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They Stormed the Capitol. Their Apps Tracked Them.
nytimes ^ | 2/5/2021 | By Charlie Warzel and Stuart A. Thompson

Posted on 02/06/2021 10:10:11 AM PST by bitt

Times Opinion was able to identify individuals from a trove of leaked smartphone location data.

In 2019, a source came to us with a digital file containing the precise locations of more than 12 million individual smartphones for several months in 2016 and 2017. The data is supposed to be anonymous, but it isn’t. We found celebrities, Pentagon officials and average Americans.

It became clear that this data — collected by smartphone apps and then fed into a dizzyingly complex digital advertising ecosystem — was a liability to national security, to free assembly and to citizens living mundane lives. It provided an intimate record of people whether they were visiting drug treatment centers, strip clubs, casinos, abortion clinics or places of worship.

Surrendering our privacy to the government would be foolish enough. But what is more insidious is the Faustian bargain made with the marketing industry, which turns every location ping into currency as it is bought and sold in the marketplace of surveillance advertising. Now, one year later, we’re in a very similar position. But it’s far worse.

A source has provided another data set, this time following the smartphones of thousands of Trump supporters, rioters and passers-by in Washington, D.C., on January 6, as Donald Trump’s political rally turned into a violent insurrection. At least five people died because of the riot at the Capitol. Key to bringing the mob to justice has been the event’s digital detritus: location data, geotagged photos, facial recognition, surveillance cameras and crowdsourcing.

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Editorial; Extended News; Government; US: District of Columbia
KEYWORDS: apps; capitol; capitolriot; fakenews; fourthamendment; newyorkslimes
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To: KC_Lion

Let’s see if ANTIFA were there?


41 posted on 02/06/2021 10:54:36 AM PST by Titus-Maximus (The trouble with socialism is that you soon run out of other people's zoo animals to eat.)
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To: McGavin999

Did they do a toxicology on the people who died?


42 posted on 02/06/2021 10:55:15 AM PST by bray (Pray for fake President Biden)
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To: BereanBrain
Interesting they can’t find the violent protestors in the cities though, right?

ANTIFA was smart enough to tell their members to wear masks and put their phones in Faraday bags, or leave them at home. Their members were smart enough to follow instructions.

43 posted on 02/06/2021 10:55:38 AM PST by Sooth2222 (“Taxation without representation is tyranny.” -James Otis (1761))
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To: cymbeline

“Does the GPS in cars use the phone system or they like the TomToms and others that only receive signals from the satellites?”

Technically no need to. But if your car can tie into your cell phone, then yes, it certainly can transmit location data, along with voice data, and perhaps some video data.

Any smart person would cut their antenna cables going to that bump-out in the roof and then short out the coax. But even with that, they’ll be recorded by license plate cameras and entered into databases.

Like it or not, privacy is GONE...because no one bothered to protect it.


44 posted on 02/06/2021 10:56:02 AM PST by BobL (TheDonald.win is now Patriots.win)
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To: Tammy8

“Bank of America also turned over banking data; card use for airfare, car rental, lodging, ETC. related to D.C. area. They did this without subpoenas or warrants.”

And I got a kick out of the reactions here:
“Oh, that’s it, I’m through with them. Time to BOYCOTT.
Teach them a lesson!!!”

...and they probably posted all that from their trusted cell phones. LOL!!!!


45 posted on 02/06/2021 10:59:02 AM PST by BobL (TheDonald.win is now Patriots.win)
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To: bitt

Your phone spies on you.

It steals your personal data for big tech to sell.

At least make yourself a hard target.


46 posted on 02/06/2021 10:59:03 AM PST by 2banana (Common ground with islamic terrorists-they want to die for allah and we want to arrange the meeting)
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To: bitt

So what? Everyone with a smart phone knows they are being tracked and geotagged with their photos. What most people in DC on Jan. 6 was legal, non-violent, assembly to redress their grievances.


47 posted on 02/06/2021 11:00:31 AM PST by Savage Rider
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To: KTM rider

Yup, these cover-ups are almost robotic, at this point.


