I’ve heard of the ads popping up when you discuss a topic near your phone or computer. While scary, it’s relatively harmless.
THIS one, however, was scary as f***.
My fitness watch, yesterday, informed me that payday was tomorrow.
What the actual f***.
The only way it could know that — it is linked to my phone — is if it screen scraped my phone banking.
The monitoring we are undergoing is at China-levels.
As I told you yesterday and I'll repeat here for EVERYONE who actually reads these threads, never, ever, EVER use your "smartphone" for information / privacy sensitive tasks such as online banking.
You're just begging for trouble if you do.
Use a purpose built machine, whether physical or virtual, for financial transactions only and keep it powered off when not in use for that specific task.
I have an Ubuntu Linux VM with a hardened kernel that I use to manage my finances. It gets powered on only when I need to use it to manage my finances and then gets powered back down. Because it's virtual it's logically isolated from all the other compute resources on my home network.
As for my "smartphone" I use it for the following tasks only:
- Phone calls (Yes, I still make them once in awhile)
- SMS messaging
- Streaming music to my car stereo
- Taking photo's (which I do NOT replicate to the Cloud)
- Weekly grocery list
I also only keep those apps on it that I use, I delete everything else, I keep location services OFF and I do not allow my phone to sync with my computer automatically. When I transfer pictures I use a USB3 cable and copy them down, then immediately disconnect the phone.
Some of you may call me paranoid however I NEVER have an ad pop up on any of my devices for things I talk about. So there's that. :-)
“The monitoring we are undergoing is at China-levels.”
Yes. It is here. And the ensuing social behavior controls are soon rolling out. Covid 19 dictates were a proof-of-concept test for it.
“My fitness watch, yesterday, informed me that payday was tomorrow.”
One of our a little younger female in laws stays connected like a combo NSA/CIA higher up.
She has the latest Apple phone, desktop, apple note book, and the newest Apple Watch Series 6 - Apple to help her keep connected 24/7.
She belongs to Facebook and other internet groups. She can’t understand why we have old Android phones and never use Facebook.
She loves her Apple Watches because they help keep her connected 24/7. However 2 long time dance clients told her that they were cancelling their classes if she kept answering her phone and using her Apple watch during their paid time.
Apparently, the main people, she keeps in constant contact with are the other women in their cul de sac and a few friends back on the east coast.