this NYT story on phone tracking is a major piece of investigative journalism - and frightening

[Grasswire2]

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


One Nation, Tracked.

Twelve Million Phones, One Dataset, Zero Privacy

By Stuart A. Thompson and Charlie Warzel
Dec. 19, 2019


Twelve Million Phones, One Dataset, Zero Privacy

By Stuart A. Thompson and Charlie Warzel
Dec. 19, 2019

Every minute of every day, everywhere on the planet, dozens of companies — largely unregulated, little scrutinized — are logging the movements of tens of millions of people with mobile phones and storing the information in gigantic data files. The Times Privacy Project obtained one such file, by far the largest and most sensitive ever to be reviewed by journalists. It holds more than 50 billion location pings from the phones of more than 12 million Americans as they moved through several major cities, including Washington, New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles.

Each piece of information in this file represents the precise location of a single smartphone over a period of several months in 2016 and 2017. The data was provided to Times Opinion by sources who asked to remain anonymous because they were not authorized to share it and could face severe penalties for doing so. The sources of the information said they had grown alarmed about how it might be abused and urgently wanted to inform the public and lawmakers.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

1. we need legislation declaring that our data is ours

We need penalties -- substantial and financial -- for those who keep or make use of our data without our consent.

[mdbl]

2. The only way to change things is to sue the boards of directors and CEO's personally

Until we get rid of this Inc. safety net those people thrive under, nothing will change.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

8. legislation is required before you have standing

[LisaM]

5. We need users to CARE about these things.

Everything we do in Seattle, including the latest, toll roads that ID off a transponder, is tracked and some of my friends absolutely do not care (under the "I don't have anything to hide" mantra).

I don't necessarily have anything to hide either, but for example, my bus pass (that I get through work) is called an ORCA card (One Regional Card for All) and the issuing agency doesn't erase its data - ever, as far as I know. To pay cash instead costs well over twice as much, so I don't really see that as an option. There were a bunch of articles on this when they first created these cards, but the issue seems to have dwindled into nothingness. Does it matter that my work can figure out at any time where I've travelled on a bus? I think it does. I don't like the feeling of having Big Brother over my shoulder.

The problem is that most people seriously don't give a rip. Why that is, I don't know. They'll squawk about Facebook and the ads they get, maybe not realizing it's all part of a larger issue, and Facebook is really no different from Google or Verizon or Apple.

[aggiesal]

10. That would be great, except ...

when you buy the phone, you have to agree to their terms, which basically says we can use your data for anything.
Also when you select your carrier and plan, they say we can use your data for anything.

If you don't accept, you can't use your phone or you can't get on the carrier network or both.

It really sucks !!!

[Hermit-The-Prog]

11. contracts that violate law are invalid

Carriers would have to adjust to legislation, just as they did in Europe.

[aggiesal]

12. I completely agree, ...

unfortunately we have the GOP and they'll do everything they can to keep that from happening.
And if we are so lucky to get that legislation through, they will dismantle it once they regain power, just like the ACA.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

13. they failed to dismantle the ACA

[aggiesal]

14. Have you read this? ...

Earlier this week 12/15/19, Federal judge in Texas strikes down Affordable Care Act

https://www.cnn.com/2018/12/14/politics/texas-aca-lawsuit/index.html?no-st=9999999999

"... Affordable Care Act's individual coverage mandate is unconstitutional and that the rest of the law therefore cannot stand."

The GOP will tear it down, little by little.
The individual coverage mandate is basically the cornerstone of the ACA. They need younger people to buy coverage, so it was mandated. This judge just said that mandating is unconstitutional, forgetting the fact that Medicare deductions are also mandated and is not unconstitutional.

I don't see the difference.
This decision is going to kill a lot of people.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

15. it's an outlier decision and has had no effect so far

You will not persuade me to adopt an attitude of defeat and hopelessness.

[aggiesal]

17. Outlier or not, we have to deal with it. I don't want the ACA to disappear ...

but the GOP will not stop from getting rid of the ACA if it takes them years to do it,
and if they chip away bit-by-bit.
I'm not defeated or hopeless.
But I'd rather understand the realities to be able to counter what is happening.

This all started because we can't control our personal cell phone information due to existing contracts we have to agree with, to use a smartphone or a carrier.

[lpbk2713]

3. I hope they waste a lot of time on mine.

By the time they got done snooping they would be bored to tears.

[SammyWinstonJack]

4. Right?😴

[Hermit-The-Prog]

9. see post #5, above

[lostnfound]

19. This will be used to frame people, frighten, kill, and stalk.

Dystopia awaits our descendants.

It’s not all about ‘you’ or ‘me’. It’s ripe for gross abuse.

[superpatriotman]

6. Can they help me find my keys?

nt

[B Stieg]

7. It's been shockingly difficult to get my first-year (college) student-writers...

to understand the panoply of intrusions into their on-line lives.

[Quixote1818]

16. I don't buy much so they aren't getting much info on me. nt

[X_Digger]

18. Turn off location services at the OS level.

*shrug*

[drmeow]

20. Google has set it up

So that a lot of things for which location is irrelevant require location to be turned on to work. Plus they also use cell tower data.

[X_Digger]

21. So don't use google maps, etc. It's turned off on mine. *shrug* n/t

[drmeow]

22. Fitbits won't sync data without location services turned on

Other non Google products which people might want to use have reduced functionality because Google forces location services to be on just to sync the devices.

[X_Digger]

23. Then boycott fitbit. And tell them why. *shrug* n/t