48 posted on 02/06/2021 11:02:07 AM PST by 4Liberty (Honest GOP can’t use legal options cause Dems use illegal ones (threats). The Robert Creamer Party! )
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To: bitt

Alexandria Occasio-Smollet had her mobile phone pinged at the capitol. Oh, no, wait a minute, she didn’t.


49 posted on 02/06/2021 11:04:28 AM PST by T.B. Yoits
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To: Savage Rider

#sSo what? Everyone with a smart phone knows they are being tracked and geotagged with their photos. What most people in DC on Jan. 6 was legal, non-violent, assembly to redress their grievances.”

THIS!!!


50 posted on 02/06/2021 11:06:05 AM PST by goodnesswins (The issue is never the issue. The issue is always the revolution." -- Saul Alinksy)
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To: bitt

Not a comment on the “intent” of the whole thing...but note to self: If you are going to storm the Capitol when it’s in session, don’t bring your cell phone. Or at least learn how to disable it.


51 posted on 02/06/2021 11:06:20 AM PST by Vermont Lt (We have entered "Insanity Week." Act accordingly.)
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To: Pearls Before Swine

“That’s why the Burner of the Month Club is so popular. Who cares if its located if you don’t know whose it is?...Although, with effort, I bet it can be tracked back to the point of sale.”

YEP!!! Burners are fine, UNTIL you call home, or someone you know. I (stupidly) figured that I had a great scam going decades ago when I had a hot phone credit card number. Used it to call people I knew, long distance. The police called them...and THANK GOD they covered for me. Daaa!!!

Burners MAY work, but only if the other side has a burner and they are NOT HOME (or some place similar). But what you say is also true. Buy a burner, but smile as you pay for it with cash, since your picture is being clicked, and then likely your license plate, as you stupidly drive to the front of Walmart, rather than away from the store. They know who you are, since otherwise they’d force you to register it.

But it does make their job that much harder...so they likely won’t waste their time with you if you were just going with the crowd in their attempt to hang the portrait of “Wood on bed” in the Capitol Building. But if you tried something a bit more ‘aggressive’, you had better cover your tracks well, really well.


52 posted on 02/06/2021 11:08:17 AM PST by BobL (TheDonald.win is now Patriots.win)
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To: BobL
Like it or not, privacy is GONE...because no one bothered to protect it.

The better objective may be to overwhelm the system with false data. Use ghosting apps to "be" where you're not and mirror apps to "be" in multiple places at once. Lend your phone to your spouse to carry around with her. Clone your congress-person's phone and send the clone along with someone to a conservative forum.

53 posted on 02/06/2021 11:08:36 AM PST by T.B. Yoits
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To: KC_Lion

+1


54 posted on 02/06/2021 11:09:05 AM PST by ealgeone
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To: bitt

There would be a Fifth Amendment case here if the courts still followed the law.


55 posted on 02/06/2021 11:09:08 AM PST by motor_racer (Who will bell the cat?)
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To: cgbg

Luke 8:17

“For nothing is secret, that shall not be made manifest; neither any thing hid, that shall not be known and come abroad.”


56 posted on 02/06/2021 11:12:00 AM PST by firebrand
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To: BobL
"carrying phones when ‘storming the capitol’ wasn’t too brilliant..."

Storming the capitol itself was not very smart. Animal house.


57 posted on 02/06/2021 11:13:12 AM PST by plain talk
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To: unixfox

It’s not the phones it’s the apps on the phones.


58 posted on 02/06/2021 11:14:28 AM PST by BiteYourSelf ( Earth first we'll strip mine the other planets later.)
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To: BiteYourSelf

“It’s not the phones it’s the apps on the phones.”

From reading the article, it certainly sounds as though the carriers are sending whatever data the government requests.

Think otherwise at your own risk...


59 posted on 02/06/2021 11:16:23 AM PST by BobL (TheDonald.win is now Patriots.win)
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To: Pearls Before Swine
Serious media/cellphone question: How dumb does a phone... say a flip phone... have to be to not track you? Do they even exist anymore?

They still exist. AT&T still offers a Motorola model for about $60. Commiemart had them a few years ago for about $10 - $20.

They don't have GPS, but any cell phone can be tracked by cell towers with multi-lateration.

60 posted on 02/06/2021 11:18:45 AM PST by Spirochete
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