'My Wife Tracked Me, for Journalism' (nytimes.com) 40
Last month a reporter for the New York Times tracked her husband using Apple AirTags, Tiles, and a GPS tracker. (With his permission...) "I was prepared for her to violate my privacy for the sake of journalism," that husband writes today.
"But what I was not prepared for was how easily my actions could be misinterpreted." [O]ne day I had to go into New York City for work — and Todd Heisler, a Times photographer, secretly followed me. [My wife] Kashmir was sending him live updates of my location. Confusion reigned almost immediately. As soon as I arrived in Manhattan, Todd captured me walking — or had I been caught in a potentially compromising position? A friend made light of the situation on Twitter after the article was published, saying it was "a nice touch" that the main picture with the article "shows you apparently emerging from a bar at 10 a.m." Needless to say, I was not drinking before lunch, but the diner where I had just eaten breakfast had a "cocktails" sign in the window....
Next, I entered the 72nd Street subway station but quickly doubled back, apparently losing my camera-toting tail in the process. Little did I know, Todd and Kashmir were texting in real time; he was worried I had "made" him. My Jason Bourne-like escape had spooked him. [When Kashmir received the text from the Times' photographer, "I reassured him that my husband is extremely unobservant and was probably just lost."] I was, in fact, oblivious to his presence. In truth, I had left my mask at the diner and had needed to buy another before I could get on the train to Brooklyn.
At lunch time, Kashmir texted me, "Are you somewhere fancy?" Perplexed, I responded no. I learned later her location trackers suggested that I had stopped at the private club Dumbo House. Imagine the interpretations! In fact, I was at a food court directly below Dumbo House eating a taco...
[W]hen I heard and saw all of these misinterpretations about my day, I couldn't help but think of all the people who might be surveilled without their consent, whether it's by a spouse, an employer or law enforcement.
His conclusion? While trackers have legitimate uses, there's also many ways they could be abused — and misinterpreted. Seeing a map of his every movement after the experiment, "it was unnerving to realize that the devices knew where I was, but that they had no idea what I was doing."
Or, as his wife puts it, "Even with location trackers and a photographer trailing my husband, I couldn't figure out what he was actually doing that day."
"But what I was not prepared for was how easily my actions could be misinterpreted." [O]ne day I had to go into New York City for work — and Todd Heisler, a Times photographer, secretly followed me. [My wife] Kashmir was sending him live updates of my location. Confusion reigned almost immediately. As soon as I arrived in Manhattan, Todd captured me walking — or had I been caught in a potentially compromising position? A friend made light of the situation on Twitter after the article was published, saying it was "a nice touch" that the main picture with the article "shows you apparently emerging from a bar at 10 a.m." Needless to say, I was not drinking before lunch, but the diner where I had just eaten breakfast had a "cocktails" sign in the window....
Next, I entered the 72nd Street subway station but quickly doubled back, apparently losing my camera-toting tail in the process. Little did I know, Todd and Kashmir were texting in real time; he was worried I had "made" him. My Jason Bourne-like escape had spooked him. [When Kashmir received the text from the Times' photographer, "I reassured him that my husband is extremely unobservant and was probably just lost."] I was, in fact, oblivious to his presence. In truth, I had left my mask at the diner and had needed to buy another before I could get on the train to Brooklyn.
At lunch time, Kashmir texted me, "Are you somewhere fancy?" Perplexed, I responded no. I learned later her location trackers suggested that I had stopped at the private club Dumbo House. Imagine the interpretations! In fact, I was at a food court directly below Dumbo House eating a taco...
[W]hen I heard and saw all of these misinterpretations about my day, I couldn't help but think of all the people who might be surveilled without their consent, whether it's by a spouse, an employer or law enforcement.
His conclusion? While trackers have legitimate uses, there's also many ways they could be abused — and misinterpreted. Seeing a map of his every movement after the experiment, "it was unnerving to realize that the devices knew where I was, but that they had no idea what I was doing."
Or, as his wife puts it, "Even with location trackers and a photographer trailing my husband, I couldn't figure out what he was actually doing that day."
Well, at least the dupe isn't in the same week (Score:2)
The last headline was from the wife's perspective, but it's the same story.
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I'll allow it.
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Interestingly, the original story is the "related link" for this one.
https://yro.slashdot.org/story... [slashdot.org]
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For once the related link is actually related. That's got to be a record!
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True - I am used to all related articles being linked somehow to Biden or Trump
Re: Well, at least the dupe isn't in the same week (Score:2)
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I don't even know here I am most of the time, much less know what I was doing when I was there on any given day.
Are they a family of Puritans? (Score:2)
Todd captured me walking — or had I been caught in a potentially compromising position?
Oh my goodness -- scandalous! /s
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All the Irish are terrible pagans for there love of Guiness
What *was* he doing that day? (Score:2)
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You know what's also important... Trust. Generally when this break downs, it doesn't matter what you say.
Alternative explanation (Score:2)
'Or, as his wife puts it, "Even with location trackers and a photographer trailing my husband, I couldn't figure out what he was actually doing that day."'
Well, she couldn't figure it out because it's pretty obvious she (nor her husband, for that matter) knows absolutely nothing about surveillance and was just working on a story to pitch. So any lessons or conclusions either of them might want to proffer are, in practice, of limited-to-no actual usefulness.
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You really think the average so called 'analyst' looking for "terrorists" or whatever their assigned bogeyman du jour is any better?
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Sure, if you're a fucking CIA agent, you could keep better tabs on the guy.
Re: Alternative explanation (Score:2)
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Re: Alternative explanation (Score:2)
It is disinformation about tracking
It also shows how useless most tracking systems are and that businesses are paying billions for information that is basically useless. All the dedicated and targeted ads are worthless.
But this is how Journalism works (Score:2)
And police investigation, too (Score:3)
The difference is in the level of diligence in verifying the story.
We hope.
Your Wife Tracked Me, For ... You Know (Score:1)
We know what that means (Score:2)
"I was prepared for her to violate my privacy for the sake of journalism,"
Uh huh, and the video just "happened" to get released because your account was "hacked".
"many ways they could be abused" (Score:2)
Wow, what a stunning revelation, I'm relieved to see I'm not the only person who has been thinking that, for decades now. Sheesh!
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His conclusion? While trackers have legitimate uses,
Yeah, he lost me there.
Dumbo House? (Score:2)
Or maybe he was in Dumbo House eating a taco.
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It's a bookstore [penny-arcade.com].
Trying too hard to be scary (Score:2)
They are trying too hard to make it sound scary. All the stuff about how it could be misinterpreted is just a fancy way of saying that they weren't really able to very accurately ascertain what he was doing. I mean, if innocent activity can be misinterpreted then guilty behavior can be claimed to merely be innocent misinterpratation
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Most underestimate Apple's terrible family privacy (Score:2)
With Apple, she has fu
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Sigh, this used to be a forum where people understood the tools they were usingâ¦
Being part of a family means you *can* elect to share you location with family members. You can turn this off, or off for particular members, easily.
If itâ(TM)s off, you have the normal ways the share location, including for specific periods, specific apps at the like.
As for the list of apps, again, if you *choose* to share purchases with family members, they can see a list of what youâ(TM)ve purchased so th
Tracking articles only fun in the city (Score:1)
It looks like writing articles about tracking is only fun in the city where the topology is complicated and it's possible to have some fun misunderstandings.
Next week following farmer Joe around his 16,000 acres in Iowa. Hint: He only goes shopping on Saturdays and to church on Sunday..
we used to say "for science" (Score:1)
"I was prepared for her to violate my privacy for the sake of journalism,"
In the past we used to say "for science" in such cases.