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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

#451

Post by throwaway413 »

fhood wrote: post #342
throwaway413 wrote: post #226

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why not? How do you think change comes about, by complaining about it on a tech forum?

I you are willing to be blacklisted than more power to you. I wouldn't want to force that on someone.

I agree, wouldn't want to force that on someone either. However I am sure there are plenty of people willing to sacrifice for the "greater good" (such as myself - I have quit a job before citing ethical reasons). People have different risk tolerances, and also current life situations - understandable. Just don't think the expectation should be set that change will come around from anything less than drastic action.

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

#452

Post by rectang »

rectang wrote: post #298
mindcrime wrote: post #273

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does it cause "great harm" for private businesses to have access to this? I'm not sure sure. After all, there is a qualitative difference between the State, which employs men with guns and arrogates to itself the right to use force to impose its will on people, the right to jail people, etc. If Starbucks knows my location, they can send me a coupon if I enter a Dunkin' Donuts store. If the State knows my location the…

> Does it cause "great harm" for private businesses to have access to this? Wide availability of tracking data facilitates domestic violence and stalking, for starters. Say that someone gets killed by their ex who found them through tracking data leaked by some irresponsible and/or profiteering company. How do we hold that company accountable? How can we prove that it was them who leaked the data, when it's everywher…

Another example: widespread availability of tracking data lets burglars know when they should break in and rob you.

Again, this cost is not borne by the data aggregator -- it's a negative externality borne by individual citizens. Good luck suing them.

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

#454

Post by thsowers »

AlexCoventry wrote: post #374

Does disabling the location data via the settings make any difference, and is there an app which will turn off location data after a set period?

No, I tried with my number, all location data off. GPS landed right on my house, very room phone was in.

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

#455

Post by byproxy »

mohaine wrote: post #438
8_hours_ago wrote: post #351

I believe the relevant T-Mobile privacy policy (that I definitely read before signing up...) is: "With your consent. We may provide location-based services or provide third parties with access to your approximate location to provide services to you." https://www.t-mobile.com/company/website/privacypolicy.aspx That is why a text message confirmation is required to get a cell phone's location from https://www.locations…

Well, the locationsmart fails completely on my Google fi phone.

I imagine Google wants sole access to your location.

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

#456

Post by ZainRiz »

lallysingh wrote: post #358
88e282102ae2e5b wrote: post #311

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you able to send them a copy of their individual location data, or the location data of their staffers/friends/family? That might make for a potent wake up call. Though, you'd want to run that by an attorney first.

Screw that. Put together a consumer stalking website, sell the data directly. Advertise, make tons of money, and let the outrage from that bring light to the entire industry.

And then be the only one sent to jail as the scapegoat for the rest

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

#457

Post by cryoshon »

raesene9 wrote: post #276
fhood wrote: post #212

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good way to loose your job very quickly. I don't think we should have to rely on somebody sacrificing themselves to make a difference.

Not sure anyone would lose their jobs. 1) Be an investigative Journalist 2) Purchase access to these location vendors data 3) Correlate data with known mobile numbers of politicians 4) Find things in data that might be of interest to readers (e.g. "politician x was noted to be in the same place as Lobbyist y on 5 different occasions") 5) Publish Story :)

pay me the cost of a data set plus 6k for a month's labor and i'll do it.

still need an outlet for the story though

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

#458

Post by drbawb »

mohaine wrote: post #438
8_hours_ago wrote: post #351

I believe the relevant T-Mobile privacy policy (that I definitely read before signing up...) is: "With your consent. We may provide location-based services or provide third parties with access to your approximate location to provide services to you." https://www.t-mobile.com/company/website/privacypolicy.aspx That is why a text message confirmation is required to get a cell phone's location from https://www.locations…

Well, the locationsmart fails completely on my Google fi phone.

... well now I'm wondering if I should have stuck w/ my Pixel + Fi instead of the S9 + T-Mobile plan I signed up for today. Whoops.

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

#459

Post by ttsda »

vertexFarm wrote: post #194
awelkie wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think it's possible through technological means to avoid being tracked and still use a wireless network. Even if you could anonymously authenticate to the network, if the base stations have a large number of antennas then they can locate the physical origin of your signal and track you that way. It may be possible of course through other means, like government regulation or only using carriers that have some…

I mean unless you've got a ham license and bounce your signal through your own network of relays using a different band than the final signal to the cell tower. But I don't think that's going to work as a popular solution. Would be a really fun experiment to build though. I wonder if you could still use latency timing to get a rough fix on location through a secondary network like that. Not that anyone would be tryin…

I'm pretty sure in most countries you can't carry encrypted traffic through ham packet radio.

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

#460

Post by TechieKid »

dang wrote: post #417
TechieKid wrote: post #322

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Several recent HN stories have had this kind of comment (first noticed with the Securus submission) that's a weird mix of "You have nothing to fear if you have nothing to hide" and "They will never come for you, you're too unimportant." Is this a sustained campaign or just a way for folks who have contributed to these issues to feel good about themselves?

> Is this a sustained campaign This breaks the site guidelines. Could you please read and follow them when commenting here? https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html Insinuations of astroturfing or shilling without evidence (an opposing view does not count as evidence) are an internet toxin that turns out to be worse than the things it insinuates, because it's so widespread. I've written a ton about why we don…

Welp, sorry.
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