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Your mobile data sold, without your knowledge

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Re: Your mobile data sold, without your knowledge

#71

Post by derivativethrow »

rmrfstar wrote: post #50
cocoa19 wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Ultimately, free is the culprit. " False... Plenty of companies take your money and still sell your data.

Airnb and the cell provides are good examples [1],[2]. The cell provider location data is the most insidious. They add noise to it, but the central limit theorem is a real thing and people who buy the data are aware of that. [1] https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/15/technology/data-privacy-l... [2] https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/nepxbz/i-gave-a-bounty-hu...

I’m aware of what the central limit theorem is, but I’m confused as to what you mean here. Do you mind clarifying? It sounds like you’re saying the CLT leads to deanonymization. I don’t see how the two are related.

Re: Your mobile data sold, without your knowledge

#72

Post by rmrfstar »

derivativethrow wrote: post #71
rmrfstar wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Airnb and the cell provides are good examples [1],[2]. The cell provider location data is the most insidious. They add noise to it, but the central limit theorem is a real thing and people who buy the data are aware of that. [1] https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/15/technology/data-privacy-l... [2] https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/nepxbz/i-gave-a-bounty-hu...

I’m aware of what the central limit theorem is, but I’m confused as to what you mean here. Do you mind clarifying? It sounds like you’re saying the CLT leads to deanonymization. I don’t see how the two are related.

Take several measurements and average them. The variance scales like 1/n_samples, which can take you from city-block resolution to building resolution quite rapidly.

Re: Your mobile data sold, without your knowledge

#74

Post by surround »

cocoa19 wrote: post #40
indymike wrote: post #17

Many of the apps that sell your location use location as a critical component of the experience. Apple and Google added a permission last year - only allow access to location when app is running (in the foreground). That change has made a dramatic reduction in the amount of location data available. Ultimately, free is the culprit. People like to navigate, buy stuff online, see things on a map, get local weather, and…

"Ultimately, free is the culprit. " False... Plenty of companies take your money and still sell your data.

...such as cell service providers. All of them (in the US, at least) sell your location and browsing data to advertisers.

I would happily pay for a provider that doesn’t triangulate my location 24/7, but none exist.

Re: Your mobile data sold, without your knowledge

#75

Post by nerdponx »

indymike wrote: post #17

Many of the apps that sell your location use location as a critical component of the experience. Apple and Google added a permission last year - only allow access to location when app is running (in the foreground). That change has made a dramatic reduction in the amount of location data available. Ultimately, free is the culprit. People like to navigate, buy stuff online, see things on a map, get local weather, and…

Ultimately, free is the culprit.

Sort of. The real question is: how much does Google make with their free ad-driven model? You'd have to beat that with a paid model (taking into account the reduced userbase as a result of increasing the perceived price).

Also there is genuine value to having $0-cost high-quality maps, Internet search, translation, and many many many other things available to the general public, worldwide. I don't think you could match that same level of public benefit with a paid-only product.

Re: Your mobile data sold, without your knowledge

#76

Post by surround »

The article assumes that the location data must have been collected because he gave an app permission to access his location. I bet they couldn’t figure out which app it was because it wasn’t an app.

Cell service providers can and do track your cellphone location. All they have to do is measure the signal strength of your cellphone at different towers, and they can triangulate its position.

https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/nepxbz/i-gave-a-bounty-hu...

I’m not familiar with other locations, but in the US, you only have the choice between three cell service providers. All of them admit to selling their own customer’s location data to third parties in their Privacy Policies.

AT&T https://about.att.com/csr/home/privacy/full_privacy_policy.h...

Verizon https://www.verizon.com/about/privacy/full-privacy-policy

T-Mobile/Sprint https://www.t-mobile.com/privacy-center/our-practices/privac...

Remember, you’re paying for these services. But they still sell you out.

I seriously recommend you read the privacy policy for your provider. It seems they collect as much data as possible (not just location, also browsing history and a whole host of other metrics) and share it with as many different parties as possible.

If you are using a cellphone, your location is being tracked. Period. You can’t avoid it. Even TOR isn’t gonna help you.

Re: Your mobile data sold, without your knowledge

#77

Post by chris_va »

surround wrote: post #74
cocoa19 wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Ultimately, free is the culprit. " False... Plenty of companies take your money and still sell your data.

...such as cell service providers. All of them (in the US, at least) sell your location and browsing data to advertisers. I would happily pay for a provider that doesn’t triangulate my location 24/7, but none exist.

(not defending their practices at all...)

They are required to for 911 support.

Obviously they are not required to keep the data, and especially not sell it.

(Minus maybe a sealed NSA directive, though that is pure speculation on my part)

Re: Your mobile data sold, without your knowledge

#78

Post by etrabroline »

surround wrote: post #76

The article assumes that the location data must have been collected because he gave an app permission to access his location. I bet they couldn’t figure out which app it was because it wasn’t an app. Cell service providers can and do track your cellphone location. All they have to do is measure the signal strength of your cellphone at different towers, and they can triangulate its position. https://www.vice.com/en_us…

From Verizon:

>We may de-identify or aggregate information so that Verizon or others may use it for business and marketing purposes. For example, the data we aggregate might be used to analyze, personalize and improve our services, to provide business and marketing insights to others and to help make advertising more relevant to you. You have choices about some of these uses

From AT&T:

>Equipment Information includes information that identifies or relates to equipment on our networks, such as type, identifier, status, settings, configuration, software or use. Location Information includes your street address, your ZIP code and where your device is located. Location information is generated when the devices, Products or Services you use interact with cell towers, Wi-Fi routers, Bluetooth services, access points, other devices, beacons and/or with other technologies, including GPS satellites. [...] We may share information with AT&T affiliates and with non-AT&T companies to deliver or assess effectiveness of advertising and marketing campaigns

Re: Your mobile data sold, without your knowledge

#80

Post by jalk »

partingshots wrote: post #9
strombofulous wrote: post #4

Wow, this article is really interesting, but one thing I noticed is that the translation is generated and perfect! In fact if the header weren't there I'd have thought it was written by a native english speaker.

It’s secretly an ad for Google Translate.

That is actually a pretty good translation with few mistakes
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