
How a “location API” allows cops to figure out where we all are in real-time - techrede
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2018/05/senator-furious-at-polices-easy-ability-to-get-real-time-mobile-location-data/
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Rjevski
Previous discussion:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17046632](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17046632)

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walterbell
Here is the demo for tracking the current location of your phone:
[https://www.locationsmart.com/try/](https://www.locationsmart.com/try/) .
Note that the demo requires granting "consent", but is not 100% clear if the
consent applies beyond the scope of the one-time demo.

If you've opted out of your carrier's privacy preference for "share location
with advertisers", and this still works, what will the carrier say if you show
them a screenshot of this third-party site providing your live location?

That site also claims to provide the location of Wi-Fi mac addresses.

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jtbayly
So if I move to the EU can I send a letter asking for them to remove all my
data?

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filoleg
you definitely can do that. Doesn't mean that anyone will care about this
letter, though. If the data aggregation company doesn't provide services and
has no presence within EU, then they aren't affected by your letters. At this
point, good luck figuring out where it all aggregated from and trying to chase
for sources.

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rdiddly
Wouldn't it be like two wrongs making a right, not to mention deliciously
ironic, if these people and other personal data aggregators got prosecuted
under FOSTA/SESTA. _“...a fine, a prison term of up to 10 years, or both—on a
person who, using a facility or means of interstate or foreign commerce, owns,
manages, or operates an interactive computer service (or attempts or conspires
to do so) to promote or facilitate the prostitution of another person. "_

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xg15
So, question for the Cryptocurrency (and/or Tor) crowd:

The situation described from the article is bad enough as it is - but
currently at least all the intermediaries are registered businesses with
people behind them. With some effort, a jornalist (or investigator) can track
them down, find some humans behind the operations and confront them.

The businesses, in turn, can't get away from that because payment probably
still happens in dollars (or another fiat currency) and can be tracked.

In the world crypto advocates are envisaging, Securus, 3CInteractive,
LocationSmart etc presumably wouldn't registered businesses at all - they'd
just be anonymous web services ran by some people living anywhere in the
world, taking payment via Bitcoin. They wouldn't even need legal excuses like
Securos' "authorization documents" because it wouldn't even be clear which
jurisdiction applies - not even talking about actually prosecuting anyone.
They could simply grant anyone access who pays.

So, if all the hopes of the crypto community came true, how would we shut down
(or even just "opt-out") of a service like this one?

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codingdave
Don't use a smartphone. There are already numerous people who disavow their
use because of security concerns. Join their ranks.

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xg15
And once they find another way of tracking me, let's say by identifying my
face on any kind of photo or video feed they can purchase, the solution is
obviously not having a face, or what?

Also, what does any of this have to do with my original question?

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dannyw
Is there a way to opt out of this?

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jdavis703
Turn your cell phone off when you don't need it. I used to turn my phone off
more, and should probably resume that habit.

~~~
Simon_says
How do you know it’s off?

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rcthompson
If you really need to be sure, you have to get a phone with a removable
battery.

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amelius
But also make sure to discharge those capacitors.

Or turn it off and wrap it in tinfoil.

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anoncoward111
This is a funny use case. Like, obviously I don't want my location tracked,
but clearly I have just accepted that it's happening in exchange for being
able to text my girlfriend.

But, I'm trying to think of when this would actually be useful in my life.
Maybe if I've been accused of a crime and the jail sentence is really steep, I
become a fugitive and run away to live in the woods. But I still want to watch
videos and take photos on my device offline? So i keep my phone in tinfoil
when im using it?? haha

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amelius
Yes, if you use some more tinfoil, you can wrap it around yourself _and_ your
phone, and you'll be able to still use it. If you'd wrap the tinfoil around
you _and_ your gf, then you'd be able to text each other over wifi. You can
also include e.g. family for even greater utility.

