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How The Pentagon learned to use targeted ads to find its targets

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121–130 of 139 posts

Re: How The Pentagon learned to use targeted ads to find its targets

#121
post #92

This is why you don't let the weather app access your location. In fact, weather apps are one of the main offenders here. ICE in the US has been known to use this same data to track down and harm undocumented migrants. Personally, I have a de-googled Pixel running GrapheneOS. It has a sandboxed version of Google Play, but without the elevated system privileges. I am not signed in to Google at any kind of global devic…

This (location data collection) is why Apple bought Dark Sky imo https://i.imgur.com/M7ywdfo.jpg

Apple doesn't need to buy a weather app on the iPhone (when it offers its own pre-installed weather app anyway) in order to get your location. Apple can get your location directly from the iPhone itself.

Re: How The Pentagon learned to use targeted ads to find its targets

#122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"track down and harm"? Just speak without weird political euphemisms please.

How would you characterize it instead?

Locate and arrest individuals who have broken the laws that ICE is charged with enforcing?

Re: How The Pentagon learned to use targeted ads to find its targets

#123
post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ad serves up an image hosted by the advertiser. Phone makes an http get for the image and gives out its IP. You can also target ads by geography and do a lat/long box over your target area and show a specific ad so you know how many unique users are in that area.

Giving up the IP is against the GDPR.

How would the server return the data to the client without an IP address?

Re: How The Pentagon learned to use targeted ads to find its targets

#124
post #24

So, what's the best weather app to use that's not going to sell my location?

Just don't give it access to your location. Not like I've widely sampled all of them, but Apple's weather app I do currently use does not require location services. I can simply tell it the zip code I care about knowing the weather for, which may or may not be where I am physically located at the time.

Your IP address may still be giving a fairly good idea of your location, especially if you're on wifi.

Re: How The Pentagon learned to use targeted ads to find its targets

#125
post #24

So, what's the best weather app to use that's not going to sell my location?

heh. this reminds me that google just last week updated all their system apps (maps, calendar, clock) to include mandatory, no way to disable, weather. now they can phone home every time you look at the time or set up an alarm even under GDPR.

Wow. Never a better time to de-google a phone.

Re: How The Pentagon learned to use targeted ads to find its targets

#126
post #77
post #64

Reminds me of the guy who pranked his roommate with Facebook ads targeted to an audience of one: https://ghostinfluence.com/the-ultimate-retaliation-pranking...

I did this once too and it worked. The targeting is much less specific than it was years ago though.

Indeed I remember back then one could target somebody by his email. I would guess the agencies still get extended targeting access.

Re: How The Pentagon learned to use targeted ads to find its targets

#128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Undocumented workers do work in farm, janitorial, restaurant, construction, and other sectors that is irreplaceable through any other reasonable means. There is a fairly obvious reasonable means: Issue them work visas. But there is no lobby to do that because the people doing it prefer the status quo where they're cheating on their taxes and getting out of regulatory requirements companies who hire US citizens have…

There are huge lobbies supporting seasonal and temporary worker visas. For one area you mention – farming – there is a specific H-2A seasonal worker visa, and industrial agriculture is a huge lobby. Hotels, resorts, and other venues use the H-2B non-agricultural temporary worker visas. For example, Trump's properties (in)famously use them to staff up during busy seasons. These companies are also substantial lobbies i…

> There are huge lobbies supporting seasonal and temporary worker visas.

Precisely. There are huge lobbies for the thing we already have and not for solving the problem that remains:

> But these are all temporary work visas, not visas allowing for permanent work and residence in the United States. So they would not cover permanent economic migrants who end up in the restaurant sector or in janitorial work.

People want cheap domestic labor but refuse to admit to it in writing. They want a "minimum wage" but not the higher prices that implies for common services that require unskilled labor. They want home values and their own corrupt industry's margins to stay high and blame Walmart for not paying a "living wage" under those conditions, while patronizing Walmart because they have lower prices.

You can't have two incompatible things at once and when you demand that, what you get is deception and rules that only exist on paper.

Re: How The Pentagon learned to use targeted ads to find its targets

#129
post #81
post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I did this once too and it worked. The targeting is much less specific than it was years ago though.

Useful to gives dates. Swichkow's prank ad mentioned above was back in 2014. I think you're referring to Facebook/Meta removing many detailed PII-specific targeting options, 1/2022.

That said, the prank still works if you can get your targeted ad in front of the victim even if it also goes to unconnected recipients as well.

Re: How The Pentagon learned to use targeted ads to find its targets

#130
post #77
post #64

Reminds me of the guy who pranked his roommate with Facebook ads targeted to an audience of one: https://ghostinfluence.com/the-ultimate-retaliation-pranking...

I did this once too and it worked. The targeting is much less specific than it was years ago though.

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