Conservative group targets migrant cell phone data, raising privacy concerns

I am well aware of the profit incentives for my data, and selling manipulation as a service. It is why I opt out in every instance I have a choice.

I use Whonix for most personal browsing, I use 0 GAFAM services or products by surveillance capitalism companies, I do not own a smartphone, I randomize my wifi MAC addresses, and the majority of my transactions are in cash or anonymized bitcoin.

License plate plate cameras, facial/gait recognition systems, and airline tickets are about the only automated ways left to track me that I am aware of.

I only use prepaid cards on rare occasion when I encounter a bar or a parking meter that does not take cash. Regardless my name is not associated with any of those transactions.

In general cash raises the least eyebrows and is reasonably anonymous.

Public transit, bikes, electric skateboards, and taxis allow you to move mostly invisibly in cities when required.

Also not having a cellular connection is not a burden once you learn how to navigate for yourself again, and know how to quickly find wifi when you need it. If anything it frees you from compulsive notification checking.

If people flag me as a potential malcontent and discriminate against me I am happy to turn it into an expensive media circus to raise more awareness. I am exercising my legal right to opt out of surveillance systems.

The more people that do this, the less we stand out and the more protected we all are. I do not even -need- to do any of this but I help provide cover for the people that rally do. People like me also make it harder for businesses to do away with cash, table pagers, paper menus, etc.

I am in California and am currently shopping for deep-dive CCPA enforcement services as that is a lot more work than not creating the data in the first place.

Friends have used https://privacyduck.com with success.

Generally I agree that the issue here is apolitical, that, whomever might want to abuse the ability to buy up/acquire data, whatever tbe villains of the day- there should be checks against this creeping authoritarianism/survelliance-by-the-very-wealthy. Selling consumer data is too alluring & unimpeded.

But it is the least shocking thing I've heard that the Heritage Foundation is behind this effort, & astoundingly unsurprising this very-longstanding forefront-of-conservatism would be confused with the U.S.G.

The radio station sends signals to my car without knowing it's location. It's only when my phone responds or pings a tower that they will know my accurate position.

The hospital needs to know my details like cholesterol to provide me health services, but they are broadly not allowed to sell those details and if that data ended up somewhere it shouldn't be, you could adequately call it a "leak". Cell phone data should be the same way. Verizon will always know my location, because that's how physics works, but they should not be able to give that info to anyone or anything without my express permission or a warrant.

Prove it. Give me your email address, and I'll send you my phone number. Then you can tell me my current location.

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.

How often is that happening out of the blue? Sure, if a loved one has a serious health condition try to be reachable. But it's not something most people have to be concerned about.

> Yes, we survived. But I knew a boy who did not.

I'm sorry. What happened to him that a cell phone would have prevented? Medical emergency far from land lines, took too long to reach 911?

>"But I am saying that just because we (I am sixty) grew up without such technology and turned out all right, does not mean there is no risk."

I am 61 and I understand that yes there is a risk. But maybe this is the risk worth taking. As a kid I walked to school and back every day and generally much of my life at that point and later on was spent outside. I am now looking at my 8 year old grandson, all the gizmos he has, access to information and being constantly accompanied by adult for security. I love him and sort of feel very sorry. I think no fucking way I would trade the type of childhood freedom I had to the one most of modern kids are having.

Survival here is being taken too literally. We were able to conduct our affairs (business and personal) without 24/7 access to communications because the world didn't assume its availability. Now the world assumes its availability. So now there are tangible risks to your business and personal affairs by not being aware of evolving circumstances in real time, but if you manage expectations appropriately and set up your life "correctly" the risks of being six hours behind the curve are rarely too important unless you're meeting other people for lunch/dinner (risk of venue changes). Despite our social training, the "news" is mostly unimportant.

I think what you're getting at with the helmet business is survivorship bias - the fact that I did meth recreationally in the 90's and came out with no bad side effects doesn't mean meth is okay for everyone, that sort of thing. But with 24/7 comms it's kind of a different dynamic of changing expectations en masse rather than a question of beating the odds.

Is this true if you disable Find My when you turn off the phone (it's a prompt at shutdown)?

Sadly, yes. I honestly encourage you to do it too. It is the only thing that will make them care.

You will need to have access to the privately sold cell carrier lookup services. Ask your local bounty hunter, private investigator, cell carrier employee, or dirty cop. You can also anonymously buy lookups with bitcoin on darknet markets.

Joseph Cox from Motherboard proved the above at Defcon 27 to raise awareness.

https://invidious.snopyta.org/watch?v=3e6n7jDDmj0

You start a marketing or data aggregation company, do enough business so you have enough income to be a credible source of revenue for Verizon, and then contact Verizon with a lucrative contract for access to the data.

All of these companies regularly sell the data, including to law enforcement agencies without a warrant, but that doesn't mean ANYONE can buy it. It's identical to "The law prohibits both politicians and beggars from sleeping under a bridge" and "All citizens have the ability to defray their taxes with complex legal fictions and businesses"