Who's Tracking You, and Do You Mind?

[Toto'sDad]

I do, but I'm not going 9 miles back (plus anther 9 to catch up to where I am) to eat lunch. I'll stop at the next one I come to.

Well, at least you plan on stopping. The ads weren't wasted!

 

[metalicaster]

I was in a few classic car clubs as a teenager. They used to do “black box” insurance policies for a discount; teenagers often got then. The black box was just a GPS/G-force device that gave a rough idea of how your driving was. Ran on 12 V.

I had a pal take out a policy. Turns out they need 12 V, not 6 V like his old VW had… The guy who installed it didn’t ask. They never questioned it, and he got “max score” for never exceeding any limits or braking heavily.

 

[sax4blues]

It won't be a denial, it won't allow you to operate it beyond posted limits. Miz Diane's 2019 Outback shows the current local speed limit and the numbers turn red if you exceed them. The next step is regulated speed. Full "autonomy" is coming.

Just saw this from Oct-10

 

[rdjones]

I recently saw a video of Lowes describing their security which included vehicle license plate recording in parking lot.

Just last week I was searching for repair parts my 2005 SUV.
One online parts house asked for my license plate # to look up which vehicle I have (before I entered that info).
Wait, WHAT ?
Some random parts vendor has access to an online database of vehicle registrations ?
Presumably this is required by insurance companies, but who all else can access it and what other info does it contain ? Name, address, phone#, DOB, place of employment, etc, etc ?

 

[Recalcitrant]

We’re at the robber baron phase of the digital era. But the next decade will see a commodification and regulation of digital, um, intercourse.

Yes, it sucks for now— but I think tech is rapidly becoming General Motors. I got an iPhone 14 yesterday and I can tell you, Apple is.

 

[metalicaster]

Just last week I was searching for repair parts my 2005 SUV.
One online parts house asked for my license plate # to look up which vehicle I have (before I entered that info).
Wait, WHAT ?
Some random parts vendor has access to an online database of vehicle registrations ?
Presumably this is required by insurance companies, but who all else can access it and what other info does it contain ? Name, address, phone#, DOB, place of employment, etc, etc ?

Anyone can look a car up. It’s handy if you’re looking at a used car to run a check to see if it’s been salvaged and welded back together wrong.

 

[redhouse_ca]

I won't name names but my issue regards auto insurance companies. We've had the same company insure all our various vehicles for right around 50 years. In that time we've had one claim for around $2K when our then teenager ran over a light pole (we paid for the pole out of pocket). We had to have a cracked windshield replaced once. Otherwise, it's been a one way affair.
We tend not to trade/buy new cars often: a new 2001 Jeep we traded for a 2014 Honda, our current and only vehicle. Every year our insurance rate goes up as the replacement value of the vehicle goes down.
Finally had enough and switched to one of their competitors to save roughly $500. And it wasn't until we made the switch that the new company sent the new policy and informed us that we had to install their app on both of phones so they could track us. Otherwise, we lose the $70 "good driver" discount. Oh, heck no!
Now I know my phone is being tracked by Google and probably others so they'll know just when to bombard me with ads, but, then, I'm just one one the hundreds of millions of phones they are bombarding at that moment.
I'll pay the extra money because it's still cheaper. I'm just not ready to give up my privacy.

I don’t work for Google but ive been in tech for a long time and I feel I know a thing or two about this. It’s bad. I could write forever about how bad it is, but here’s some helpful links instead:

Blacklight - The Markup

Data-driven investigations of tech and how it influences society

themarkup.org

Cover Your Tracks

See how trackers view your browser

coveryourtracks.eff.org

IP/DNS Detect

What is your IP, what is your DNS, check your torrent IP, what informations you send to websites.

ipleak.net

There are a lot of really great people working to break the whole ad-based “the product is you” business model, and there are equally great people working to protect what remains protectable under said paradigm (which is maybe, if you are lucky, an an encrypted file or two and the fully known but illegible Signal message here and there). As it standa now, your current, real world, human persona is known and immutably trackable and targetable. It is sad to say, but the aggregate data points they have about you and the predictive power to be certain it’s you is not beatable. You need to very carefully make a different you to be untrackable.

 

[Swirling Snow]

I just installed Windows 11. The insidious integral assumptions are terrifying. They are one step away from "You may not use our operating system (known to you as "your computer" ) without an internet connection so we can watch everything you do." The default is some creepy "cloud" deal where you agree to let them store any of your information they want on their servers.

There was a comic in a British newspaper years ago. Two cabinet ministers were being presented with a plan to surveil the populace. Location, conversation, finances, so many things this device would report on. And best of all, at no cost to the government, people would buy it for themselves! The last frame of the comic showed a smartphone.

