Your new post is loading...
A New York Times investigation has found that apps such as GasBuddy and The Weather Channel are among at least 75 companies getting purportedly “anonymous” but pinpoint-precise location data from about 200 million smartphones across the US.
They’re often sharing it or selling it to advertisers, retailers or even hedge funds that are seeking valuable insights into consumer behavior. One example: Tell All Digital, a Long Island advertising firm, buys location data, then uses it to run ad campaigns for personal injury lawyers that it markets to people who wind up in emergency rooms.
The Times reviewed a database holding location data gathered in 2017 and held by one company, finding that it held “startling detail” about people’s travels, accurate to within a few yards and in some cases updated more than 14,000 times a day. Several of the businesses whose practices were analyzed by the Times claim to track up to 200 million mobile devices in the US.
The data being sold is supposedly anonymous, as in, not tied to a phone number. The Times could still easily figure out who mobile device owners were through their daily routines, including where they live, where they work, or what businesses they frequent.
Learn more / En savoir plus / Mehr erfahren:
https://gustmees.wordpress.com/2013/12/21/privacy-in-the-digital-world-shouldnt-we-talk-about-it/
https://www.scoop.it/t/securite-pc-et-internet/?&tag=tracking
https://www.scoop.it/t/securite-pc-et-internet/?&tag=Privacy
https://www.scoop.it/t/securite-pc-et-internet/?&tag=Big+Data
A New York Times investigation has found that apps such as GasBuddy and The Weather Channel are among at least 75 companies getting purportedly “anonymous” but pinpoint-precise location data from about 200 million smartphones across the US.
They’re often sharing it or selling it to advertisers, retailers or even hedge funds that are seeking valuable insights into consumer behavior. One example: Tell All Digital, a Long Island advertising firm, buys location data, then uses it to run ad campaigns for personal injury lawyers that it markets to people who wind up in emergency rooms.
The Times reviewed a database holding location data gathered in 2017 and held by one company, finding that it held “startling detail” about people’s travels, accurate to within a few yards and in some cases updated more than 14,000 times a day. Several of the businesses whose practices were analyzed by the Times claim to track up to 200 million mobile devices in the US.
The data being sold is supposedly anonymous, as in, not tied to a phone number. The Times could still easily figure out who mobile device owners were through their daily routines, including where they live, where they work, or what businesses they frequent.
Learn more / En savoir plus / Mehr erfahren:
https://gustmees.wordpress.com/2013/12/21/privacy-in-the-digital-world-shouldnt-we-talk-about-it/
https://www.scoop.it/t/securite-pc-et-internet/?&tag=tracking
https://www.scoop.it/t/securite-pc-et-internet/?&tag=Privacy
https://www.scoop.it/t/securite-pc-et-internet/?&tag=Big+Data