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US cell carriers are selling access to real-time phone location data

zdnet.com

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Re: US cell carriers are selling access to real-time phone location data

#101

Post by SketchySeaBeast »

prklmn wrote: post #13
RubenSandwich wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Part of the American mythology is that government involvement is always bad. It's hard for me to know if this developed because of the myths of the America Revolution, that a small colony won it alone and not because of external factors, and how much is due to people preaching small government politics. Regardless a distrust of the government seems to be ingrained in the American psyche IMO.

Another part of the American mystique is that every politician is for sale via legal bribery where companies donate to their campaigns and get them to do mostly whatever the company wants, totally contrary to the interests of the public.

And somehow people trust those bribing companies more than the politicians?

Re: US cell carriers are selling access to real-time phone location data

#103

Post by adamson »

throwawaymath wrote: post #90
sydd wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And how can I buy this realtime data? Also > Hedge funds or services who analyze it for hedge funds is the big one. It's normal to track hundreds of millions of people a day and trade stocks based on where they go. Any articles/webpages about this one? Or a company name who is doing it?

Pinsight is a big one. But there are too many to name. In 2018, you should assume that any free service (Unroll.me), web/mobile SDK (Slice), email client (Airmail), personal finance tracker (Mint), integration API (Plaid), geolocator (Foursquare), etc is monetized by selling your data en masse for market research. It's not just location data. Dig into the TOS of free services you use. It's your receipts, your transac…

Hasn't Foursquare been doing this and nothing but this for ten years now?

Re: US cell carriers are selling access to real-time phone location data

#104

Post by jakubp »

random6547545 wrote: post #44

Throwaway account. I work in location / mapping / geo. Some of us have been waiting for this to blow (which it hasn't yet). The public has zero idea how much personal location data is available. It's not just your cell carrier. Your cell phone chip manufacturer, GPS chip manufacturer, phone manufacturer and then pretty much anyone on the installed OS (android crapware) is getting a copy of your location data. Usually…

What specific data about the person is traded alongside their location history in the... schemes that you describe? (name? Some govt ID number? Phone number? Address? ....)

Re: US cell carriers are selling access to real-time phone location data

#105

Post by dude123456 »

gruez wrote: post #86
dude123456 wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

some of crapware can be avoided by using custom ROMs, but not all of it. For example: Qualcomm IZat location services and other location-based trustzone applets remain running even on custom ROMs.

>Qualcomm IZat location services did a quick check, it's not on my phone (SD 820 SoC). >other location-based trustzone applets remain running even on custom ROMs. I have no doubt some proprietary blobs still remain on custom ROMs, but do those actually send back location data to the OEM?

You have a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820? Oh yes, IZat is definitively there, along with other interesting trustzone applets :)

It is running under QSEE (Qualcomm) and/or MobiCore (Trustonic) OS, which is separate from your Android OS. It is left untouched by custom ROMs.

Re: US cell carriers are selling access to real-time phone location data

#106

Post by tome »

itchyjunk wrote: post #24
tome wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Probably the same above-named act.

But that act says it's telecoms that can't sell it to the government. Doesn't the government purchase data from other 3rd party entities anyways?

I've never read the act but such a hole would be so gaping that it would even embarrass congress and telecoms lobbyists. I can't possibly imagine that they didn't close it.

EDIT: Maybe I was too optimistic: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17082213

Re: US cell carriers are selling access to real-time phone location data

#107

Post by beamatronic »

avoutthere wrote: post #59
random6547545 wrote: post #44

Throwaway account. I work in location / mapping / geo. Some of us have been waiting for this to blow (which it hasn't yet). The public has zero idea how much personal location data is available. It's not just your cell carrier. Your cell phone chip manufacturer, GPS chip manufacturer, phone manufacturer and then pretty much anyone on the installed OS (android crapware) is getting a copy of your location data. Usually…

How can one prevent this and still carry a cell phone? Would keeping one's phone in a faraday bag defeat this constant tracking?

Taking the battery out?

Re: US cell carriers are selling access to real-time phone location data

#108

Post by mtgx »

Sharlin wrote: post #40
itchyjunk wrote: post #36

I am starting to wonder what all have I consented to? Every week I learn I have consented to this and that because of a news article as I never read those contracts or TOS. I wonder if there will be a way to phrase long contracts into bullet list of ideas for someone simple minded like me in the near future.

One of the things that GDPR requires is real informed consent, small print hidden inside a thirty-page EULA is not acceptable.

And unlike some of the recent proposals in the U.S., it's generalized to all industries.

Re: US cell carriers are selling access to real-time phone location data

#109

Post by xfitm3 »

Qwertie wrote: post #35

The worst part is there isn't any possible way I know of to defend yourself against this other than not having a phone.

While unreliable it wouldn't be unrealistic to use wifi in densely populated areas. It looks like the pager industry is still alive, too.

Re: US cell carriers are selling access to real-time phone location data

#110

Post by addflip »

It's funny that this is coming up now. The other day I was on the phone with Geico's roadside assistance and they wanted to know my location. I told them I didn't have their app downloaded, they said it wasn't a problem and they could get it without it. Sure enough they could. I checked their disclaimers [1] and they purchase the data from my cell carrier. They didn't even have to know which one.

[1] https://www.geico.com/web-and-mobile/mobile-apps/roadside-as... (see disclaimers at the bottom)

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