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FBI is buying location data to track US citizens, director confirms

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Re: FBI is buying location data to track US citizens, director confirms

#11

Post by zer00eyz »

shevy-java wrote: post #4

They hate us for our freedom. Also, isn't this breaking the constitution? It bypasses needing a warrant respectively having a objective suspicion.

> Also, isn't this breaking the constitution? It bypasses needing a warrant respectively having a objective suspicion.

Nope.

Your personal information, when given to others, is now trash on the curb (in a literal sense, see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_v._Greenwood )

Buying it just clears up the chain of custody as opposed to the NSA stealing it and reverse engineering your warrant -- OR -- using the good ole stingray.

Re: FBI is buying location data to track US citizens, director confirms

#12

Post by hombre_fatal »

josefritzishere wrote: post #5

A generation ago our leaders derided China (and Russia) for this kind of pervasive spying on it's citizens. In the US we did the same thing just increasing costs by enriching the private sector on the way. That's not better. That's worse.

Kinda reminds me of when I saw footage online of a group of teens raiding a 7/11 store -- maybe during the BLM riots --, and a top comment was "heh, come try that in Texas ;)". Fantasizing, of course, that Texas has a unique bulwark against that behavior, probably having to do with gun ownership.

And then it turns out the video took place in Dallas.

We like to think there are all these barriers to bad things happening where we live. "I'm sure someone (not me) would stop that." But it turns out there isn't as much bulwark as we think. Or we're the bulwark, so if it isn't us, then there is nobody else.

Re: FBI is buying location data to track US citizens, director confirms

#13

Post by staplers »

renewiltord wrote: post #6
givemeethekeys wrote: post #2

That's the job of the FBI - to investigate domestic crimes. But, why do private organizations so willingly participate in the tracking ecosystem? I suppose they're in the, "you have nothing to worry about if you're not doing anything illegal" camp! Hopefully they understand that they have the most to lose.

[flagged]

Am all for it if law enforcement were held to the same standards. Plenty of cases where LE murder is simply not enforced. Thus LE becomes a haven for those seeking impunity and ability to nefariously track anyone.

Re: FBI is buying location data to track US citizens, director confirms

#14

Post by quentindanjou »

josefritzishere wrote: post #5

A generation ago our leaders derided China (and Russia) for this kind of pervasive spying on it's citizens. In the US we did the same thing just increasing costs by enriching the private sector on the way. That's not better. That's worse.

I still remember people asking, "why people in [China], don't protest more actively against it?" as if they would do much better, some others arguing that it was in their "culture" not to protest, as if it would be in the US, they would do anything different: we now have our answer.

Re: FBI is buying location data to track US citizens, director confirms

#17

Post by baggachipz »

shevy-java wrote: post #4

They hate us for our freedom. Also, isn't this breaking the constitution? It bypasses needing a warrant respectively having a objective suspicion.

> Also, isn't this breaking the constitution?

I don't think that's been of much concern as of late.

Re: FBI is buying location data to track US citizens, director confirms

#18

Post by SoftTalker »

anonymars wrote: post #7
wmf wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's just business. Buy (your data) for a dollar, sell for two. It's all legal and the data brokers are mostly unknown or already-hated companies so I'd say they have nothing to lose.

I wonder if we can still buy burner phones for cash at Mondo Mart

You can buy almost anything for cash.

Re: FBI is buying location data to track US citizens, director confirms

#19

Post by mhurron »

givemeethekeys wrote: post #2

That's the job of the FBI - to investigate domestic crimes. But, why do private organizations so willingly participate in the tracking ecosystem? I suppose they're in the, "you have nothing to worry about if you're not doing anything illegal" camp! Hopefully they understand that they have the most to lose.

No it is not the job of the FBI to to conduct mass surveillance of citizens.

Re: FBI is buying location data to track US citizens, director confirms

#20

Post by FL4TLiN3 »

Who's selling the data is the far more serious issue here. Behind this is a remarkably well-structured syndicate. The supply chain looks something like this: consumer apps embed ad SDKs → those SDKs feed location signals into RTB ad exchanges → surveillance-oriented firms sit in the RTB pipeline and harvest bid request data even without winning auctions → that data flows to aggregators who don't have any direct relationship with consumers → and from there it's sold to government agencies, among others. The genius of this structure is that accountability dissolves at every layer. Each intermediary can claim they're just passing along "commercially available data." Nobody verifies whether consumers actually consented to their location data being collected and resold. The consent verification is always someone else's job. The real problem is that this data is buyable at all, by anyone, through an opaque multi-layered supply chain specifically designed so that no single entity bears responsibility for the end result.
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