuckers are listening to my TV, too. 

technology isn't there yet to live transcribe your TV/phone/conversations and then immediately serve up ads related to that but that is the only reason FB/Google/etc aren't doing it...

[NoName 16351]

On 12/23/2019 at 10:38 AM, crash_davis said:

Facebook had a VPN. I think they took it down due to privacy pressures. That's a special kind of stupid for the people who used that VPN.

FB was also harvesting phone numbers from those who used their 2FA tool

Quote

“Based on feedback from the privacy and security communities, we have started updating our two-factor authentication feature so that phone numbers people add here won’t be used to suggest friends,” a Facebook spokesperson said in a statement.

on the list of companies that care about your data and sell it, FB is in my opinion far and away the worst at respecting or even trying to pretend to respect your privacy.