Forwarded from BlackBox (Security) Archiv
Twelve Million Phones, One Dataset, Zero Privacy
Every minute of every day, everywhere on the planet, dozens of companies — largely unregulated, little scrutinized — are #logging the #movements of tens of millions of #people with #mobile #phones and storing the information in gigantic #data #files. The Times #Privacy #Project obtained one such file, by far the largest and most sensitive ever to be reviewed by journalists. It holds more than 50 billion location pings from the phones of more than 12 million Americans as they moved through several major cities, including Washington, New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles.
Each piece of #information in this file represents the precise location of a single #smartphone over a period of several months in 2016 and 2017. The data was provided to Times Opinion by sources who asked to remain anonymous because they were not authorized to share it and could face severe penalties for doing so. The sources of the information said they had grown alarmed about how it might be abused and urgently wanted to inform the public and lawmakers.
After spending months sifting through the data, tracking the movements of people across the country and speaking with dozens of data companies, technologists, lawyers and academics who study this field, we feel the same sense of alarm. In the cities that the data file covers, it tracks people from nearly every neighborhood and block, whether they live in mobile homes in Alexandria, Va., or luxury towers in Manhattan.
One search turned up more than a dozen people visiting the Playboy Mansion, some overnight. Without much effort we spotted visitors to the estates of Johnny Depp, Tiger Woods and Arnold Schwarzenegger, connecting the devices’ owners to the residences indefinitely.
If you lived in one of the cities the #dataset covers and use #apps that share your# location — anything from weather apps to local news apps to coupon savers — you could be in there, too.
If you could see the full trove, you might never use your phone the same way again.
Read more:
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/12/19/opinion/location-tracking-cell-phone.html
#surveillance #privacy #why #thinkabout
📡@cRyPtHoN_INFOSEC_DE
📡@cRyPtHoN_INFOSEC_EN
📡@BlackBox_Archiv
Every minute of every day, everywhere on the planet, dozens of companies — largely unregulated, little scrutinized — are #logging the #movements of tens of millions of #people with #mobile #phones and storing the information in gigantic #data #files. The Times #Privacy #Project obtained one such file, by far the largest and most sensitive ever to be reviewed by journalists. It holds more than 50 billion location pings from the phones of more than 12 million Americans as they moved through several major cities, including Washington, New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles.
Each piece of #information in this file represents the precise location of a single #smartphone over a period of several months in 2016 and 2017. The data was provided to Times Opinion by sources who asked to remain anonymous because they were not authorized to share it and could face severe penalties for doing so. The sources of the information said they had grown alarmed about how it might be abused and urgently wanted to inform the public and lawmakers.
After spending months sifting through the data, tracking the movements of people across the country and speaking with dozens of data companies, technologists, lawyers and academics who study this field, we feel the same sense of alarm. In the cities that the data file covers, it tracks people from nearly every neighborhood and block, whether they live in mobile homes in Alexandria, Va., or luxury towers in Manhattan.
One search turned up more than a dozen people visiting the Playboy Mansion, some overnight. Without much effort we spotted visitors to the estates of Johnny Depp, Tiger Woods and Arnold Schwarzenegger, connecting the devices’ owners to the residences indefinitely.
If you lived in one of the cities the #dataset covers and use #apps that share your# location — anything from weather apps to local news apps to coupon savers — you could be in there, too.
If you could see the full trove, you might never use your phone the same way again.
Read more:
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/12/19/opinion/location-tracking-cell-phone.html
#surveillance #privacy #why #thinkabout
📡@cRyPtHoN_INFOSEC_DE
📡@cRyPtHoN_INFOSEC_EN
📡@BlackBox_Archiv
Forwarded from BlackBox (Security) Archiv
The public don’t trust computer algorithms to make decisions about them, survey finds
The majority of people do not trust computers to make decisions about any aspect of their lives, according to a new survey.
Over half (53%) of UK adults have no faith in any organisation to use algorithms when making judgements about them, in issues ranging from education to welfare decisions, according to the poll for BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT.
The survey was conducted in the wake of the UK exams crisis where an algorithm used to assign grades was scrapped in favour of teachers’ predictions.
Just 7% of respondents trusted algorithms to be used by the education sector - joint lowest with social services and the armed forces. Confidence in the use of algorithms in education also differed dramatically between the age groups - amongst 18-24-year-olds, 16% trusted their use, while it was only 5% of over 55-year-olds.
