Raise your hand if you are aware that anyone can purchase the ability to track your location via cell phone (without your knowledge or permission) at ANY TIME.....
This article by Brian Krebs is a bombshell.
Yes I know the term is overused, especially in the clickbait addicted west. However, in terms of actual information, implications, and incredibly disturbing inferences this story is in fact, a bombshell.
It is a solid read and I encourage you to do so. For now I will hit the highlights.
Most of us are vaguely aware of the fact that cell phone manufacturers and OS providers are utilizing our data to create revenue through add targeting. We are even at least somewhat aware of how they do it. We search "lawnmower" and we see adds related to yard equipment. We visit a Costco and are inundated with the latest deals for the season via email or banners online. Most of us have even laughed with friends and family about our phones "listening to us" because we are targeted with adds for things we talk about when together. While all of these things do happen and there are various sophisticated technologies at work to enable this kind of targeted advertising that is not what this article is about. This article takes targeting cell phone users to another level entirely, a dangerous and insidious level.
The danger:
Each of our phones are recording and transmitting our GPS location 24/7 whether we turn the service off or not.
The article details the ability of companies to allow subscribers to draw a digital boundary around (for instance) a city park. After which the subscriber can view hyper detailed data about which devices move in and out of the boundary over a given period of time. The tracking is done via digital id's built into phones from manufacturers like Apple and Google.
Now imagine what we just articulated. You draw a circle around a park and then can see in detail every device that enters, stays, and leaves the park for 48 hours. Seem fairly innocuous? It isn't. Perhaps I am after something very specific, so I take the time to dive deep. I track every individual ID back to the residential address they return to each night. With the residential address and a quick Google search I can identify the human being associated with the digital ID.....now I can follow them, anywhere.
If this technology is available to corporations for something as dull as targeted advertising let your imagination wonder about all the ways this can be abused. The story unfortunately details how the system has already been abused, allowing the tracking and targeting of law enforcement officers.
The future is here....and we either strike back with a vengeance or wake up in 1984. Pun intended.
