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CDC tracked millions of phones to see if Americans followed lockdown orders

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Re: CDC tracked millions of phones to see if Americans followed lockdown orders

#321

Post by ineedasername »

7speter wrote: post #317
smileysteve wrote: post #217

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Can someone name a scarrier entity that could be tracking you? Yes? As the CDC's only enforcement mechanisms are generally small teams in tyvek suits with fertilizer sprayers with bleach. Their primary function is public advisement and their employees are civilian. So yes, CIA, FBI, IRS, NSA, military, Homeland security (tsa and coast guard), grb; but also Facebook, apple, Google, at&t.

As far as I know the cdc hasn’t dropped radiation in anyones tea or put a deadly poison on the door knob of anyone’s front door.

No one would do that, why would they do that? Next you'll be talking about poisoned underwear or some other random nonsense.

Re: CDC tracked millions of phones to see if Americans followed lockdown orders

#322

Post by unclenoriega »

listless wrote: post #284
iaw wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Given the virtually unlimited executive powers the CDC believes it has Care to elaborate? CDC has historically been an extremely powerful organization devoted to the safety of the US public.

The CDC unilaterally ruled this country for the better part of 2 years. No checks. No balances. Now you could argue that the desperation of the situation calls for something more expedient than Democracy. But many people who supported the moves made by the CDC (including me) were equally horrified that it had as much power to do so.

Can you explain this further? My recollection of the past 2 years is quite different, and my understanding of the US government structure is that our elected representatives could overrule the CDC at any time.

Re: CDC tracked millions of phones to see if Americans followed lockdown orders

#323

Post by standardUser »

cm2187 wrote: post #48
samschooler wrote: post #2

See the issue here is that this data exists at all and it’s purchasable by any group. I feel like the CDC are the least scary people buying this data. And from the looks of it they used it for medical research, which if similar in style to other medical research is bound by boards and ethics committees. What we aren’t writing about in this article are the groups using this data Cambridge Analytica style to sway polit…

Given the virtually unlimited executive powers the CDC believes it has, I am not sure I agree with your assessment that it is the least scary people. But I agree that the problem here is not that the CDC is buying it so much that this data is available to be bought.

The CDC gave its pronouncements and state and local governments acted as they saw fit. They were a glorified informational pamphlet. They exercised virtually no real power whatsoever - that was mostly governors and mayors. I'm constantly bewildered when people try to paint a toothless bureaucracy as some sort of Orwellian ministry.

Re: CDC tracked millions of phones to see if Americans followed lockdown orders

#324

Post by serial_dev »

zamalek wrote: post #303
version_five wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> CDC are the least scary people buying this data Most buyers probably just want to target advertising at me, or otherwise grab my attention. The CDC wants a say in how people live their lives and thinks they know better than individuals about risk tolerance and decisions. And they seem to think they can have unchecked power by invoking "science". Can someone name a scarrier entity that could be tracking you? I don't…

> they can have unchecked power by invoking "science". I find it incredible that people are capable of discrediting the very process that resulted in the platform for their ability to express that. The ability for you to press a key, have that intent transmitted to a micro-circuit, have that micro-circuit calculate how to display that character on a pixel grid, and see that result on a display is the result of more t…

> I find it incredible that people are capable of discrediting the very process that resulted in the platform for their ability to express that.

Nobody was trying to discredit science.

Some people refer to "science" (in quotes) because any criticism of a policy or individual was cynically dismissed as a criticism of science itself.

"So it’s easy to criticize, but they’re really criticizing science because I represent science" is an actual quote by someone in power to shut sceptics down.

The people who used science as a shield from criticism of course wanted everyone to forget that in complex situations, especially in a new situation where not enough data is available, it's very common that scientists disagree on something.

Being sceptical of a scientist's interpretation of reality is actually science.

Re: CDC tracked millions of phones to see if Americans followed lockdown orders

#325

Post by unclenoriega »

thegrimmest wrote: post #208
mhh__ wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is true in the abstract but adds nothing to the discussion if you actually had to make a decision. Lumping everything into "Government" and not government is partly why American society is completely broken in some regards.

