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Feds Order Google To Hand Over A Load Of Innocent Americans' Locations
Here's how it works: cops send Google specific coordinates and timezones within which crimes were committed. Then Google is asked to provide information on all users within those locations at those times, most likely including data on many innocent people. Those users could be Android phone owners, anyone running Google Maps or any individual running Google services on their cell, not just criminal suspects.
[...] "This fishing expedition infringes on the privacy rights of so many possible people who had the misfortune of being in an area where a crime is alleged to be committed," said Jerome Greco, staff attorney at the Legal Aid Society. "We should not allow for such broad access to the data of so many on the mere speculation that a suspect may have used a cellphone near the location of the crime."
[...] Not just Google
Captain John Sherwin of the Rochester Police Department in Minnesota said it wasn't just Google that could furnish cops with a startling mount of detailed location data. Facebook and Snapchat were two others who'd proven useful, he said.
Should we be concerned that government tracks people by their cell phones instead of using mandatory brain implants?
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 25 2018, @01:22AM (3 children)
I see so many people who downplay the dangers of corporate data collection, saying that they'll only use your data for harmless advertising purposes. This is yet more proof that if you allow corporations to collect massive amounts of data about people, that data will inevitably end up in the hands of governments. It is only a matter of time before they succeed in getting it, one way or another. So, even if someone stupidly believes that the corporations themselves pose no harm, it is obvious that governments pose harm.
This cannot be framed as a debatable issue, whether in the media or otherwise. The 'nothing to hide, nothing to fear' argument is categorically, absolutely false and it has been proven to be so countless times throughout history. People who make that argument, or similar arguments, should be ridiculed as ignoramuses and their pathetic arguments debunked yet again.
It is dangerous to live in a society in which computing is ubiquitous, people are ignorant about computing, and those same ignorant people disregard the warnings of experts who are not ignorant about computing. That combination is deadly for freedom.
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Thursday October 25 2018, @07:40AM
That's the specific reason I don't use iCloud. While Tim Cook gives lip service to privacy, he's also quite clear that Apple will fork over your cloud data if a warrant is presented.
I just don't log in, nor to I log in to the App Store. That results in endless nags to enter my password. On my Macs I'll someday get around to which launch control config files produce the nags, then I'll use "$ launchctl disable" to disable them.
I expect my iToy works the same way but I'll have to jailbreak it first.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Thursday October 25 2018, @07:41AM
I have big hands.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 2) by acid andy on Thursday October 25 2018, @10:10PM
Yeah, why the fuck is that? They have no respect for advice from experts. Instead they respect other ignorant people, or flashy people and corporations that make them superficially feel good.
If a cat has kittens, does a rat have rittens, a bat bittens and a mat mittens?