It's 2020 and everyone has a tracking device in their pockets. People are being monitored in real time by the government, advertising companies and even fraudsters.
It sounds like science fiction but it's a reality.
The exact location of your phone can be monitored in a number of ways.
How Rogue Bounty Hunters can track your location
The latest controversy began with Joseph Cox on Motherboard, who gave a hacker $ 300 and a phone number. He managed to find the exact, current location of the mobile phone that used this number.
Well,
obviously the American companies (and not only) AT&T, Sprint and
T-Mobile sell a lot of data to their customers, including the
geographical locations related to their phone numbers, to many other
companies.
This data can be used by a service to locate people. However, there is no supervision and fraudsters gain access to this data. "Data is being resold to the wrong people," a company told Motherboard.
What you can do about it : Hopefully the providers will stop selling your data to weird intermediaries.
How can the government monitor your location?
It is worth mentioning that the government also has access to your location data from your mobile phone company. They just need to issue a warrant and deliver it to the mobile service provider using the number they want to locate. The mobile phone provider will of course give your location to the government, but also provide real-time updates.
What you can do about it : Nothing, unless you want to stop taking the phone with you.
How can advertisers monitor you?
It's not just your cell phone. Even
if your mobile phone provider took care of your data, it would be very
easy for them to locate you thanks to the location access you have given
to certain applications that are installed on your smartphone.
The applications for the weather are very "martyrdom". In order for a weather app to work, you need to give it access to your location.
The same application can also sell your data to the highest bidder.
These apps are just one example as there are many that require access to your site. Rogue Bounty hunters are likely to have location data from such applications and not from mobile phone companies.
What can you do about it? : Avoid giving your site access to third-party applications. Stop using third-party weather apps and use your phone's built-in weather app.
How your family can track your location
Your phone can identify its location and share it with others in the background, even if your screen is off. You do not need to open an application for this.
You can see if you're using a service like Apple's Find My Friends, which is included on the iPhone. Find My Friends can be used to share your exact locations in real time with your family members or friends. If
you give someone access, they can open the app and Apple's servers will
ping your iPhone, pick up your location, and display it to the person
concerned.
Android
phones have something similar in a Google app called Trusted Contacts
and, of course, there are many third-party apps that help you share your
sites in real time with other people.
Of course, this is only done with your permission, but it shows us how widespread this technology is. After all, it's the same technology you can use to remotely track your lost iPhone or Android if you lose it.
What you can do about it : Be careful who you share your site with in real time. :D
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