Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

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
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 41-6061-8081-100 ... 121-135 next last
To: Pearls Before Swine

I used to have one with no GPS. I got a new one because the audio was so bad it was indecipherable and driving everyone nuts.

Now I have GPS, camera, Internet, everything, almost, on a flip phone. They told me when I bought it you can never, ever use your old phone again.

But as you say, the towers can usually locate you anyway.


61 posted on 02/06/2021 11:20:43 AM PST by firebrand
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 33 | View Replies]

To: Texas Eagle

“Or do you think they’ll just cherry pick who they investigate?”

But of course, mon ami. We are at war. Our side just doesn’t know it.


62 posted on 02/06/2021 11:23:52 AM PST by Mr. N. Wolfe
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: Tammy8

Wasn’t there a federal law passed just a few years ago that you cannot use GPS or triangulation to find someone unless there is a warrant out for their arrest? Police can’t find missing persons that way anymore, I think.


63 posted on 02/06/2021 11:24:04 AM PST by firebrand
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 35 | View Replies]

To: BobL

True. If you don’t want to be tracked leave your phone at home.


64 posted on 02/06/2021 11:25:37 AM PST by BiteYourSelf ( Earth first we'll strip mine the other planets later.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 59 | View Replies]

To: Texas Eagle
HMMM
65 posted on 02/06/2021 11:30:14 AM PST by knarf (The Constitution protects the right to peaceably assemble, not to protest)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: firebrand

Law enforcement uses “parallel construction”.

They collect the phone information (sometimes legally, often not) to get the bread crumbs to help them put together the case.

Then they collect evidence that can be used in court that matches up with the bread crumbs.

The law becomes irrelevant with such an approach.


66 posted on 02/06/2021 11:33:48 AM PST by cgbg (A kleptocracy--if they can keep it. Think of it as the Cantillon Effect in action.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 63 | View Replies]

To: BiteYourSelf

Yep. If there’s one thing we’ve learned, when you go to a protest don’t take a phone and don’t use plastic to buy anything. Cash only.


67 posted on 02/06/2021 11:35:26 AM PST by circlecity
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 64 | View Replies]

To: BobL

Privacy is as quaint as horse and buggies.

If you want confidential communications, then stick to carrier pigeons.


68 posted on 02/06/2021 11:37:08 AM PST by cgbg (A kleptocracy--if they can keep it. Think of it as the Cantillon Effect in action.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 36 | View Replies]

To: goodnesswins
“What most people in DC on Jan. 6 was legal, non-violent, assembly to redress their grievances.”

You must still take precautions. Being the most innocent person in jail just means you are in jail.

69 posted on 02/06/2021 11:37:49 AM PST by circlecity
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 50 | View Replies]

To: brownsfan

“Note to conservatives: We can, and will find you.”

I’d send a note saying turn off the default settings on apps. Location and various data mining permissions are usually on when you download them.
Some apps data mine anyway. I found my favorite weather app was one of those, sigh. I deleted it.


70 posted on 02/06/2021 11:37:52 AM PST by Varda
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: Savage Rider
What most people in DC on Jan. 6 was legal, non-violent, assembly to redress their grievances.

I am sure the labor camp prison guards will be very impressed with that compelling legal argument.

:-(
71 posted on 02/06/2021 11:40:23 AM PST by cgbg (A kleptocracy--if they can keep it. Think of it as the Cantillon Effect in action.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 47 | View Replies]

To: Varda

Snowden’s disclosures showed that it was _hardware_ as well as software that tracked you.

Cell phones are _not_ your friend.


72 posted on 02/06/2021 11:41:47 AM PST by cgbg (A kleptocracy--if they can keep it. Think of it as the Cantillon Effect in action.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 70 | View Replies]

To: bitt
anybody went there with anything more than a burner phone was open for trouble.

wi all the news about how people are tracked by their pocket snitch everyday i don't know how people can say they dint know they'd be tracked, and if they dint know by now, I don't know what to say...

73 posted on 02/06/2021 11:44:01 AM PST by Chode (Ashli Babbitt - #SayHerNAME)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: cgbg

I’m thinking that some people posting here are trying to lull us into thinking that there are ways that we can still carry our phones with us and not be at risk.

And needless to say, like Lin Wood, some people here will actually believe they’re on our side.


74 posted on 02/06/2021 11:49:20 AM PST by BobL (TheDonald.win is now Patriots.win)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 72 | View Replies]

To: Varda

You can be tracked even if you completely power off the phone. I think it was John Stossel who did a show about this 5+ year sago.


75 posted on 02/06/2021 11:51:24 AM PST by MayflowerMadam (They HAD to kill somebody for their plan to work. RIP Ashli.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 70 | View Replies]

To: Texas Eagle
Or do you think they'll just cherry pick who they investigate?

THE FBI will cherry pick of course that was a Rhetorical question right?

CD

76 posted on 02/06/2021 11:51:42 AM PST by Coffee_drinker (Drain The Swamp.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: bitt

Personally I don’t give a damn about the so called capital riot

I hope it gets a lot hotter

Or we just puss out and depend on the worthless GOPe to save us

Uniparty is the enemy folks

Only things in our favor

Trump got ten million more votes likely than Groper did and the uniparty engineers know this

The left has a thin thin hold

Biden is feeble as is the old Mexican hairless running the House

We have a better leader though he’s quiet fearing impeachment

We own the geography and tax funding base

We also own the cohesive community nuclear family apparatus

We own 3/4 to 4/5 of white Christian male demographic

Quick glance history....do the math on that one.....see Cortez, Pizarro and Andrew Jackson....Manhattan Project....toss in the tribe on that demo


77 posted on 02/06/2021 11:51:58 AM PST by wardaddy ( IN 1999 JIM THOMPSON WAS RIGHT ABOUT THE BUSHES ...WE WERE WRONG)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: BobL

Agreed—whenever I see an advertisement for an app that “guarantees privacy” I start hysterically laughing.

Folks need to get smarter, a lot smarter....


78 posted on 02/06/2021 11:52:13 AM PST by cgbg (A kleptocracy--if they can keep it. Think of it as the Cantillon Effect in action.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 74 | View Replies]

To: T.B. Yoits

Love it when we catch them in a lie, it’s almost like shooting fish in a barrel. !

AOC = Clown provocateur, along with several others.. Create division create headlines make noise..

And who laps up their puke? the MSM are like dogs licking up the SH*t on the floor and spewing it out to the AIR WAIVES.


79 posted on 02/06/2021 11:54:34 AM PST by Coffee_drinker (Drain The Swamp.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 49 | View Replies]

To: bitt

Burner phones baby. Pay in cash for phone and activation card and use bogus name when activating. I use Burner Man.


80 posted on 02/06/2021 11:56:47 AM PST by packrat35 (Pelosi is only on loan to the world from Satan. Hopefully he will soon want his baby killer back)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 41-6061-8081-100 ... 121-135 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson