I've brokered terabytes of data over the last 10 years.
It's worth paying attention to companies like https://alternativedata.org
Companies use smartphone locations to help advertisers and even hedge funds
151–160 of 181 posts
Re: Companies use smartphone locations to help advertisers and even hedge funds
#152iOS now forcing "While Using" option on all apps is the greatest thing ever. Before this, some apps where forcing the "Always" option on users. Uber and Waze come to mind. iOS also gives you a warning from time to time about apps using your location in the background. I think iOS right now has the best location management. --- People are surprised when seeing the Activity section in Google's account details, then fre…
I at least get a substantial value add to my life having Google track me everywhere. It might be overly sentimental but being able to see everywhere I've been in the last ~seven years on Maps feels to me like one of the great innovations Google has made. If people accept Google will sell that data to subsidize the cost of persisting it you get a permanent record of everywhere you've gone. I think its cool to have. It…
being able to see everywhere I've been in the last ~seven years on Maps feels to me like one of the great innovations Google has made.
Your phone is perfectly capable of making this map on its own. Why does it have to share all that information with the Google mothership?
Apple's phones do the same thing, but don't send your personal location history to Apple. (Though I believe the history isn't a full seven years.)
Re: Companies use smartphone locations to help advertisers and even hedge funds
#153Earlier quoted context omitted.
I at least get a substantial value add to my life having Google track me everywhere. It might be overly sentimental but being able to see everywhere I've been in the last ~seven years on Maps feels to me like one of the great innovations Google has made. If people accept Google will sell that data to subsidize the cost of persisting it you get a permanent record of everywhere you've gone. I think its cool to have. It…
I love that Google Photos is able to add location information to my old photos and pictures I take on my actual camera without manually mapping everything. It's surprisingly accurate and really enjoy seeing where all I've been over time.
I love that Google Photos is able to add location information to my old photos and pictures I take on my actual camera without manually mapping everything. It's surprisingly accurate and really enjoy seeing where all I've been over time.
Apple's phones and computers do this, too. This is not unique to Google. What is unique to Google is that Google uses the information to profile you, while Apple just uses the information to draw a map.
Re: Companies use smartphone locations to help advertisers and even hedge funds
#154Earlier quoted context omitted.
I respectfully disagree on Google being entirely transparent about tracking location, especially if you run Android + Google Play Services. I have a tablet (Pixel C) that runs LineageOS + Google Play Services and a Phone (Nexus 5x) that runs LineageOS vanilla (no MicroG, no UnifiedNLP, no Google Play Services). Some things I have noted: - When you install MicroG/Google Play Services, they take over location services…
>if I disable location and then reenable it when I have moved more than 20-30 miles, the GPS has to reacquire the signal and can take up to 2 minutes (I also tried it when I drove several hundred miles, it took several minutes to reacquire). This is indicative of the GPS module being off totally. This was not so when it had Google Play Services on, it was able to reacquire my location extremely quickly, sometimes alm…
To know your location, the receiver needs the GPS ephemeris and almanac data (basically the status/location/trajectories of the GPS satellites). This is transmitted by the satellites themselves, but extremely slowly (50 bps with the entire navigation message taking 12.5 minutes)
Thanks for explaining that. It explains why when I interfaced a GPS receiver yanked out of a 2001 minivan it took so long to lock into a location with my Palm Pilot.
Re: Companies use smartphone locations to help advertisers and even hedge funds
#155Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Contrary to popular opinion, people are not ignorant to the behaviour of tech giants - they just don't care enough to stop. Contrary to your* opinion, people do care enough to stop but they don't know how. Tech giants have insinuated themselves into literally every aspect of their lives by abusing the lack of knowledge of the users. Now, they don't see a way out without drastic change. How can you get a job if you…
>people do care enough to stop but they don't know how I'd guess the vast majority of HN users will be primarily users of Windows/Mac OS and proprietary software. Many HN users will use GMail, Google Maps, Google Play Services... an so on. Are we going to pretend that your average HN user doesn't understand the pros/cons of their software choices? Personally, I'd prefer to credit them with the intelligence to have ma…
> I now use a dumbphone because I dislike smartphones for other reasons. There are many, many successful people who can function perfectly well without the latest iPhone.
