Most Americans Think They're Being Constantly Tracked, Study Finds (technologyreview.com) 73
An anonymous reader quotes a report from MIT Technology Review: More than 60% of Americans think it's impossible to go through daily life without being tracked by companies or the government, according to a new Pew Research study. It's not just that Americans (correctly) think companies are collecting their data. They don't like it. About 69% of Americans are skeptical that companies will use their private information in a way they're comfortable with, while 79% don't believe that companies will come clean if they misuse the information. When it comes to who they trust, there are differences by race. About 73% of black Americans, for instance, are at least a little worried about what law enforcement knows about them, compared with 56% of white Americans. But among all respondents, more than 80% were concerned about what social-media sites and advertisers might know. Despite these concerns, more than 80% of Americans feel they have no control over how their information is collected.
"THINK"? (Score:5, Insightful)
Hell, we all KNOW.
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Reasonable expectation of privacy? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Reasonable expectation of privacy? (Score:5, Interesting)
Since many privacy laws depend on a Reasonable Expectation of Privacy, does this mean if people no longer expect privacy they lose it
Probably, but people generally still expect privacy in bathrooms, bedrooms, phone calls, private homes etc. so the threshold for when the police needs a warrant hasn't moved that much. The difference is all the rest, like if someone kept a record of you from the moment you walked out the door and in all publish establishments to the doorstep of other private spaces most would consider that an invasion of privacy. Like "Here's a record of you arriving alone at the pub. Here's a record of you two leaving the pub. Here's a record of you two taking a taxi back to your place. Here's a record of the other person leaving in the morning." If you've ceased to have any privacy in the public space a whole lot can be inferred about what's going on in private.
And you could of course say that in theory any police stakeout could have recorded that information, which is true but scale, precision and completeness matter. For example, it's probably no big deal if I see one person entering or leaving a military base. But if I had a complete log of everyone coming and going at every base and knew at any time exactly how many people were on staff right and could forecast and detect anomalies based on past patterns the military would probably not be too happy. And that's before we start talking about the data you're willingly sending out of private activities and spaces...
Re: "THINK"? (Score:3)
In almost every shop you get the question if you are a member or want to be a member. That's one way of tracking you.
In other news... (Score:5, Insightful)
In other news, 40% of Americans are living in a state of ignorant bliss.
Short of not being on the internet at all, it takes extreme work to avoid being tracked by the US Government(remember what Snowden told us?), google, yahoo, etc...
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In other news, 40% of Americans are living in a state of ignorant bliss.
Well... 46.09% anyway.
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Interesting fact. 72.8% of all statistics are made up on the spot.
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Interesting fact. 72.8% of all statistics are made up on the spot.
I pulled that number from 2016 United States presidential election [wikipedia.org]; it's Trump's percentage of the popular vote.
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So, a completely meaningless statistic. The meaningful one would be 57.25%.
Is that the percentage of House members that voted for the Impeachment investigation?
Kidding ... that would be 54.2%. But it's pretty close. :-)
Re: In other news... (Score:3)
Everyone who voted for an amusing used car salesman instead of an openly corrupt warmongering mafia boss is a blissfully ignorant fool!!
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Both are well-known frauds. Both are warmongers. The only real difference is that the one we didn't elect wouldn't have made such dumb business decisions.
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How many wars has Trump started so far?
Zero? 0? None? Take your pick.
Quite the "warmonger".
Re: In other news... (Score:2)
Yeah, sorry, like there other guy said: President Trump has many flaws. But warmongering isn't one of them.
Did you see President Trump's peacemongering tweetstorm the other week? No, of course you didn't. When Mr Trump says something silly, the Corporate Official Media shout it from the rooftops. When Trump speaks out strongly and unequivocally in favor of peace, the Corporate Official Media don't say a word.
But hey - keep on voting for MOAR WAR... cuz the Corporate Official Media told you that was the coo
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So far Trump has only supported war in other countries, by pulling our forces out of places where they've been keeping the peace. But if he gets another term, don't count on that continuing. He will need more distractions.
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So far Trump has only supported war in other countries, by pulling our forces out of places where they've been keeping the peace. But if he gets another term, don't count on that continuing. He will need more distractions.
Will chasing a laser pointer work? Cats seems to like that...
