Privacy advocates gained access to a powerful tool bought by U.S. law enforcement agencies that can track smartphone locations around the world. Abortion clinics, places of worship, and individual people can all be monitored without a warrant.

Privacy advocates got access to Locate X, a phone tracking tool which multiple U.S. agencies have bought access to, and showed me and other journalists exactly what it was capable of. Tracking a phone from one state to another to an abortion clinic. Multiple places of worship. A school. Following a likely juror to a residence. And all of this tracking is possible without a warrant, and instead just a few clicks of a mouse.

  • HubertManne@moist.catsweat.com
    1101·
    2 months ago

    It drives me nuts how our economic system is making not having a cell phone increasingly difficult. Many necessary things won’t even work on a tablet. The smartphone is the most amazing futuristic device I dreamed about that has evolved into a distopian nightmare.

    • GreenKnight23@lemmy.worldEnglish
      172·
      2 months ago

      It drives me nuts how our economic system is making not having a cell phone increasingly difficult.

      that’s by design. why you do you think the US government allows corporate interests to take such a high position above American citizens? it’s not just only because of corruption, it’s because one hand washes the other.

      The smartphone is the most amazing futuristic device I dreamed about that has evolved into a distopian nightmare.

      like all technology, it can be used in ways that you cannot even imagine.

      instead of blocking advertising data, we should embrace it IMO.

      imagine a world where users shove so much information at these tools that they can’t even tell what’s real or not. camouflage works better when everyone participates.

      • Schadrach@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
        9·
        2 months ago

        instead of blocking advertising data, we should embrace it IMO.

        imagine a world where users shove so much information at these tools that they can’t even tell what’s real or not. camouflage works better when everyone participates.

        There’s an ad blocker that does exactly this. Called Ad Nauseam. Chrome blocked it from their store super fast, then blocked it from being installed in Chrome from 3rd party sites, then blocked known versions of it from being manually installed in developer mode. I used to run it set to a low percentage - if I “clicked” every ad they’d know to throw my data out, but if I click say 3% of them…

      • PriorityMotif@lemmy.worldEnglish
        6·
        2 months ago

        Run a headless browser that does random searches at random times across different social media and search engines and have it click random ads.

        • Glitterbomb@lemmy.worldEnglish
          3·
          2 months ago

          This was part of the fictional operating system in the book Little Brother. I think it inspired similar features in a particular real life Linux build too

      • EndlessNightmare@reddthat.comEnglish
        3·
        2 months ago

        that’s by design.

        See also: automobiles. Automobiles and smartphones certainly have strong cases for how utilitarian they are. They are both genuinely very useful.

        But the expectation that everyone has one, along with them becoming practically a requirement for most people, has turned them into a dependency and a means of control. Some people can manage to forgo them, but you almost have to build your life around doing so.

        • GreenKnight23@lemmy.worldEnglish
          3·
          2 months ago

          does it though? if everyone is sharing their advertising data under the covers no amount of ML could correct it.

          think of it like a tor network for advertisement tracking.

          you’re going to Walmart, I’m going to Target. but according to our phones, I’m at Walmart and you’re at Target. now scale it up to thousands or even millions of users sharing their advertising trackers.

    • Doomsider@lemmy.worldEnglish
      8·
      2 months ago

      It is only dystopian because we have not taken back the power to control our devices. We of course need some serious privacy laws to allow this to happen. Right now is the defining moment for the 21st century. Will we take control of our technology or be enslaved by it?

      • HubertManne@moist.catsweat.com
        2·
        2 months ago

        I don’t see smartphones being better unless they are completely different. Since its basically iphone and an iphone mimic and its just the way the whole ecosystems are built. Like you can install a free smartphone os but you will not be able to do things with it at the same level as someone without one as far as corps and stuff.