I'm curious - how do you handle navigation (both in car and on foot) with a smartphone?
Re: Companies use smartphone locations to help advertisers and even hedge funds
#156Freakonomics did an episode not too long ago with the new CEO of Ford. The guy was practically salivating at the mouth about all the data new vehicles will be collecting and how Ford could potentially monetize it all. Scary times ahead.
It is a smart business move as there is money to be made.
Insurance companies did it first by offering dongles that you can plug into your OBDII that would basically feed your driving data back to them.
I agree that it is scary and just feels not right. General population is so ignorant these days that most honestly don't care. They will just accept these things.
This data will be valuable to insurance companies, government, car manufacturers and who knows how else it could be used. You can literally tell who made a modification to their car and read all the data from the vehicle.....meh, future sucks.
One day we will wake up when we have zero freedom, all of our moves will be tracked...and we won't be able to have any privacy at all.
Re: Companies use smartphone locations to help advertisers and even hedge funds
#157Freakonomics did an episode not too long ago with the new CEO of Ford. The guy was practically salivating at the mouth about all the data new vehicles will be collecting and how Ford could potentially monetize it all. Scary times ahead.
I submitted that article on HN but it didn't get any attraction. It seems Ford CEO thinks they can collect and monetize drivers data: -- So the case I would make is that we have as much data in the future coming from vehicles, or from users in those vehicles, or from cities talking to those vehicles, as the other competitors that you and I would be talking about that have monetizable attraction. --The issue in the ve…
Struggling to find this article - could you link me to it?
Re: Companies use smartphone locations to help advertisers and even hedge funds
#158Earlier quoted context omitted.
I submitted that article on HN but it didn't get any attraction. It seems Ford CEO thinks they can collect and monetize drivers data: -- So the case I would make is that we have as much data in the future coming from vehicles, or from users in those vehicles, or from cities talking to those vehicles, as the other competitors that you and I would be talking about that have monetizable attraction. --The issue in the ve…
Struggling to find this article - could you link me to it?
Can an Industrial Giant Become a Tech Darling? (Ep. 357)
Re: Companies use smartphone locations to help advertisers and even hedge funds
#159Why is selling this data not illegal and harshly prosecuted? You'd expect to find this data being stolen by trojans and sold for bitcoin by anonymous actors on blackhat sites, not by registered companies with offices and employees.
It’s astounding to me that this same country with HIPAA laws protecting name, ethnicity, age, and any identifying information in hospital records has nothing on the books to guard that very same information which can easily be bought and sold if it came from anywhere other than a hospital.
Just like police agencies need a warrant for certain information. Or they can just buy it on the data market, and bypass checks and balances.
Re: Companies use smartphone locations to help advertisers and even hedge funds
#160Earlier quoted context omitted.
That does nothing for IP based geo location though. Every rest request to modern cloud services gets geotagged and those tags can be surprisingly accurate in populated areas for people that use wifi.
IP-based location isn't very accurate due to IPv4 addresses becoming a scarce resource. Mobile 3G/4G data networks are reusing those IPs, so at best you'll get a country or state-level accuracy. The IP of home / business connections can be static and the accuracy can be good, however you're not taking that IP with you when on the move. So in order to track a user's movement, online services have to link that IP to so…
Mobile 3G/4G data networks are reusing those IPs, so at best you'll get a country or state-level accuracy.
If you're lucky. Right now I'm on a Verizon connection that reports me being in New Mexico.
My phone's AT&T connection currently says I'm in Los Angeles.
I'm half a continent away from either of those places.