Trust in social media companies’ algorithms to serve content and direct user experience was similar at 8%. Automated decision making had the highest trust when it came to the NHS (17%), followed by financial services (16%) and intelligence agencies (12%), reflecting areas like medical diagnosis, credit scoring and national security.
Police and ‘Big Tech’ companies (like Apple and Google) were level with 11% of respondents having faith in how algorithms are used to make decisions about them personally.
Older people are less trusting about the general use of algorithms in public life, with 63% of over-55s saying they felt negative about this, compared with 42% of 18-24-year-olds. Attitudes to computerized decisions in the NHS, private health care and local councils differ very strongly by age. 30% of 18-24-year-olds said they trusted the use of algorithms in these sectors, while for those over 55, it was 14%.
Over 2,000 people responded to the survey conducted for BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT by YouGov; all were shown a description of algorithms before answering any questions.
Dr Bill Mitchell, Director of Policy at BCS said: “People don’t trust algorithms to do the right thing by them – but there is little understanding of how deeply they are embedded in our everyday life.
“People get that Netflix and the like use algorithms to offer up film choices, but they might not realise that more and more algorithms decide whether we’ll be offered a job interview, or by our employers to decide whether we’re working hard enough, or even whether we might be a suspicious person needing to be monitored by security services.
👀 👉🏼 https://www.bcs.org/more/about-us/press-office/press-releases/the-public-don-t-trust-computer-algorithms-to-make-decisions-about-them-survey-finds/
#people #dont #trust #computer #algorithm #survey
📡@cRyPtHoN_INFOSEC_DE
📡@cRyPtHoN_INFOSEC_EN
📡@BlackBox_Archiv
📡@NoGoolag
The majority of people do not trust computers to make decisions about any aspect of their lives, according to a new survey.
Over half (53%) of UK adults have no faith in any organisation to use algorithms when making judgements about them, in issues ranging from education to welfare decisions, according to the poll for BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT.
The survey was conducted in the wake of the UK exams crisis where an algorithm used to assign grades was scrapped in favour of teachers’ predictions.
Just 7% of respondents trusted algorithms to be used by the education sector - joint lowest with social services and the armed forces. Confidence in the use of algorithms in education also differed dramatically between the age groups - amongst 18-24-year-olds, 16% trusted their use, while it was only 5% of over 55-year-olds.
Trust in social media companies’ algorithms to serve content and direct user experience was similar at 8%. Automated decision making had the highest trust when it came to the NHS (17%), followed by financial services (16%) and intelligence agencies (12%), reflecting areas like medical diagnosis, credit scoring and national security.
Police and ‘Big Tech’ companies (like Apple and Google) were level with 11% of respondents having faith in how algorithms are used to make decisions about them personally.
Older people are less trusting about the general use of algorithms in public life, with 63% of over-55s saying they felt negative about this, compared with 42% of 18-24-year-olds. Attitudes to computerized decisions in the NHS, private health care and local councils differ very strongly by age. 30% of 18-24-year-olds said they trusted the use of algorithms in these sectors, while for those over 55, it was 14%.
Over 2,000 people responded to the survey conducted for BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT by YouGov; all were shown a description of algorithms before answering any questions.
Dr Bill Mitchell, Director of Policy at BCS said: “People don’t trust algorithms to do the right thing by them – but there is little understanding of how deeply they are embedded in our everyday life.
“People get that Netflix and the like use algorithms to offer up film choices, but they might not realise that more and more algorithms decide whether we’ll be offered a job interview, or by our employers to decide whether we’re working hard enough, or even whether we might be a suspicious person needing to be monitored by security services.
👀 👉🏼 https://www.bcs.org/more/about-us/press-office/press-releases/the-public-don-t-trust-computer-algorithms-to-make-decisions-about-them-survey-finds/
#people #dont #trust #computer #algorithm #survey
📡@cRyPtHoN_INFOSEC_DE
📡@cRyPtHoN_INFOSEC_EN
📡@BlackBox_Archiv
📡@NoGoolag
www.bcs.org
The public don’t trust computer algorithms to make decisions about them, survey finds | BCS - The Chartered Institute for IT
The majority of people do not trust computers to make decisions about any aspect of their lives, according to a new survey.