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

There are 160 apps on my phone. What they’re actually doing, I don’t know. But I decided to find out.

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.

Or almost. I left it at home when I took a COVID-19 test in April.

Easy to misuse
There is a good reason for why my feeling of being monitored has increased over the years. This spring, I was part of an NRK team documenting how more than 8,300 mobile phones were being tracked while they were at hospitals or women’s shelters.

For the sum of 35,000 NOK (3,300 EUR / 4,000 USD), we got access to location data showing where tens of thousands of Norwegians had travelled in 2019.

👀 👉🏼https://nrkbeta.no/2020/12/03/my-phone-was-spying-on-me-so-i-tracked-down-the-surveillants/

👀 👉🏼 https://nrkbeta.no/2020/12/03/telefonen-spionerte-pa-meg-slik-fant-jeg-overvakerne/

#smartphone #spying #surveillants #surveilling #tracking #thinkabout
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