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US Military disables ad trackers on troops' phones

theguardian.com

51–60 of 114 posts

Re: US Military disables ad trackers on troops' phones

#51

Wow, it's like there should be a law that allows anyone to disable all data tracking about then, not just anonymize it. This is a large conversation about Consent, which is a concept Silicon Valley refuses to acknowledge.

To them, the consent is using the device/service/whatever. You see it in various bits of EULA and ToS all the time. "Continued use of implies agreement with the license terms". Now, is that at all feasible when you need a smartphone to do things like pay for parking in cities or to read menus at restaurants? No. Do the people in SV who think this way also try to wedge their products and services in every single nook,…

>To them, the consent is using the device/service/whatever.

exactly. the problem is the missing qualifying word.

when consumers say consent, it's almost always referring to informed consent.

when companies say consent, it's almost always referring to implied consent.

Re: US Military disables ad trackers on troops' phones

#52
post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just out of interest, what news sources do you follow? I ask because those claims are made by a very small few yet debunked by every independent investigation.

[flagged]

> All you losers hang out on HN and Reddit because its the only place you can flag and moderate away reality

Minor correction, but you forgot Wikipedia. Why flag reality when you can rewrite it and police it with bots?

Reverting change, references do not meet WP::59593 subparagraph 4.1

Re: US Military disables ad trackers on troops' phones

#53
post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And here lies the problem with having intelligent conversations with followers of popularist movements: I asked a straightforward question and you ramble on about something else entirely. If you actually cared about your country then you’d have answered honestly. So I won’t bother to engage with you further.

Why worry about facts and evidence when you instead have "vibes from the real world."

[deleted]

Re: US Military disables ad trackers on troops' phones

#54
post #46

It sounds like they disabled the "advertising ID" OS feature, but there are many other ways to fingerprint a device for advertising. Maybe this will lead to real privacy reform, now that the true risks are apparent. Not to mention ICE using the same data against civilians.

Disabling "advertising ID" on iOS makes it extremely difficult to reliably fingerprint phones. Apple doesn't allow SDKs which attempt to bypass this, so the app would have to have a first party auth of some type.

Dude, FAANG still manage to do it, day in day out.

Re: US Military disables ad trackers on troops' phones

#55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

You insist on using broad brushstroke language like "masked goons". Nobody is going to listen to your lack of nuance on other topics either.

How much nuance is there really to explore in that topic if even longtime ICE agents are themselves decrying the current state of the agency, and rightfully blaming the current administration for opening the floodgates to any redneck who can read a job application

https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-polit...

Re: US Military disables ad trackers on troops' phones

#56
post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Disabling "advertising ID" on iOS makes it extremely difficult to reliably fingerprint phones. Apple doesn't allow SDKs which attempt to bypass this, so the app would have to have a first party auth of some type.

Dude, FAANG still manage to do it, day in day out.

IIRC they actually don't and it materially reduced Meta's profit when Apple rolled out the advertiser ID system.

Re: US Military disables ad trackers on troops' phones

#57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You insist on using broad brushstroke language like "masked goons". Nobody is going to listen to your lack of nuance on other topics either.

How much nuance is there really to explore in that topic if even longtime ICE agents are themselves decrying the current state of the agency, and rightfully blaming the current administration for opening the floodgates to any redneck who can read a job application https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-polit...

[deleted]

Re: US Military disables ad trackers on troops' phones

#59

Wait until they realize that military spouses and children might also need this, and government employees, and sensitive contractors, etc. It’s almost as if “ad trackers” shouldn’t exist at all. The US government used to love this stuff when it was the only one who could abuse it. There might be a different outlook now that the tables have turned.

It seems like stalking laws in most jurisdictions should already cover this. Is there any legal precedent that could help without the need for new laws?

I don’t think stalking laws cover it. Laws are largely about intent and I don’t think anyone could say that Google is planning to attack everyone.

Law isn’t code. You can’t reduce stalking laws down to “it’s illegal to track people” and then extrapolate back up into ad tech. That’s what gets you “we should jail surgeons for cutting people with knives”. Context and intent matter.

Re: US Military disables ad trackers on troops' phones

#60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

> All you losers hang out on HN and Reddit because its the only place you can flag and moderate away reality Minor correction, but you forgot Wikipedia. Why flag reality when you can rewrite it and police it with bots? Reverting change, references do not meet WP::59593 subparagraph 4.1

[deleted]
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