As long as every branch of "Government" has the authority to escalate to forcible imprisonment for noncompliance with their policy, I will be equally mistrustful of all of them.

Does every branch of government have the authority to escalate to forcible imprisonment for noncompliance with their policy?

Re: CDC tracked millions of phones to see if Americans followed lockdown orders

#326

Post by standardUser »

listless wrote: post #284
iaw wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Given the virtually unlimited executive powers the CDC believes it has Care to elaborate? CDC has historically been an extremely powerful organization devoted to the safety of the US public.

The CDC unilaterally ruled this country for the better part of 2 years. No checks. No balances. Now you could argue that the desperation of the situation calls for something more expedient than Democracy. But many people who supported the moves made by the CDC (including me) were equally horrified that it had as much power to do so.

That is so wildly off the mark it is preposterous. State and local officials were almost entirely responsible for the actual implementation of pandemic response measures. And when various cities and states got tired of the pandemic (despite record deaths) they simply ignored the CDC.

Re: CDC tracked millions of phones to see if Americans followed lockdown orders

#327

Post by niij »

standardUser wrote: post #323
cm2187 wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Given the virtually unlimited executive powers the CDC believes it has, I am not sure I agree with your assessment that it is the least scary people. But I agree that the problem here is not that the CDC is buying it so much that this data is available to be bought.

The CDC gave its pronouncements and state and local governments acted as they saw fit. They were a glorified informational pamphlet. They exercised virtually no real power whatsoever - that was mostly governors and mayors. I'm constantly bewildered when people try to paint a toothless bureaucracy as some sort of Orwellian ministry.

That _should_ be their role, but unfortunately they overstepped.

The CDC implemented an eviction moratorium for around a year (September 4, 2020 through August 26, 2021). That had very real, negative impact on landlords during that time. I doubt those effected would call it toothless.

https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2020/09/04/2020-19...

Re: CDC tracked millions of phones to see if Americans followed lockdown orders

#328

Post by standardUser »

niij wrote: post #327
standardUser wrote: post #323

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The CDC gave its pronouncements and state and local governments acted as they saw fit. They were a glorified informational pamphlet. They exercised virtually no real power whatsoever - that was mostly governors and mayors. I'm constantly bewildered when people try to paint a toothless bureaucracy as some sort of Orwellian ministry.

That _should_ be their role, but unfortunately they overstepped. The CDC implemented an eviction moratorium for around a year (September 4, 2020 through August 26, 2021). That had very real, negative impact on landlords during that time. I doubt those effected would call it toothless. https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2020/09/04/2020-19...

There were not zero policies enacted by the CDC.

Re: CDC tracked millions of phones to see if Americans followed lockdown orders

#329

Post by malwarebytess »

samschooler wrote: post #2

See the issue here is that this data exists at all and it’s purchasable by any group. I feel like the CDC are the least scary people buying this data. And from the looks of it they used it for medical research, which if similar in style to other medical research is bound by boards and ethics committees. What we aren’t writing about in this article are the groups using this data Cambridge Analytica style to sway polit…

This type of data collection should be illegal and heavily punished, public or private.

The damage it is doing far outweighs the benefits of temporary profits.

Re: CDC tracked millions of phones to see if Americans followed lockdown orders

#330

Post by [deleted] »

zamalek wrote: post #303
version_five wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> CDC are the least scary people buying this data Most buyers probably just want to target advertising at me, or otherwise grab my attention. The CDC wants a say in how people live their lives and thinks they know better than individuals about risk tolerance and decisions. And they seem to think they can have unchecked power by invoking "science". Can someone name a scarrier entity that could be tracking you? I don't…

> they can have unchecked power by invoking "science". I find it incredible that people are capable of discrediting the very process that resulted in the platform for their ability to express that. The ability for you to press a key, have that intent transmitted to a micro-circuit, have that micro-circuit calculate how to display that character on a pixel grid, and see that result on a display is the result of more t…

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