A Smartphone as a tracking/data collection device

How effective is a smartphone is at being a tracking device and for personal data collection?
If a public relations firm wanted to build a fusion database of a target demographic so they can better know how they would respond to a knew promotion or ad. Maybe use this information as a crystal ball to predict trends and modify them before they start.

A free "obama" phone could be even more effective because it is free and widely available. Imagine all the information you can find about people that they are not willing to admit publicly.

This is if the people gathering this metadata are not unethical. If they are, then we're in for a long road ahead.
Spying using phones,internet traffic(ala google and bing) and email can be particularly useful in propaganda campaigns(selling wars to the public under the guise of "spreading democracy" "keeping you safe" and "harboring terrorists") and political smear/framing(pretty much what they did to Ron Paul). You can also use this spying apparatus to censor ideas and free expression.

There has to be legislation to make this form of data gathering illegal unless there is a subpoena by a judge.

But go on and drink some fluoride though.

That isn't a conspiracy, it's more like a fact.

reply to post by John_Rodger_Cornman

They have been using them just like that since the day they 1st hit the market. Theres a lot of material on that if you "google" it!

Yeah, this is pretty much fact already. something tells me you've missed all of Snowden's revelations.

reply to post by mysterioustranger

Theres a lot of material on that if you "google" it!

Google is a tracking/data collection device.
Try "duck duck go" instead.

Your metadata is being stored for a set amount of time. Thesedays every killer knows to have their smartphone end up where their alibis is supposed to be while they do their dirty deed.

reply to post by John_Rodger_Cornman


Everything you said is already fact, both by corporations and by governments. Corporations harvest your data and use it to predict your behavior, using this prediction they target you with the ad's you're most responsive to. The ultimate goal is to make every ad you see 100% effective. This isn't right, but it's far less evil than what governments are doing.

Governments are taking this information (sometimes they gather it, sometimes they just take it from the corporations) and using it for security. They want to pronounce you guilty before you commit a crime, and they want to violate your privacy, documents, and whatever else.

There's a third group too that you missed which is the banks. They don't really use cell phone data, just debit/credit card swipes. They use this information to develop psychological/financial profiles of you which are put to use when making loans against you. Letting them essentially make loan agreements with additional information to minimize risk (or worse case, set you up in a predatory loan that traps you in default hell).