What The Government Could Do With Your Location Data...Scary

And yet, Scary doesn't cover it.

Law enforcement is taking advantage of outdated privacy laws to track Americans like never before. New technologies can record your every movement, revealing detailed information about how you choose to live your life. Without the right protections in place, the government can gain access to this information -- and to your private life -- with disturbing ease. As long as it is turned on, your mobile phone registers its position with cell towers every few minutes, whether the phone is being used or not.

Since mobile carriers are retaining location data on their customers, government officials can learn a tremendous amount of detailed personal information about you by accessing your location history from your cell phone company, ranging from which friends you're seeing to where you go to the doctor to how often you go to church. The Justice Department and most local police forces can get months' worth of this information, without you ever knowing -- and often without a warrant from a judge.

Quote from one video watcher:

"I see no problem with any of this except for the tip-off to BigCorp... The tipoff to BigCorp would constitute a misuse of the system as having no relevance to enforcing any law and would be subject to punishment on the part of the officer or other public servant having done so. There is nothing wrong with preventing a crime from occurring if there is actual qualifying probable cause to support the notion that a crime is likely to take place."

And of course...the rebuttal:

"So you support the notion that citizens don't have the right to freely move about without being monitored? Please tell me your programming doesn't run that deep. It's scary to think there are people who are ok with their every movement including their private social lives being monitored."

And now me:

%^&#@^&(%%!!!!!!!!!!!

I can not believe that there are still so many that are blind to the fact that this is NOT for your protection but rather to track and contain anyone, anywhere, anytime.

Drones in the skies, street corner conversations being monitored, purchases tracked, bank account withdrawals scrutinized, military and police training together...police being militarized, beating, killing at whim with paid vacations at the end of it called administrative leave and to top it all off...a President who claims the right to kill any American in the World because he says so.

Is anyone listening anymore? Are you aware, awake...even remotely interested?

The walls are going up and you are watching the Olympics...What the hell? We are being spied on by our own Government because we are all seen as potential terrorists!. Clear enough?

Ok, to end this...I am Ukrainian and right now I am so proud to be able to have that claim. I am watching intently the events unfolding and while I know it's not the same issue, it is the same issue. Government control where people have had enough.

Why are so many Nations fighting/standing up to their oppressors while the Western populations just sit and watch? I keep asking myself this question and have come to a conclusion:

People here just don't care enough to open their eyes and see because of fear. Fear of seeing that what is happening around the World is going to happen here and it will be on a scale the World has not experienced since WW2. And this is why people are afraid. They know it will happen and believe that if they only go about their daily routines it might just go away. The Ostrich approach.

Well folks, it's not going to go away and it will happen sooner than you think so get ready because there is no stopping it.

Whew!...Ok, I'm done. Thanks for your time.

Peace

reply to post by jude11


Our cellular phones, tablets, laptops, gps navies, and pcs are rightfully ours until laws are broken. Search and seizure rights do not cover reasonable suspision of illegal activity via internet, cable, phone lines, or satellites. Our technology is comparable to the rights provided regarding driving, except no license is required. Internet use is restricted by consent and purchasing technologies is limited by age or legal adult status, at least it claims to be. All that said, the mediums we use to communicate are not free and are not covered by the 1st or 4th Amendment. This is not new, just shocking to the uneducated. Freedoms exist still today for the person, but to broadcast on someone else's property is a waiver of said communication and its protections. If we do not like that, we should go back to writing letters and talking face to face in private, without tech to record us. Pretty simple actually, but the tech addiction is hard to break.

reply to post by jude11


That is indeed too scary for words. I don't think it is that people don't care so much as it's being desensitized to such a degree that they are unable to recognize a real threat. Social networking is the government's strongest weapon...we are saturated with every horror, every shocking detail in the world via video clips/photos/blurbs/blogs that nothing really fazes people that much anymore. Movies and tv shows depict every conceivable scenario our imaginations can possibly dream up and by that vehicle we have grown accustomed to being able to write things off as make-believe that by all logic and common sense, we should be paying stark attention to. What better way to infiltrate and overtake society than by making the anomalous seem "ordinary"? And let's not forget people and their insatiable desire for technology and having the latest, greatest new expensive electronic "toys". Pavlov would be very proud, I imagine.

Everyone talks about the "zombpocalypse" and the likelihood of it happening...they don't realize that all you have to do is walk outside and look at the people right in your own neighborhood...we're already there. Every time someone laughs at me for not owning a tv or a cell phone or an iPad I just nod and smile, content in the knowledge that when TSHTF, I won't be nearly as easy to find as they will be.