Re: In other news... (Score:2)
Trump is warmongering by bringing our soldiers home!! Water is dry!! Sunshine is dark!!
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Glad I don't live in the United States any more. I never felt truly comfortable there and it mostly had to do with the way their busybody government keeps a tight leash on its citizens. It's one of the least free places I have ever been.
Cool story bro!
Explain how you were unfree
Totally possible to not be tracked (Score:5, Funny)
All you need to do is:
1) Own a 20 year old cell phone
2) Do not own a computer
3) Use a bicycle for your transportation.
Re:Totally possible to not be tracked (Score:4, Insightful)
Boy are you naive!
Your 20-year-old cell phone can still be tracked by cell tower triangulation.
Not owning a computer does help. But if you go anywhere public, like a road or store, you are on camera pretty much constantly.
Sure, your measures do raise the cost and reduce the likelihood of actually being tracked, but they do not eliminate the possibility.
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Your 20-year-old cell phone can still be tracked by cell tower triangulation.
Not if it is switched off. I only switch mine on when and if I need it, which is not very often.
Not owning a computer does help
I've had a look at what "they" know about me. It is mostly wide of the mark unless they are doing a double-bluff. For example Google thinks I live in a place 200 miles away and am 15 years younger than I am. Other entities think I want laser treatment for my eyes, have holidays in Spain, my name is John Smith, and have a presence on a boating forum. All wrong, partly because I poison the well and partly because
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Of course, your 20-year-old phone isn't very useful when it is switched of, so there is that.
Your measures do seem effective at blocking casual tracking for advertising purposes. But if somebody--say, a government agency--wants to find you, they still can.
Personally, I see most tracking as harmless, and am willing to put up with it to get the many benefits that come with it, such as GPS with traffic and relevant search results. Even my FICO score is a form of tracking (and I'll bet you have one of these too
Cards (Score:3)
You'd absolutely have to use cash.
Re: Cards (Score:2)
Re: Cards (Score:5, Informative)
Re: Cards (Score:1)
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You're tracked by using cards, too. Your credit card purchase info (and location, etc.) are also tied in to everything. Heck anybody who takes credit cards can get info about where all of their customers shop, where they live, where they go, etc. Cards are a real key to tying people's info together. You'd absolutely have to use cash.
You'd have to live off grid, by yourself, no source of income, no SS, and barter, and be a squatter.
Slashdot's "Th Guvmint's trackin' uz!" people must have a reason they don't want tracked, or have pathological levels of paranoia. These folk must really shit their pants with modern license plate based toll roads.
Me, I use all of the cards, cameras, cell phone tower triangulation and logs, and whatever else as an alibi source if needed. I wave to the cameras and smile - always show them my good side.
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Slashdot always has posts from people who claim to live a Ted Bundy kind of existence -- cash only lifestyle, old/no phone (although recently it seems to be trending in favor of dirt-cheap jailbroken Androids), no car, etc.
There's also usually a lot of derision for people who don't live exactly this, despite the fact that the reason nobody lives like this is that it's a pretty severe lifestyle.
What I don't get is what are they doing on Slashdot and often *how* are they on Slashdot? "I put Minix and a text
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What I don't get is what are they doing on Slashdot and often *how* are they on Slashdot? "I put Minix and a text browser on an old Etch a Sketch and if I stand at the right line of sight to the library, I can get a usable signal. It's totally viable, I gave one to my grandma and she does fine, everybody should do it."
Boom! If these "I'm really incognito" folks actually understood, if there is a good enough reason to go to the trouble, they aren't remotely anonymous.
No one gets out of lifw alive, and if I have to live like it was the 18th century, well might as well check out now. I loves me some modern technology
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For me, it's just about my own basic human dignity. I don't believe that a lot of MBA choads deserve to know where I am every moment of the day. I'm not a data point on their CRM charts. I'm not a little cog in their money machine. I choose not to participate. I have nothing against people like you who are good, obedient little consumer data points, though.
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people must have a reason they don't want tracked, or have pathological levels of paranoia For me, it's just about my own basic human dignity. I don't believe that a lot of MBA choads deserve to know where I am every moment of the day. I'm not a data point on their CRM charts. I'm not a little cog in their money machine. I choose not to participate. I have nothing against people like you who are good, obedient little consumer data points, though.
