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The Heritage Foundations means and methods used here is abhorrent and should be seen as un-American. This is the kind of precursor action to Kristallnacht. To

The Heritage Foundations means and methods used here is abhorrent and should be seen as un-American. This is the kind of precursor action to Kristallnacht. To you and @TechBro8615, it feels like there is some other law being broken here. > The Heritage Foundation locked on to the locations of at least 30,000 cell phones at non-government (NGO) migrant aid shelters and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) facilities. This sounds like they are getting device/tower information directly. Again, this sounds like an illegal interception/wiretapping. https://themarkup.org/privacy/2021/09/30/theres-a-multibillion-dollar-market-for-your-phones-location-data https://themarkup.org/privacy/2021/09/30/theres-a-multibilli... https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/06/how-federal-government-buys-our-cell-phone-location-data https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/06/how-federal-government... https://themarkup.org/privacy/2021/09/30/theres-a-multibillion-dollar-market-for-your-phones-location-data https://themarkup.org/privacy/2021/09/30/theres-a-multibilli...

mindslight 4y ago
I take "locked on to the locations of at least 30,000 cell phones" as sensationalist embellishment, rather than any sort of technical description. The articles you linked are exactly what I'm talking about. It's abhorrent, but not illegal as there is currently no general privacy regulation. It's not wiretapping because it's not audio. It's not illegal interception or any other kind of tort because the subjects "agreed" to their telcos and app providers doing this when they signed up for their cell plans and installed apps. It should be illegal. The US needs comprehensive privacy legislation akin to the GDPR, which crucially defines 'consent' in such a way that it cannot just be nullified by unilateral terms of service. Until then, surveillance companies will keep building totalitarian surveillance systems ripe for abuse by the government, politicians, and plain old commercial interests.
- nerpderp82 4y ago
  How did 30k cell phones install an app that surreptitiously asks for location data? I don't think that happened. I think the Heritage Foundation used illegal means and methods to track the locations of those people's phones.
  - mindslight 4y ago
    Is that not exactly what the article you linked above is describing? It's various toolkits used across the entire app industry, combined with carrier data (which affects everyone with a cell phone).

mindslight 4y ago

I take "locked on to the locations of at least 30,000 cell phones" as sensationalist embellishment, rather than any sort of technical description. The articles you linked are exactly what I'm talking about. It's abhorrent, but not illegal as there is currently no general privacy regulation. It's not wiretapping because it's not audio. It's not illegal interception or any other kind of tort because the subjects "agreed" to their telcos and app providers doing this when they signed up for their cell plans and installed apps. It should be illegal. The US needs comprehensive privacy legislation akin to the GDPR, which crucially defines 'consent' in such a way that it cannot just be nullified by unilateral terms of service. Until then, surveillance companies will keep building totalitarian surveillance systems ripe for abuse by the government, politicians, and plain old commercial interests.

nerpderp82 4y ago
How did 30k cell phones install an app that surreptitiously asks for location data? I don't think that happened. I think the Heritage Foundation used illegal means and methods to track the locations of those people's phones.
- mindslight 4y ago
  Is that not exactly what the article you linked above is describing? It's various toolkits used across the entire app industry, combined with carrier data (which affects everyone with a cell phone).