Who Needs Metadata? The NSA Has Pictures of You, Your Daily Whereabouts, Your Sexual Orientation from "Leaky" Phone Apps (military, federal government)
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BTW, on a slightly different but related subject....
We've heard volumes about the NSA and other agencies collecting tons of "metadata" on cell phone and other calls. "Metadata" comprises the time and date of the call, the calling number, the receiving number, and the length of the call. No content, no voice recordings etc.
I believe that any government agency collecting ONLY this metadata, is just as flagrant a violation of the 4th amendment if done without a warrant, as the stuff I described in my last few posts here. For that, if the NSA can be shown to collecting just this metadata without a warrant, as I believe they have, then the penalties I mentioned earlier apply just as strongly here: Some top people in these agencies, and their bosses, should go to prison for a long time. Whether they are actually USING that metadata for anyting, or not.
Interestingly, if a snippet I heard on the radio the other day is true, Barack Obama agrees with me. I heard that he gave a speech (last week?) saying that for the government to own the files containing this metadata, is over the line drawn by the 4th amendment. And that a private company not controlled by the government (good luck finding one like that) should have possession of those files. And the only way the govt can get ANY of it, is by a judge signing a warrant, specifying exactly what the govt people can access... to the exclusion of all else.
Perhaps AT&T, T-Mobile, and all the other cell phone companies should be the ones keeping this data... and the cost of keeping it should be paid by the gummint, since the data is there for use by the government in conformance with its legitimate constitutional role of proiding for the national Defense. With the proviso that paying for its upkeep does NOT thereby give the gummint any access to it at all. Again, they can only get what a judge signs a warrant for.
I actually did a doubletake when I heard that radio report. I'm still not sure I heard it correctly, because it was so unexpected. But if it was true, and if Obama really meant it (that's the biggest IF in his Presidency), then he and I agree.
I have read several articles this similar to the one above. Once the market for non-smartphones shrinks too much, companies will no longer keep manufacturing them. Also, I have read several articles recently where many hotel chains are completely ditching room keys in exchange for an app that opens your doors ( yeah, nothing can go wrong there!!!)
My point is that I think it's going to get harder and harder to avoid using a smartphone in the near future. It'll be easier and cheaper to give everyone a smartphone and dumb it down.
Absolutely. Information sharing is becoming a core competency in the Federal Government. The end goal being that a person will never be able to escape the watchful eye of the government.
The defenders of the NSA info grab claim it's harmless, since they are not reading your emails or listening to your phone conversations. But all they need to do it pull up the email of someone who posted something online that a bureaucrat did not like, link that to your internet and phone records, and they have a complete dossier on everyone you associate with, every web site you visit. With little justification and a little more effort they can decide to actually read your email and listen to your phone calls.
Maybe all that will happens is your name goes on some list somewhere, that only a select few people are privy to. Then what happens when your government is into rewarding their friends and punishing their enemies?
Can you not read? The article does not say the NSA is collecting this. It says the "Best Buys" are and the gov is just trying to come up with a way to tap in. NSA would like to get to the company data if we are to believe the Guardian story. Your beef is with the companies at this point, not the NSA. And YOU gave them permission when you downloaded their app and just glossed over the warnings about what access it gives them to things on your phone etc. You accepted their terms.
What you say is true. But there's a VAST difference between what the user provides to the app and a virtual folder collected by the NSA surreptitiously and filed away for the government to have to hold. THATS the problem.....but as you said.....you could care less.
The article also says clearly that many apps, such as Facebook and Twitter, shed certain tracking codification before posting the content to the users "page." Because the period of time between when the poster submits the content and when the app posts the content is apparently very brief, NSA is seeking (and has to some degree) to figure out how to capture that data before the proprietary tracking codes are removed by the proprietor.
Quote:
In practice, most major social media sites, such as Facebook and Twitter, strip photos of identifying location metadata (known as EXIF data) before publication. However, depending on when this is done during upload, such data may still, briefly, be available for collection by the agencies as it travels
across the networks.
Depending on what profile information a user had supplied, the documents suggested, the agency would be able to collect almost every key detail of a user's life: including home country, current location (through geolocation), age, gender, zip code, marital status – options included "single", "married",
"divorced", "swinger" and more – income, ethnicity, sexual orientation, education level, and number of children.
The agencies also made use of their mobile interception capabilities to collect location information in bulk, from Google and other mapping apps. One basic effort by GCHQ and the NSA was to build a database geolocating every mobile phone mast in the world – meaning that just by taking tower ID from a handset, location information could be gleaned.
A more sophisticated effort, though, relied on intercepting Google Maps queries made on smartphones, and using them to collect large volumes of location information.
Notice this is not prospective....this has already happened!
I am completely amazed at the number of liberals and others who actually defend this government collection of every aspect of your life.
What you say is true. But there's a VAST difference between what the user provides to the app and a virtual folder collected by the NSA surreptitiously and filed away for the government to have to hold. THATS the problem.....but as you said.....you could care less.
The article also says clearly that many apps, such as Facebook and Twitter, shed certain tracking codification before posting the content to the users "page." Because the period of time between when the poster submits the content and when the app posts the content is apparently very brief, NSA is seeking (and has to some degree) to figure out how to capture that data before the proprietary tracking codes are removed by the proprietor.
Notice this is not prospective....this has already happened!
I am completely amazed at the number of liberals and others who actually defend this government collection of every aspect of your life.
The only profile information available is that which the user themselves have entered. You should also criticize the stupid people who would publish so much information about themselves for anybody to see. Yes anybody, including the government. I do not know why anybody in there right mind would include so many details like income. Personal responsibility is a pretty key component here.
I have read several articles this similar to the one above. Once the market for non-smartphones shrinks too much, companies will no longer keep manufacturing them. Also, I have read several articles recently where many hotel chains are completely ditching room keys in exchange for an app that opens your doors ( yeah, nothing can go wrong there!!!)
My point is that I think it's going to get harder and harder to avoid using a smartphone in the near future. It'll be easier and cheaper to give everyone a smartphone and dumb it down.
Yes, it's inevitable. This has been by design though. Giving it away with fine print turned out to be the best tool in the box. It's created a large and profitable industry.
If the government knew ahead of time that the Tsarnaev brothers were planning to bomb Boston, is it acceptable to access their mobile phones to see where they are?
The only profile information available is that which the user themselves have entered. You should also criticize the stupid people who would publish so much information about themselves for anybody to see. Yes anybody, including the government. I do not know why anybody in there right mind would include so many details like income. Personal responsibility is a pretty key component here.
It can only become a "personal responsibility" issue after full disclosure by the United States Government has been made of the programs to every citizen of the country. If, in full view and in complete transparency, someone still decides to provide information that they know the government is tracking and collecting, then perhaps the personal responsibility component kicks in a very minor way. The idea that the government is surreptitiously collecting the digital footprint of virtually every American is a grotesque and flagrant violation of the 4th Amendment. Mark my words, this will be challenged in the Supreme Court....its inevitable.
If the government knew ahead of time that the Tsarnaev brothers were planning to bomb Boston, is it acceptable to access their mobile phones to see where they are?
They tell us they need to collect our cellular and internet data to "keep us safe" from "terrorist attacks." But yet all that spying, prying, and snooping didn't "keep us safe" from "terrorist attacks" in Boston did it?
Two low level terrorists escaped a multi-trillion dollar security apparatus for God's
sakes!!
What a ****ing crock of **** the United States Government has force fed its citizens. Its absolutely disgusting to see the decline of this nation at the behest of a paranoid government and an apathetic citizenry!
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