Post by Anthony William SlomanPost by JoeOn Mon, 29 Jan 2024 09:59:32 +0000
Post by Cursitor DoomSee The Mystery of CVE-2023-38606 podcast at
https://www.grc.com/securitynow.htm
I think it's safest to assume that any device containing a microphone
(whether you know it or not) and communications facilities is spying at
all times.
It may be the safest option, but it is unrealistic.
It's completely realistic, and is what is happening all the time. It's
how Google makes it's money, and as has been stated many times before,
*YOU* are the product.
Post by Anthony William SlomanSpying on people costs time and money, and unless you have access to secrets that might be worth money to other people, you won't be spied on.
"Won't be spied on"?! How little you understand. It's nothing to do with
secrets (although if you have those they are fair game as well). It's
all to do with selling something to you which you didn't know you
needed. And, of course, it helps if the advert is personalised to you -
if you have a Google account, for example, you have the option of
getting personalised adverts or nonpersonalised adverts. Note that you
can't switch adverts off, though - you'll get one or the other.
You *are* being monitored all the time if you have a cellphone. At the
very least if it's switched on your position can be located by
triangulation from cell towers. That's not very accurate so, unless you
switch off all location apps and/or services (and I don't believe that's
completely possible), your position is known accurately within a metre
or so. Remember too to switch off Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. If you don't,
your phone will try to link to every Wi-Fi and Bluetooth it comes
across. That includes phones of passers-by, so if your location services
are switched off, but theirs aren't, your location is known accurately
via their location.
How can that be used to advertise? Well, let's assume that your location
is monitored, and it shows that every Thursday around 11 am on your way
somewhere, you pass a Wonka Chocolate shop. Perhaps in the past you've
bought something there, or at another Wonka shop, and that will be
recorded. On the next Thursday around 1045, you will get an advert on
your phone about Wonka's latest special offer. As you pass the shop, you
might go in and buy something because of that advert. Or perhaps not.
But you might do in a couple of weeks, and that's how it works. Yes, it
costs money, as does all advertising. But it works. When did you last
*not* see an advert somewhere - in a magazine, in the street, on TV,
when browsing the internet, etc?
My Android 13 (Xiaomi MIUI 14) phone has five apps/services with with
"location":
Fused Location - com.android.location.fused
Google Location History - com.google.android.gms.location.history
Location EM2 - com.mediatek. lbs.em2.ui
LPPe Service - com.mediatek.location.lppe.main
Mtk Geofence - com.mediatek.location.mktgeofence
You can do a search on these to find out what they do, but just as an
example for the last one, see
<https://www.salesforce.com/products/marketing-cloud/best-practices/geofencing-marketing/>.
Quote:
"For marketers, the focus is on push notifications and mobile
advertisements that can be tied to a business location."
--
Jeff