... Which is bullshit because you pretty much need a cell phone in this day and age.Actually you did. It's a part of the standard terms of service for any cell provider that uses post-pay. Unless you're buying minutes in bulk and loading them up on your phone, you've given your cell company the ability to sell your information.
BRB switching to a flip phone. Fuck smartphones and their Orwellian surveillance.
Not saying Russia and Trump corruption isn't news worthy, but wouldn't it be nice if this got, say, at least a few segments of coverage worth? I mean we are losing all of our privacy consistently and it's just being buried. With the amount of smart phones owned in the country, it should be on local news all the way to national.
BRB switching to a flip phone. Fuck smartphones and their Orwellian surveillance.
Not to be that guy, but you probably did when you signed your contract(s)i hate posts like this, its a hand wave of "what did you expect anyway" which does nothing to address the problem or further discussion.
I knew my cell data was accessible by the cell company and any app i authorized. But i did not authorize them to sell that data to anyone.
... Which is bullshit because you pretty much need a cell phone in this day and age.
You're going to need to never go on the internet ever again to get around this. Even then, facial recognition is real. Ghostery even says this forum has trackers.If that's the case---if even a basic, super-bare-bones flip phone still violates my privacy----I may have to seriously consider a life without a cell phone. Or at the very least, I'll leave my cell phone at home and take it out sparingly. Hell, I'll buy a pocket map of NYC and take it with me like I used to back in the early 2000's.
I find it so absolutely appalling how these cell carriers can't respect our privacy. I hope the government cracks down on them soon because the right to a semblance of privacy is the bare minimum I expect.
I turned all to my privacy settings on the max on my iPhone and I'm still tracked? There needs to be an opt-out feature where all of your identifying personal data is obliterated at your request.
Tor isnt 100% secure, governments have found people just by watching the nodes they use Tor on and using an OS like Tails seems silly just to use the internet. At that point you're either doing something illegal or probably should just get off the internet and move into a caveIt's very solvable on a desktop----use Tails OS with Tor for maximum privacy. No one can trace you then.
Personally I use Windows 10 Enterprise LTSB N with all telemetry to Microsoft blocked and all services that require any connection to Microsoft servers beyond security updates turned off (Enterprise LTSB is the only version of Windows which respects your privacy). I also use a VPN and Firefox with addons that block all possible trackers...I stay far away from anything Chrome / Google account-related.
But I didn't realize that your real-time location was being data-mined from triangulation through cell towers. That's a game changer.
You don't want a cut when someone buys your data? If you don't care that they aren't personally tracking you then fine, but anonymity isn't the only thing you're missing out on ;)So a hedge fund can track when I go grocery shopping.
This sort of shit is only valuable when you can offer thousands or millions of data points. And then its being aggregated to find patterns/predictors, not to track me personally.
Reads like the typical fear monge ring to me. I'd always prefer transparency though!
It probably is. However, there's no enforcement whatsoever and I see no reason to think companies don't do it worldwide.This has to be illegal in the EU... right?
please tell me it is
So a hedge fund can track when I go grocery shopping.
This sort of shit is only valuable when you can offer thousands or millions of data points. And then its being aggregated to find patterns/predictors, not to track me personally.
Reads like the typical fear monge ring to me. I'd always prefer transparency though!
I've found Apple's OS much easier to turn off things like this. It was rather weird that it would track daily activities by telling me "it'll take you this long to get here" and that's with all the tracking services turned off except when in use. I had to look up online how to turn the feature off, and it's in a folder in privacy settings. So even though gps wasn't supposed be enabled unless I was using Maps, the phone was still keeping track.Is there any wany to use a cell phone and restrict the location data that gets shared? This sounds like even a VPN woukd do nothing to stop this data being collected.
It's very solvable on a desktop----use Tails OS with Tor for maximum privacy. No one can trace you then.
Personally I use Windows 10 Enterprise LTSB N with all telemetry to Microsoft blocked and any services that require any connection to Microsoft servers beyond security updates turned off (Enterprise LTSB is the only version of Windows which respects your privacy). I also use a VPN and Firefox with addons that block all possible trackers...I stay far away from anything Chrome / Google account-related.
But I didn't realize that your real-time location was being data-mined from triangulation through cell towers. That's a game changer.
Watch the recent movie, Bad Samaritan. Then think about anyone being able to buy this information. Now how do you feel about it?
You don't want a cut when someone buys your data? If you don't care that they aren't personally tracking you then fine, but anonymity isn't the only thing you're missing out on ;)
You've beaten them.They think I'm in California for some reason. I'm actually on the other side of the world
Anyone who didn't already assume this was the case probably isn't really thinking about what their phone is and what it can do.
It's a pocket-sized tracking device with a camera and microphone that is always on and is pretty much always with you.
Yeah im not sure what's going on with it but im fine with this. I'm sure they'll get the right location again once I get a new phone lolYou've beaten them.
Go. Tell the others! There is hope. I thought my discreet visits to The Sizzler would go unnoticed. How wrong I was. :(
I probably won't watch the movie. No one is targeting me personally, or if they are, they don't need this info to do it.
On May 16th, I found a vulnerability in the LocationSmart website which allowed anyone, with no prior authentication or consent, to obtain the realtime location of any cellphone in the US to within a few hundred feet. I immediately moved to contact US CERT to coordinate disclosure, and worked with Brian Krebs to publish the story after the vulnerability was fixed this morning (May 17th).
Now that I have verified that the vulnerability is fixed, I am releasing the relevant technical details of the bug and exploit.
Am I crazy to find it hard to believe that cell providers actually sell our real-time locations directly associated with phone numbers? I always assumed they were selling the location associated with some anonymized unique ID, so that it can be used for statistical Advertising research or whatever. I actually think this company has found some way to associate this anonymous ID with people's real phone numbers, and they are then selling that... which is probably illegal, and it's why FCC is now going to investigate them: https://www.cnet.com/news/fcc-investigating-locationsmart-over-phone-tracking-flaw/Here's a fun update from someone who read the HN thread and decided to do some tinkering around...
https://www.robertxiao.ca/hacking/locationsmart/
Oops.
If this helps provide users with better services then I'm all for it. Data is beautiful.
They already do and it's not, strangely. A company can pay for geofencing on specific addresses (like a competitors store) and once a person is tagged there, they're blasted with ads from the buyer.someone could make A LOT of money seeing peoples movements into stores etc if they are trading off information thats not available to the public. That has to be illegal.
If this helps provide users with better services then I'm all for it. Data is beautiful.
the reason this became a story is because some podunk cop was tracking individuals for personal reasons without a warrantSo a hedge fund can track when I go grocery shopping.
This sort of shit is only valuable when you can offer thousands or millions of data points. And then its being aggregated to find patterns/predictors, not to track me personally.
Reads like the typical fear monge ring to me. I'd always prefer transparency though!
the reason this became a story is because some podunk cop was tracking individuals for personal reasons without a warrant
as long as this data is out there it doesn't matter why it was originally collected, people will use it for evil reasons