Rage against the machine, oh beacon of freedom..
Cool story bro, but you don't know quite as much as you think you do. You're using a computer. You are tracked, and known if you are interesting enough.
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1) I'm pretty sure a 20-year-old cell phone still has a unique id.
2) I'm pretty sure you can still use a computer without revealing a unique id. Just need to use software that allows for anonymization.
3) Yes, a bicycle.. or a 30-year-old car.
Also, you might need to avoid banks and certain employers.
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Re: Totally possible to not be tracked (Score:2)
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But car tyres have had RFID in them for many years.
If it fucking works. I put new tyre pressure sensors in my wheels 15 months ago and the batteries have run out already. They will now stay that way.
They have license plate scanners now (Score:1)
Yeah, but the cars can still be tracked by the license plate scanners various government bodies have been installing for a while now. It might not be theoretically as granular as an actual transponder, but it is still tracking.
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30 year old car will not help you.
In 1995 I was allowed a look at a Naval Radar system which was tracking all the cars down the roads within the range of the radar beam. Now the cars didn't have transponders, but you could imagine the mischief that could be had given this technology was old hat in 1995 (hey they let me see it without a secret clearance).
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I did that in 1948. That is how RADAR works, dumbass!
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Radar tells you nothing except somebody is driving a vehicle down the road. Now, if it has a license plate, that's useful information.
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Agree. Except... 1) I'm pretty sure a 20-year-old cell phone still has a unique id. 2) I'm pretty sure you can still use a computer without revealing a unique id. Just need to use software that allows for anonymization.
Just being "anonymous" makes you very interesting. It's like walking around a park naked with a boner and a bag over your head, and thinking that you're safe.
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Just being "anonymous" makes you very interesting. It's like walking around a park naked with a boner and a bag over your head, and thinking that you're safe.
Sounds to me like a good way to keep people a long distance away. You should try it and let us know how it goes.
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Just being "anonymous" makes you very interesting. It's like walking around a park naked with a boner and a bag over your head, and thinking that you're safe.
Sounds to me like a good way to keep people a long distance away. You should try it and let us know how it goes.
Those ponies from South Park keep chasing me, so I had to stop doing that..
Re:Totally possible to not be tracked (Score:5, Insightful)
Better: Don't have a cell phone.
Bicycle? Feetmobile? Sorry, but unless you live in pretty rural areas you'll still get picked up by traffic cameras. Law enforcement may not have your identity immediately, but if you regularly ride the same routes, if they get interested enough in you, they can figure it out. And public transport buses nearly all have cameras.
Yes, it can be done, but it's pretty hard.
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If you live rurally enough to avoid traffic cameras, walking or taking the bicycle also become a much less useful option for stuff like getting groceries. Don't underestimate the ability of a car to bring home a month's worth of supplies all at once.
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Go totally rural and get off the grid.
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Quick way to get on a watch list. Use cash for all your purposes and you get added to a terrorist list.
It is impossible to be not tracked. You are either tracked as identifiable or tracked as one of the few black spots. The tracking accumulates and all it takes is one piece of data linking your identity to all that activity.
Every action you have in the connected world leaves a bit of data regardless of your connectivity.
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2) Pay cash for everything.
3) Never use any sort of loyalty card.
4) Do not own a computer.
5) Wear clothing with bunches of eye-like patterns all over them and zebra-pattern sun glasses. You may as well throw a pimp hat in, too. While this may defeat facial recognition systems, the down side is that people will actually notice you more, so there is kind of a trade off there.
If you really want to get into it, be
Yep (Score:5, Informative)
>"More than 60% of Americans think it's impossible to go through daily life without being tracked by companies or the government"
And they would be almost correct. It *is* impossible to go through daily life without being tracked, unless you pay for everything in cash, use an open-source-based computer WITH all the apps optimized to prevent spying AND without using any sign-in "services" (such as Google, Amazon, Facebook, etc), and you don't have a powered-on cell phone on you, don't order anything online, and don't have a car/vehicle model that spies on you, and you don't put some stupid-ass "cloud-based" crap in your house (like Ring, or Nest, or whatever), and you protect your identity with any transaction. Soon you will have to wear a hoodie everywhere, too. It is almost possible, but nobody will do all that is required to prevent it- some of the stuff is easy and even advisable, other stuff is extremely inconvenient.
