Kyle Rankin @kyle@librem.one

A very telling part of this story about police using Fog to access cell location data w/o a warrant is the prosecutor's assessment that giving up your #privacy is the trade-off for getting free apps. Aligns w/ Big Tech's view. https://apnews.com/article/technology-police-california-arkansas-d395409ef5a8c6c3f6cdab5b1d0e27ef

Cars continue to copy the smartphone business model, now have mandatory pre-installed services and apps (and the tracking that comes with them): #privacy https://www.thedrive.com/news/gm-makes-1500-onstar-subscription-mandatory-on-gmc-buick-cadillac-models

You have to hand it to them... #privacy https://www.engadget.com/amazon-one-palm-payment-whole-foods-california-195712253.html

I'm glad that articles like this by Tatum Hunter that walk you through how to opt out of cellular carrier tracking exist, but I'm sad they are necessary. This is exactly why we created the AweSIM service. #privacy https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/08/01/cell-carrier-privacy-settings/

I wrote about the "smartphoneification" of cars last year on the @purism blog: #privacy https://puri.sm/posts/locked-in-a-remote-control-car/

If you wanted to know why I'm thankful I don't need to replace my car, and if I did, it wouldn't be with a modern one, here's why: #privacy #bigdata https://themarkup.org/the-breakdown/2022/07/27/who-is-collecting-data-from-your-car

If only Big Data companies could get drunk and lose all our personal data... ⁨#privacy⁩ https://gizmodo.com/amagasaki-personal-data-usb-lost-drunk-man-1849113016

Securus buys location data from one data broker (3Cinteractive) who bought it from another broker (LocationSmart) who bought it from AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint, and Verizon. This abuse of customer data is why we made AweSIM. #privacy

Deputy US Marshal abused Securus phone tracking system to track personal contacts. Requested "all her [victim's] social media data, call history, text messages, and cell phone location data 24/7-365 without any restrictions". #privacy https://www.vice.com/en/article/k7bqew/us-marshal-securus-phone-location-tracked

I guess my habit of turning off WiFi/BT on my #Librem5 with the hardware kill switch when I leave the house isn't just good for battery life: https://gizmodo.com/bluetooth-tracking-iphone-airtags-1849042375 #privacy #security

The best time to protect your #privacy was 20 years ago. The second best time is now. https://puri.sm/posts/the-second-best-time-to-protect-your-privacy/

This level of tracking of shoppers, even if it's to streamline checkout, is creepy. #privacy https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/28/technology/whole-foods-amazon-automation.html?smid=tw-share

I finally fired Google. In this post I write about how I got locked in, how I got out, and what took me so long. #privacy https://puri.sm/posts/i-finally-fired-google/

There was such a #privacy backlash against the IRS biometrics requirement that the IRS is changing policy. Imagine what would happen if enough people felt the same way about the companies that do far worse.

Security companies sometimes use "we're in Switzerland" to imply that makes them more secure or private. But better protection from government compulsion doesn't do much good if the company itself decides to collect and sell your location data. #privacy https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-12-06/this-swiss-tech-exec-is-said-to-have-operated-a-secret-surveillance-operation

It's so profitable to sell customer data that Vizio now makes 2x as much from that than selling TVs. Until the govt outlaws this data collection, your only recourse to protect your ⁨#privacy⁩ is to buy things from the few companies left that respect it. https://gizmodo.com/welp-vizio-now-makes-twice-as-much-from-advertising-as-1848034943

"A new technology can inconspicuously scan the same surface [a blank wall] for shadows and reflections imperceptible to the human eye, then analyze them to determine details, including how many people are in the room—and what they are doing." #privacy https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/a-blank-wall-can-show-how-many-people-are-in-a-room-and-what-theyre-doing/

Samsung can remotely brick TVs it believes are stolen once they reconnect to the Internet, which is required to enable smart TV features. ⁨#privacy https://gizmodo.com/samsung-smart-tvs-can-be-remotely-bricked-if-stolen-1847557228

My biggest worry about Apple crossing the Rubicon with client-side searches is all the other vendors that inevitably copy Apple innovations, but poorly. Even if Apple can keep their promises, others won't. Imagine a home (and car) full of devices searching for crimes. ⁨#privacy⁩

Criminals and students always face the bleeding edge of surveillance tech, because neither group has enough agency to resist it. ⁨#privacy⁩ ⁨https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-tech-prison-idUSKBN2FA0OO