 

[imwjl]

I wonder when vehicle manufactures will deny warranty coverage because onboard data shows vehicle was operated outside of prescribed limits.

The Corvette C8 already limited what the vehicle will do during break-in period.

I just know that I relish the idea of drones coming overhead and spying on me.

Drone shooting is a fun sport the whole family can enjoy!!

That shoot drones theme and mentality I've seen is misunderstood and quite off base considering the private satellite industry already in place and used for business and nation state intelligence.

If you’re on TDPRI, it’s too late.

Here are the trackers I blocked on this thread alone. Doubtless more slipped through that we don’t know about.

Yes, there's much TDPRI John humor when I catch the "I don't do social media." or "I don't do smart phones." mentality. Extra doses of irony and smiles when the mindset carries into anti-Apple or won't give up the Windows 7 mentality says the network and security admin.

Fortunately we have an older, rather simple car without any digital stuff.And if I would know how to repair cars and engines, I would buy me a real old car or an used old army jeep.

We are past 25 years of the start of black box technology in cars and I recall VW started with digital technology in 1968. I believe it was 1994 for GM, and there was system memory in a 1990s European car we had recalling their using it for warranty diagnostics.

 

[imwjl]

I just installed Windows 11. The insidious integral assumptions are terrifying. They are one step away from "You may not use our operating system (known to you as "your computer" ) without an internet connection so we can watch everything you do." The default is some creepy "cloud" deal where you agree to let them store any of your information they want on their servers.

There was a comic in a British newspaper years ago. Two cabinet ministers were being presented with a plan to surveil the populace. Location, conversation, finances, so many things this device would report on. And best of all, at no cost to the government, people would buy it for themselves! The last frame of the comic showed a smartphone.

There are very simple solutions to the Windows 11 matter you describe.

Official documentation and text books are one good solution - what we did to for meeting compliance requirements, common sense InfoSec matters, and our Zero Trust Framework efforts.

One can get metal foil at grocery stores and shape it as a hat. Walmart sells it too for those who are in areas where a lot of retail and community dynamics have died.

Staying away from pundits and social media as news might help some.

The professional version of Windows still has granular control of updates. The point of pushed updates for the home version is protecting the rest of us from the fools who don't do it and become attack vectors.

 

[imwjl]

I believe that is forbiden here in the EU

I'm pretty sure most if not all the EU has now adopted a GPS-based standard like the US carriers use.

I know you were or are strong against patching operating systems. That is another sort of tracking system I see weekly and monthly. It takes more time than I usually give it to find out if it is a nation state or criminal network but when it shows Russia I know criminal networks often work for the nation state.

 

[1955]

I don’t work for Google but ive been in tech for a long time and I feel I know a thing or two about this. It’s bad. I could write forever about how bad it is, but here’s some helpful links instead:

Blacklight - The Markup

Data-driven investigations of tech and how it influences society

themarkup.org

Cover Your Tracks

See how trackers view your browser

coveryourtracks.eff.org

IP/DNS Detect

What is your IP, what is your DNS, check your torrent IP, what informations you send to websites.

ipleak.net

There are a lot of really great people working to break the whole ad-based “the product is you” business model, and there are equally great people working to protect what remains protectable under said paradigm (which is maybe, if you are lucky, an an encrypted file or two and the fully known but illegible Signal message here and there). As it standa now, your current, real world, human persona is known and immutably trackable and targetable. It is sad to say, but the aggregate data points they have about you and the predictive power to be certain it’s you is not beatable. You need to very carefully make a different you to be untrackable.

My result, using Brave browser app and PIA VPN. Brave has additional privacy toggles in their interface. Very simple to use and is the best option I’ve found thus far. All of these things are fluid as far as technology goes. I’m not kidding myself about having any real privacy, but at least it’s better than nothing. It is free I believe, and also blocks annoying popups and YouTube ads, which alone makes downloading it worth it.

 

[1955]

I just installed Windows 11. The insidious integral assumptions are terrifying. They are one step away from "You may not use our operating system (known to you as "your computer" ) without an internet connection so we can watch everything you do." The default is some creepy "cloud" deal where you agree to let them store any of your information they want on their servers.

There was a comic in a British newspaper years ago. Two cabinet ministers were being presented with a plan to surveil the populace. Location, conversation, finances, so many things this device would report on. And best of all, at no cost to the government, people would buy it for themselves! The last frame of the comic showed a smartphone.

Only took two or three decades, and look at the difference. More fun to follow.

