My Phone Was Spying on Me, so I Tracked Down the Surveillants

guest · Dec 5, 2020

My Phone Was Spying on Me, so I Tracked Down the Surveillants
December 3, 2020
https://nrkbeta.no/2020/12/03/my-phone-was-spying-on-me-so-i-tracked-down-the-surveillants/

I have a feeling these apps are spying on me. Well, not listening in, but that they’re keeping track of where I am at all times. That my every move is shared on. When I am shopping for groceries, having a drink, or hanging out with friends.

I know there are those that buy and sell such information. How are they tracking us, and what do they want with our data?
To try to get to the bottom of this, I started an experiment in February. I installed lots of apps on a spare phone. I would then carry that phone everywhere.
Click to expand...

A betrayal
It is a common refrain that commercial surveillance is not that scary: “It’s just used for ads.” But there are now many who are interested in the digital exhaust of our phones.
Recently the publication Vice Motherboard uncovered that the U.S. military buys location data and that a Muslim prayer app sent user location data to military contractors.

In 2018, the owner of an abandoned Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant was arrested in a border town in Arizona.
According to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), the operation was in part uncovered due to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) using commercially available location data.
I request access to my data
The company that supplied ICE with the information about the fast food restaurant is called Venntel.
Click to expand...

Data for sale
Almost a month later, I received an interesting email attachment from Venntel. It contained information on where I’d been 75,406 times since 15 February. Suddenly I could retrace my every step – on a hike, out for a drink, and visiting my grandmother in Southern Norway.

Venntel could inform me they had aquired my information from their parent company, Gravy Analytics, and that they only in a few cases knew anything more about which apps were involved.
Gravy Analytics is a data broker based in marketing.
Click to expand...

What other apps Venntel might be receiving data from is a well kept secret.
Kacanova claims that my consent had been lawfully obtained according to GDPR, and that their partners were contractually obliged to only use my data for marketing purposes.
Click to expand...

Log in or Sign up

My Phone Was Spying on Me, so I Tracked Down the Surveillants

guest Guest

Log in or Sign up

My Phone Was Spying on Me, so I Tracked Down the Surveillants

guest Guest

Useful Searches