5 ms·

>> Are they tracking the CEOs of companies in which they invest, or what? > No ... How could you know that? I doubt anyone would reveal it, and I don't see wh

>> Are they tracking the CEOs of companies in which they invest, or what? > No ... How could you know that? I doubt anyone would reveal it, and I don't see why they wouldn't - for the unscrupulous (there are plenty of them), it could be very valuable. Remember the story about Uber tracking journalists, for example.

tomp 11y ago
They would track CEOs, if only they could. I'm guessing that even in the US, mobile networks only share aggregate or anonymized data about customer location, and don't allow for spying on specific individuals. If you want to track CEOs, I'm guessing it would be much easier to track their private jets or the license plates of company cars.
- tunap 11y ago
  they MAY only share aggregate but what's stopping, for example, VZW using the data to their own means? competitors use their towers, potential acquisitions, market/political threats or other interesting entities. Laws and morals? Hahaha!
  - exelius 11y ago
    Most telecoms won't do this because the potential reward simply isn't worth the liability they would have for insider trading (if they get caught spying on corporate execs, then the SEC will assume they spy on every corporate exec). In fact, most big telecoms have a secret "VIP" program that flags accounts of especially wealthy, influential or famous people and restricts access to them unless you're on the "VIP" customer service team. I'm sure hedge funds track CEOs, but they're not using data from Verizon to do it.
    - tunap 11y ago
      They calculate risk:reward and do whatever nets the most profitable return. Fines and fees are only anathema when the costs exceed the gains gotten from illicit behavior. Otherwise, paying fines without admitting guilt is the corporate way.
exelius 11y ago
There are better ways to track CEOs than through mass data collection -- targeted data collection (aka hiring a private investigator) works much better. Though most CEOs of big companies have security details that keep the wolves at bay.

tomp 11y ago

They would track CEOs, if only they could. I'm guessing that even in the US, mobile networks only share aggregate or anonymized data about customer location, and don't allow for spying on specific individuals. If you want to track CEOs, I'm guessing it would be much easier to track their private jets or the license plates of company cars.

tunap 11y ago
they MAY only share aggregate but what's stopping, for example, VZW using the data to their own means? competitors use their towers, potential acquisitions, market/political threats or other interesting entities. Laws and morals? Hahaha!
- exelius 11y ago
  Most telecoms won't do this because the potential reward simply isn't worth the liability they would have for insider trading (if they get caught spying on corporate execs, then the SEC will assume they spy on every corporate exec). In fact, most big telecoms have a secret "VIP" program that flags accounts of especially wealthy, influential or famous people and restricts access to them unless you're on the "VIP" customer service team. I'm sure hedge funds track CEOs, but they're not using data from Verizon to do it.
  - tunap 11y ago
    They calculate risk:reward and do whatever nets the most profitable return. Fines and fees are only anathema when the costs exceed the gains gotten from illicit behavior. Otherwise, paying fines without admitting guilt is the corporate way.

exelius 11y ago

There are better ways to track CEOs than through mass data collection -- targeted data collection (aka hiring a private investigator) works much better. Though most CEOs of big companies have security details that keep the wolves at bay.