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I'm no legal expert but it seems like this data might be subject to FOIA requests - or at least should be anyway. If it is truly anonymized (yeah, right) then i

I'm no legal expert but it seems like this data might be subject to FOIA requests - or at least should be anyway. If it is truly anonymized (yeah, right) then it could be released publicly. I'm not really sure what the general public would actually do with this data - but they paid for it so they should have access. Even better would be to not collect it at all. Is there some way to increase the cost of collecting/storing data like this so that more municipalities/organizations will just consider stuff like this "not worth it"? Even in cases where courts have found that the government (or their agents e.g. a police officer) didn't have the authority to surveil the public without a warrant they were able to purchase private data and construct a parallel chain of evidence that didn't involve the warrant-less surveillance.

internetter 3y ago
I've already submitted a FOIA – request 2024-0103[0]. I requested all raw data made available to the town since this feature was made available in 2021. If this is successful, I will submit one to neighbouring towns as well, and will release it on my blog (here[1]). Edit: I have mixed feelings on this initiative as a whole. "Bike Counters" are frequently used by cyclists, for instance, to argue areas need better infrastructure. The question is how can it be done in a non-invasive way, and this data should absolutely be public if it's being collected [0]: https://townforms.com/FOIADirect-BrooklineMACitizens/Public/Request/PublicRequestDetails.aspx https://townforms.com/FOIADirect-BrooklineMACitizens/Public/... [1]: https://boehs.org/node/soofa-foia https://boehs.org/node/soofa-foia
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lxgr 3y ago
Who would you FOIA? iOS and Android randomly and locally select a 47 bit number and change it every now and then. I don't think it's ever sent off-device.
- linkjuice4all 3y ago
  The town of Brookline itself. They contracted with Soofa and would likely have responsive records in the form of contracts at the very least. It's not obvious who owns some/all of the data so you might not get the actual MAC addresses - or as others have mentioned you'd get a lot of "random" hits so it would be more difficult to track returning individuals. Regardless - these are elected officials and their departs using public money for what some might consider surveillance. What's the issue with a little sunshine on how this all works?
  - lxgr 3y ago
    Ah, got it, I was thinking you were referring to the mobile OSes and the details of their MAC randomization implementations.

internetter 3y ago

I've already submitted a FOIA – request 2024-0103[0]. I requested all raw data made available to the town since this feature was made available in 2021. If this is successful, I will submit one to neighbouring towns as well, and will release it on my blog (here[1]). Edit: I have mixed feelings on this initiative as a whole. "Bike Counters" are frequently used by cyclists, for instance, to argue areas need better infrastructure. The question is how can it be done in a non-invasive way, and this data should absolutely be public if it's being collected [0]: https://townforms.com/FOIADirect-BrooklineMACitizens/Public/Request/PublicRequestDetails.aspx https://townforms.com/FOIADirect-BrooklineMACitizens/Public/... [1]: https://boehs.org/node/soofa-foia https://boehs.org/node/soofa-foia

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lxgr 3y ago

Who would you FOIA? iOS and Android randomly and locally select a 47 bit number and change it every now and then. I don't think it's ever sent off-device.

linkjuice4all 3y ago
The town of Brookline itself. They contracted with Soofa and would likely have responsive records in the form of contracts at the very least. It's not obvious who owns some/all of the data so you might not get the actual MAC addresses - or as others have mentioned you'd get a lot of "random" hits so it would be more difficult to track returning individuals. Regardless - these are elected officials and their departs using public money for what some might consider surveillance. What's the issue with a little sunshine on how this all works?
- lxgr 3y ago
  Ah, got it, I was thinking you were referring to the mobile OSes and the details of their MAC randomization implementations.