And as we have already seen, the average person will quickly/gladly/gratefully trade their freedom and privacy for security (or the illusion thereof), convenience, and lower cost. But worse, they will also trade OTHER PEOPLE'S freedom and privacy for "security" through government intervention. There is a balance- where the balance should be is hard to say, but the lines were certainly crossed a long time ago. When freedom of speech, freedom from unreasonable search and seizure, and gun rights are under constant attack, you know the problem is already extremely serious.
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It *is* impossible to go through daily life without being tracked, unless you pay for everything in cash, use an open-source-based computer WITH all the apps optimized to prevent spying AND without using any sign-in "services" (such as Google, Amazon, Facebook, etc), and you don't have a powered-on cell phone on you, don't order anything online, and don't have a car/vehicle model that spies on you, and you don't put some stupid-ass "cloud-based" crap in your house (like Ring, or Nest, or whatever), and you protect your identity with any transaction.
Personally I pretty much got all those boxes checked; my $40 plastic dumbphone isn't always in Airplane Mode when I'm in transit, but I did a couple years ago pull it apart, identify the GPS antenna, and short it to ground, so only cell tower triangulation could give my approximate location. I do order things online, but that's one that I just can't get around for some things anymore, stores 'ordering things for me' just costs more, takes longer, and still ends up having my name on it.
You did forget one
Re: Yep (Score:1)
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Personally I pretty much got all those boxes checked;.
You forgot to add sleeping on magnetic mattress covers and in a Faraday cage Solid copper is best, but a really fine mesh can work almost as well.
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LOL no aluminum foil is cheaper works just as well is easily obtained from local sources doesn't raise as much suspicion and I use the scrap pieces to make a hat for myself. :P :P :P XD XD XD That's pretty weak mockery can't you do any better than that?
Be carefull though - Make sure you use type 1199. The impurities in ttype 1145 are implanted by the illuminati to act as a back door. to mind control.
Most Americans Think They're Being Tracked.. (Score:3, Funny)
Ted Kaczynski (Score:2)
Re: Ted Kaczynski (Score:2)
And he got caught partially due to surveillance. It was one piece in the case.
No duh.... (Score:2)
... it would have helped if american's and the public more generally were not hyopcritical about the whole thing. Like buying stolen games and OS that have "DRM" in them. The last 20 years has been a real eye opener for the nerds at how stupid and ignorant the average member of the public is when it comes to technology.
Watching software being stolen out from under us and then the public bending over and rewarding the CEO's of the world with billions just because the average citizen got internet was enligh
Social Cooling - data driven chilling effects (Score:3)
This is step 2 in the proces towards Social Cooling.
https://www.socialcooling.com/ [socialcooling.com]
Step 3 is that people will apply self-censorship in order to 'look good', which means we will see large scale data-driven chilling effects.
Cambridge Analytica showed us how all kinds of parties try to influence us nowadays. But I believe that influence is small compared to the power of self-censorship.
While we may see self-censorship as an unwanted side effect, in China they are actively steering towards this.
Well, we ARE. (Score:2)
Did you somehow sleep through the entiretly of the NSA leaks? Nor the Windows 10 "telemetry" thing. Or Alexa and the likes beig so easily used for spying that even random outsourced employees do it.
In what deluded world do you live? Do you go "Conspjracy theorist!!11oneeleven" every time such news break loose?
Need a therapy, maybe?
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Did you somehow sleep through the entiretly of the NSA leaks? Nor the Windows 10 "telemetry" thing. Or Alexa and the likes beig so easily used for spying that even random outsourced employees do it.
In what deluded world do you live? Do you go "Conspjracy theorist!!11oneeleven" every time such news break loose? Need a therapy, maybe?
You forgot to give us an all caps "WAKE UP AMERICA!!!!!!"
yay totalitarianism! (Score:2)
Surveillance state FTW!
Actions contradict beliefs then (Score:2)
Hmm (Score:2)
Well... They're not wrong, at least in terms of ad and usage tracking.
You absolutely have control (Score:1)
Nice study (Score:1)