I’m going to ask you a question that I borrowed from a great hacker, Moxie Marlinspike:
How many of you would agree to a law that requires everyone to carry a surveillance device with them 24/7 that reports their location to the government? Probably no one.
Now, let's ask the followup question: How many of you have a cellphone? Probably everyone.
So what's the difference between the two? A cellphone ‘is’ also giving your location all the time to the network operators.
In case you didn't know about this, let me explain. It's based on the fact that your phone needs to be connected to the cell towers close to you. Your phone constantly checks in with these towers to see which one has a stronger signal and the towers see this on their end too. By using a very simple method called triangulation, the network operator can then find your location within a 50-yard radius.
You might say: “I'm just a normal person. I go to work every day and come back home at night. There's nothing interesting about my location data”
I believe that's not true. If I had access to these data, I could find, where you live, where you work, who your friends are, who you social with, where you shop at, where you eat at, where you travel to, what kind of outdoor activities you engage in, and so many other things!
Think about it, I could tell when was the last time you visited your uncle; How long your grocery shopping takes; When was the last time you visited a doctor; Based on the location, I can find out what kind of a doctor; Where were you last Monday when you called in sick to work; Who did you meet yesterday after work; Did you have a walk after that or drove; Where did you spend the night.
Location data can tell a lot of information about us and our lives. And because your location can be expressed in a few numbers. The longitude and latitude. It can be stored with its time-stamp forever. So we can go back to it and see where were you on July 1st, 2001 at 6:35pm.
But you may say, this kind of information is protected. It's not like anyone can access that. Even the government needs to have a warrant.
I wish that was the case. Let's see who has access to these data? First of all, your network provider, like AT&T or Verizon. Also, your phone manufacturer, like Apple, Samsung or Google. And, some of the Apps on your phone. And, other things in between. But it doesn't even end there. Your phone network also sells these data to third parties. Without your consent. Your live location data.
There is a company called LocationSmart that has a website and lets you track any phone number if you pay. Let me repeat, that's live location data. The Washington Post had an article a while back with this title: "For sale: Systems that can secretly track where cellphone users go around the globe".
I once read a story about a guy whose car breaks down while on a trip. He calls Geico, his car insurance, to get a towing truck. The operator asks for the address and the guy says he's not sure, the operator says, "No worries, I got your location from your phone, I'll send the truck now"! The car insurance company! I don't even trust them 100% with the car insurance!
The problem today is that everyone and their dog have access to these data!
If you've read the George Orwell's book, 1984, you know how he describes a dystopian society where TVs track everyone. But even in that scenario, people could escape from the TVs and meet in places that had no TVs. We went beyond that. We exceeded George Orwell's worst nightmare! And somehow everyone's fine with that.
So what's the solution? Well, one solution is to force engineers and phone network operators and the government and everyone in between to redesign the whole system so that it cannot track anyone. And by the way, it ‘is’ possible to design the system in such way. But, I don't see 'that' happening any time soon, if ever.
The other option, is to leave these devices at home and treat them like landline phones so when you get home, you check your messages. But for some reason, this idea gives most people a slight heart attack! They say: "But what if there's an emergency and I need to call someone? What if someone needs to call me right away?"
I don't know the exact answers to those kind of questions and I don't have any other solutions either but I do remember a time that we only had landlines at home and 'somehow' we all survived!
There is obviously much more to this problem that a 7-minute talk can address. But I just hope that these talks raise some awareness that at some point lead to actions.
::samic::