S&F

Boscov
reply to post by jude11

 

Our cellular phones, tablets, laptops, gps navies, and pcs are rightfully ours until laws are broken. Search and seizure rights do not cover reasonable suspision of illegal activity via internet, cable, phone lines, or satellites. Our technology is comparable to the rights provided regarding driving, except no license is required. Internet use is restricted by consent and purchasing technologies is limited by age or legal adult status, at least it claims to be. All that said, the mediums we use to communicate are not free and are not covered by the 1st or 4th Amendment. This is not new, just shocking to the uneducated. Freedoms exist still today for the person, but to broadcast on someone else's property is a waiver of said communication and its protections. If we do not like that, we should go back to writing letters and talking face to face in private, without tech to record us. Pretty simple actually, but the tech addiction is hard to break.

Nicely said!

I believe I still have a stamp here someplace.

Peace

tigertatzen
reply to post by jude11

 

That is indeed too scary for words. I don't think it is that people don't care so much as it's being desensitized to such a degree that they are unable to recognize a real threat. Social networking is the government's strongest weapon...we are saturated with every horror, every shocking detail in the world via video clips/photos/blurbs/blogs that nothing really fazes people that much anymore. Movies and tv shows depict every conceivable scenario our imaginations can possibly dream up and by that vehicle we have grown accustomed to being able to write things off as make-believe that by all logic and common sense, we should be paying stark attention to. What better way to infiltrate and overtake society than by making the anomalous seem "ordinary"? And let's not forget people and their insatiable desire for technology and having the latest, greatest new expensive electronic "toys". Pavlov would be very proud, I imagine.

Everyone talks about the "zombpocalypse" and the likelihood of it happening...they don't realize that all you have to do is walk outside and look at the people right in your own neighborhood...we're already there. Every time someone laughs at me for not owning a tv or a cell phone or an iPad I just nod and smile, content in the knowledge that when TSHTF, I won't be nearly as easy to find as they will be.

S&F

I threw my cell phone in a river 3 years ago and I haven't looked back.

The Zombies are indeed all around us and I believe their HQ is Wal-Mart.

Peace

reply to post by Boscov

All that said, the mediums we use to communicate are not free and are not covered by the 1st or 4th Amendment.

If you post a letter, a warrant is needed to intercept the letter. You pay a fee to post said letter.

If you send an email, also paid for, the Government feels it can intercept.

I can not see a difference. 4th still holds.

P

pheonix358
reply to post by Boscov

 

All that said, the mediums we use to communicate are not free and are not covered by the 1st or 4th Amendment.

If you post a letter, a warrant is needed to intercept the letter. You pay a fee to post said letter.

If you send an email, also paid for, the Government feels it can intercept.

I can not see a difference. 4th still holds.

P

edit on 20/2/2014 by pheonix358 because: (no reason given)

Legal or not...anything can be intercepted if the term "Possible Terrorist Action" is claimed. That's all they have to state.

It's that simple.

Peace

I threw my cell phone in a river 3 years ago and I haven't looked back. The Zombies are indeed all around us and I believe their HQ is Wal-Mart. Peace

reply to post by jude11


I concur I have a panic attack every time I spend more than half an hour inside The Evil Empire, and avoid it like the plague. You couldn't pick a more apropos place for Mind Control Grand Central than that...and bonus points for it already having a surveillance system installed too

I didn't throw my phone into a river but dropped it by accident from a 3rd floor balcony, where it shattered into about a gazillion pieces. I decided to take that as a sign and decided not to replace it, and every day I get happier that I didn't.

reply to post by jude11


Exactly. Furthermore, the US Govt can intercept via local law enforcement, FBI, DHS, CIA, NSA under reasonable suspicion, THEN aquire the warrant for use in prosecution. A stamp or internet bill will not help you a damned bit where suspicion has been established. 1st and 4th Amendment protections are NOT unalienable rights regarding telecommunications. Our current laws may claim privacy in these intances, but when BIG DOG wants to eat, BIG DOG eats.

reply to post by jude11

Legal or not...anything can be intercepted if the term "Possible Terrorist Action" is claimed. That's all they have to state. It's that simple.

Only because you as a people allow it to happen!

It is a violation of the 4th. It is and always will be that simple.

If the people want to stop the abuse, they can. That is why you have the 2nd.

We the people, it is your move!

P

Why are so many Nations fighting/standing up to their oppressors while the Western populations just sit and watch?

Been wondering that since 2008 with the bank bailouts. I wanted to go to Washington to protest / fight but everyone I know said "bailouts? what are you talking about?" and looked at me like I was from a different planet. I'm beginning to think maybe I am.

shockedonlooker

Why are so many Nations fighting/standing up to their oppressors while the Western populations just sit and watch?