 

[imwjl]

View attachment 1039315
My result, using Brave browser app and PIA VPN. Brave has additional privacy toggles in their interface. Very simple to use and is the best option I’ve found thus far. All of these things are fluid as far as technology goes. I’m not kidding myself about having any real privacy, but at least it’s better than nothing. It is free I believe, and also blocks annoying popups and YouTube ads, which alone makes downloading it worth it.

I hope you know the risks of "just downloading", and target that VPN use makes you. From the standpoint of being a security professional, the post you replied to is just plain ignorance. Especially and except for carrier location tracking, the categorically thinking a smart phone is somehow less private or secure.

One big irony in the amount of data tracking like the screen shot is so many people just being too cheap, lazy or dumb to consider buying a product instead of being the product.

It should also be known to more that open source or Linux are not a pass or exclusion for security and privacy matters.

 

[24 track]

I dont own a cell phone , ( dont need one) I dont use credit cards, all my cameras on the comps are covered with tape , I have security cameras around my house, I only visit 5-6 sites on my computer , here, webmail, Ebay, youtube maybe kijiji, reverb and if I do any research on google I wipe my cookies and history instantly . I also wear tinfoil on my head to block them from using my fillings to send me radio waves through wifi , and I wear full lead shielded under wear to protect the jewels . I was thinking of a moat with aligators and a draw bridge to keep away the soliciting rightious and DTD sales men. I do have a 125lb door bell , MS 24 has an ejection seat on her walker with an EASY RIDER rifle rack mounted on it .

I think I am covered .

 

[Flat6Driver]

That shoot drones theme and mentality I've seen is misunderstood and quite off base considering the private satellite industry already in place and used for business and nation state intelligence.

It's a big difference between my pervy neighbor spying on my daughter sunbathing with a drone and XYZ country doing it from a satellite in space!

There are very simple solutions to the Windows 11 matter you describe.

Official documentation and text books are one good solution - what we did to for meeting compliance requirements, common sense InfoSec matters, and our Zero Trust Framework efforts.

One can get metal foil at grocery stores and shape it as a hat. Walmart sells it too for those who are in areas where a lot of retail and community dynamics have died.

Staying away from pundits and social media as news might help some.

The professional version of Windows still has granular control of updates. The point of pushed updates for the home version is protecting the rest of us from the fools who don't do it and become attack vectors.

So many companies/governments/schools etc can't manage to get security right. It's hard to expect the average consumer that posts things like "How early should I leave to get to the airport" on facebook to understand digging into all the documentation.


"Agree to the terms?" Yes, please!!

 

[Nogoodnamesleft]

Knowing it happens, I like to fudge the stats. Randomly looking up something not applicable to anything I enjoy.

I was getting a lot of rollerskate ads for a while. And account recommendations on Insta. It can be kind of an amusing sport really.

 

[GoldieLocks]

On the positive and disturbing side:

Sure, they can maybe track your internet use and toss mountains of SPAM at you ---- yet the C.I.A. and F.B.I. and MI6 and RCMP and KGB... still can't seem to find people (quickly?) who fraud senior citizens sell boatloads of drugs and do internet scams on a global platform. Hmmm?

 

[redhouse_ca]

I just installed Windows 11. The insidious integral assumptions are terrifying. They are one step away from "You may not use our operating system (known to you as "your computer" ) without an internet connection so we can watch everything you do." The default is some creepy "cloud" deal where you agree to let them store any of your information they want on their servers.

There was a comic in a British newspaper years ago. Two cabinet ministers were being presented with a plan to surveil the populace. Location, conversation, finances, so many things this device would report on. And best of all, at no cost to the government, people would buy it for themselves! The last frame of the comic showed a smartphone.

It is terrible. They pop up ads that you cannot shut off when you open the internal (computer) search window. As if Microsoft isn’t making enough money with the sw and cloud services alone.

 

[redhouse_ca]

Couple of weeks ago I did 100 mile drive from my sister in law's house to back home. Decided I'd go right across London SW to NE rather than sit on the choked motorway network. Half a mile from her front door I noticed a new CCTV camera. From there to my front door I reckon I was on camera pretty much for the entire trip, even if only someone's door bell. Pretty Big Brother is nearly here or, if 'they' have them all on a secret network, it already is.

Cheap Android from Tracfone.

There’s a lot more you can do to lock down an iPhone but thankfully, compared to Google’s Android release, there are some pretty good security and privacy options with an iPhone. I wrote a primer on this for family and friends. It’s a little sloppy but I think accurate and pretty comprehensive (and it saves the gauntlet of bait and switch ad sites you will have to wade through in the first 25 or so sponsored links that will be at the top of the Google search results if you try and search for this. If anyone wants a copy, PM me.