How the U.S. Military Buys Location Data from Ordinary Apps

vice.com

64 points·jmsflknr··4 comments

https://twitter.com/jason_koebler/status/1328362929905778689

TLDR: The U.S. Military is buying user location data harvested from a Muslim prayer app that has been downloaded by 98 million people around the world, is using this type of data for "counterterrorism".

As a Muslim i feel like i have been violated. I have this app and like how much more insidious can data surveillance get. Especially using it for counter-terrorism purposes. I am not one to get easily offended but this definitely does pull a few strings.

Also makes me want to start reading Terms and conditions, probably should have in this instance.

On iOS, one can lock out an app from ever using the gps -- thats been my default posture as long as I can remember. In addition, I regularly look up to see which of the apps are trying to access location information (they usually quickly get the boot). Is this a feature on other mobile OSes?

You can do the same on Android. You can limit access to location either to "never" or to "when using the app actively". You can also allow the usage of location data in the background, but why should one.

> Also makes me want to start reading Terms and conditions, probably should have in this instance.

One really cant expect the T&C's to help protect against the threat level overall when SOCOM is lurking…

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