Big brother is watching,

[rayin]

In this case a good thing IMO; however____.https://www.wsj.com/articles/government-tracking-how-people-move-around-in-coronavirus-pandemic-11585393202

[wayne77590]

I'm not a subscriber to the WSJ so I can't read the story. However the gist is they are tracking movement. I don't have a problem with it. They are not going to catch me on camera because I'm under "Stay At Home" orders. The ones that will have grief over this are those that will not care whether the travel or not with no concern for others.

[rayin]

If you are using W10, the link to the article is on the MSNBC/US news app.The CDC is receiving cell phone location data from a 3rd party who gets it from the carriers to track gatherings. A good thing IMO, however we all know once a programs is started if often never goes away.

 

[richard5933]

This is not news, other than the fact that it's in connection with the current health crisis.

Law enforcement has been using aggregated data from cell phones for some time, and in some instances have been requesting more detailed information through the carriers when they are investigating specific crimes. They also use a device called a 'stinger' in some areas that basically intercepts connections to a cell phone tower to extract information. Use of stingers has been challenged in court, but the technology is out there and you can bet it's being used.

In other countries they've taken it much further, tracking individuals via their cell phones. In Israel they approved on an emergency basis Shin Bet doing this to track who has contact with someone known to be infected. If the system says you have had contact, you get a text message telling you you're restricted to your house. I can only imagine how China has been using it. Same for many other countries.

Maybe one thing positive coming out of all this is getting people to realize programs like this are in use. Fiction writers from decades ago could never have imagined that not only we there be surveillance like this but that we'd be willingly carry the devices used for the government to do the tracking.

Of course, if you don't want to be tracked there is an easy answer. Turn off your phone and wear big sunglasses. I know, better would be to restrict the government from doing this, but I'm afraid that cat is already out of the bag.

[wayne77590]

I don't know how many times I have said this but I don't care if the Govt. tracks me. I don't have a thing to hide. If this present tracking helps reduce the number of virus cases, I'm all for it.

If someone is against tracking, read about ECHELON

[wildebill308]

Not only that but do you have google on your computer? 

https://myaccount.google.com/data-and-personalization

I am like Wayne, I don't care. It is fun to see how it interprets where I have been and what my interest are. Did you know according to Google I traveled more than enough last year to go around the world?

You are going to get ads and I actually would rather they are something that I might have a interest in rather than what is the best kotex on the market or....

Bill

[wayne77590]

I only have location services turned on to help finding local information, and personalized ads.

However, I use Adblock and Ghostery which work wonderfully.

[richard5933]

Regardless of whether or not you have location services turned on, the systems can determine pretty accurate location by triangulating the cell towers your phone connects to.

License plate readers are in use in most parts of the country. Cars are tracked regularly.

We are already being tracked. It's nearly impossible to avoid. As more and more technology comes online such as face recognition it will become even more difficult.

To me the question isn't whether or not the information is out there, it's who has access to it and what are they able to do with it.

[docj]

More than once location services and Google traffic notifications have allowed us to bypass serious traffic jams.  I don't mind being tracked if it helps me and others avoid traffic jams.

FWIW I did see an amusing video segment about how a guy caused a "traffic jam" by putting >50 phones in a wheelbarrow and walking slowly down a road. Google interpreted that as meaning that >50 cars were moving slowly down that road and, therefore, showed the road as "red."🤣

[wildebill308]

Where does one get 50 phones? 

Bill

[docj]

1 hour ago, WILDEBILL308 said:

Where does one get 50 phones? 

Bill

I'm sure they were old ones.  All they need is Google Maps and a wifi to connect to.  I'm sure that older smartphones are a dime a dozen.  

[richard5933]

2 hours ago, docj said:

More than once location services and Google traffic notifications have allowed us to bypass serious traffic jams.  I don't mind being tracked if it helps me and others avoid traffic jams.

FWIW I did see an amusing video segment about how a guy caused a "traffic jam" by putting >50 phones in a wheelbarrow and walking slowly down a road. Google interpreted that as meaning that >50 cars were moving slowly down that road and, therefore, showed the road as "red."🤣

The problem comes with who gets the data and what they do with it. You may be doing nothing wrong and be totally innocent and still be caught up in an investigation and possibly be considered a suspect based on data retrieved from your phone.

I'm not suggesting that we throw away our phones or stop using them, but this is something that we all should be aware of as the use of phone data continues to increase.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/04/13/us/google-location-tracking-police.html