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New report in The Wall Street Journal found the Trump administration “has bought access to a commercial database that maps the movements of millions of cellphones in America".
The data used by the government comes not from the phone companies but from a location data company, one of many that are quietly and relentlessly collecting the precise movements of all smartphone-owning Americans through their phone apps. They can see the places you go every moment of the day, whom you meet with or spend the night with, where you pray, whether you visit a methadone clinic, a psychiatrist’s office or a massage parlor.
The federal government has essentially found a workaround by purchasing location data used by marketing firms rather than going to court on a case-by-case basis.
Government can now travel back in time to retrace a person’s whereabouts, subject only to the retention polices of the wireless carriers, which currently maintain records for up to five years. Once a surveillance technology is widely deployed in a society it is almost impossible to uproot. In the United States, as in most of the world, no federal law limits what has become a vast and lucrative trade in human tracking.
Does all that makes you uncomfortable?
Is the tradeoff between the services offered by the apps and the sacrifice of privacy worth it?
Are you OK that your children movements are tracked and you don't even know by whom and why?
Should Supreme Court restrict such tracking?
Well, I'm glad I don't have a smartphone or a FB page.
It's easy to still buy flip phones in my state, but when I went out to California, I was practically laughed out of the store. They did an online check, and told me no one within 100 miles of Monterey Bay or the SF Bay Area sold flip phones. I think people should have the option. Especially in view of these latest developments mentioned in the OP. People should be able to opt out of being tracked.
Your privacy was already invaded by a little thing called "Facebook".
Like Matthew Broderick says in War Games, the only winning move is not playing,
While this is true about smartphones and FB, what they dont tell you is, these things can also be used to thwart tracking too! Example, for someone who knows cell phone tech, it is fairly easy to change how your phone 'pings' the cell towers...so if they were to look at your cell phone records, trying to find out if you were in a specific location or not, this little trick could be used against them.
The performance artist pulling a little red wagon on a street with 99 cell phones in it and turned on, showed up as a traffic jam on Google maps. Better mousetraps only last so long before they are thwarted.
The performance artist pulling a little red wagon on a street with 99 cell phones in it and turned on, showed up as a traffic jam on Google maps. Better mousetraps only last so long before they are thwarted.
If your cell phone has a battery, you can be tracked, even if it has 'no signal', even if it is turned off. Doesn't matter if it's a 'flip phone' or anything else, and it certainly doesn't matter if you select the little 'no tracking' option in your privacy settings, the only thing that does stop reporting your tracking information within the apps TO YOU - but I assure you, they still have access to it. Reminds me of (but not exactly) the crosswalk button that isn't hooked up to anything. It seems the ONLY way to maybe avoid tracking is changing phone and sim cards EVERY PHONE CALL... but even then... they could likely piece it together by who you call, or eventually, voice recognition. It is how it is, this is the new life Orwell described very well, deal with it and move on, ohhh, and don't be doing any crimes. haha
Does all that makes you uncomfortable?
Is the tradeoff between the services offered by the apps and the sacrifice of privacy worth it?
Are you OK that your children movements are tracked and you don't even know by whom and why?
Should Supreme Court restrict such tracking?
OK. I will tell you that I went to play tennis this morning, then came home for a nap and then to synagogue for an afternoon lecture. Then to the post office to mail a letter, then back home.
Tomorrow I go to work in NYC, then to Court in White Plains, then to work in the White Plains office. There, you didn't need my ankle monitor.
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