Been wondering that since 2008 with the bank bailouts. I wanted to go to Washington to protest / fight but everyone I know said "bailouts? what are you talking about?" and looked at me like I was from a different planet. I'm beginning to think maybe I am.

edit on 2/20/2014 by shockedonlooker because: (no reason given)

I get the same from my family.

As long as their debit cards work...all must be ok.

Peace

It's funny that so many fall into one of the two major camps: 1) either it's bad that evil corporations collect this info and good that glorious government does or 2) it's fine that private businesses collect this info and bad that evil government does

Ideally nobody would be collecting this data.

I suppose if I absolutely had to take one over the other one of these two entities (business and government) has armed paramilitary foot soldiers and drones and can whisk you away to a black site and the other can, what, disconnect your service?

If you absolutely must use these methods of communication encrypt your # people. It's not 100% but at least you're making them work for their bone.

reply to post by thisguyrighthere

Ideally nobody would be collecting this data.

Are you claiming that there is no "right to know?" If you place limitations on what information individuals or groups are allowed to collect, doesn't that mean, for example, that corporations need not disclose earnings statements without a warrant, or need not warn of possible dangers or side effects of products or processes without a court order? Are journalists' hands to be tied because investigating a public figure would be considered illegal collection of data? Where, exactly, do lines need to be drawn?

reply to post by DJW001


If there is no data there is nothing to report.

I work at a place that is subject to PA demands for info so the response was to just stop collecting the data. The gov, press, courts, whoever can demand all day long we hand over the data but there is none to hand over so jokes on them.

In cases of harm or injury the stats exist outside of the company in numerous records kept by the individuals involved, hospitals that treat and elsewhere so even if, for instance, Toyota didnt track malfunctions the data to show that there were malfunctions enough to warrant a recall and legal action would still exist.

Never mind that for companies who produce products or services this data is useful to them to ensure a better product lest they lose customers and go out of business.

There is data that companies want to track for their own purposes and there's data the government mandates be tracked. Sometimes they overlap and sometimes they don't.

I deal with information and we track somethings in house to provide a more efficient service but for the most part and especially for who seeks what we track nothing.

reply to post by Boscov

Back to writing letters? Ok. Youre joking. I see....They would just scan the letters like they've been doing for years......there is no getting away from legal and illegal surveillance. They get away with it without our consent or knowledge in the guise of "national security".

Its not gonna stop. Sending, mailing, texting, emailing, radio-ing...all monitored. They own the means that we need to do all of those things...

reply to post by jude11


You know its very easy to evade these sort of detection methods by not using any personaly identifiable information right?, I imagine even websites such as this if you allow it tracks everything you do on the internet. Has its reasons im sure, probably some sort of commercial ad based revenue scheme. But if they dont know who it is they are tracking then its pretty useless.

Personaly I maintain dozens of fake identities on the internet using bitcoins and anonymous cash top up credit cards. Nothing illegal about creating fake identities, yet.

reply to post by jude11


Not just the government. Any sick stalker can already do some pretty scary stuff if you don't know how to protect yourself. I'm pretty sure quite a few "smartphones" default to putting GPS info in the EXIF info of every photo you take. It's a very simple matter to open such a photo and use something like Irfanview to find out exactly where the photo was taken if it has the GPS info. There are a lot of people who apparently don't even know that information is there when they post these photos online.

thisguyrighthere
It's funny that so many fall into one of the two major camps: 1) either it's bad that evil corporations collect this info and good that glorious government does or 2) it's fine that private businesses collect this info and bad that evil government does

Ideally nobody would be collecting this data.

I suppose if I absolutely had to take one over the other one of these two entities (business and government) has armed paramilitary foot soldiers and drones and can whisk you away to a black site and the other can, what, disconnect your service?

If you absolutely must use these methods of communication encrypt your # people. It's not 100% but at least you're making them work for their bone.

It's not fine that businesses can collect this info either, what they can do with it is considerably more limited however as even the largest corporations don't have the resources to merge the data from everyones database the way governments can.

Businesses collecting this information is also riddled with murkier protections as we pretty much have no consumer protections in the US thanks to ToS agreements. We should, but we don't.

reply to post by jude11


Lets see now... pinpointing a cell phone with only cell towers (no gps, wi-fi or other gismos on) gives your location with a maximum resolution of about 100 meters depending on how many cell towers have you in range and whether you are possible to be triangulated. One tower can only give an approximate distance, not even direction. Two is a little better but not very accurate either. At least three, and you can be located down to that 100x100 meters area at best. So, not very efficient in making out any detailed information about where you are exactly especially in an urban environment.