A social media and phone surveillance system ICE bought access to is designed to monitor a city neighborhood or block for mobile phones, track the movements of those devices and their owners over time, and follow them from their places of work to home or other locations. – 404 Media
Protect your privacy
You’re not going to be able to outsmart a team of Israeli cybersecurity experts, but here are some basic tips. Leave your phone at home if possible. Store your phone in a Faraday bag (about $10) when you’re not using it.
- Masked men abducting/killing women? Set up your own free Community Emergency Alert system.
- The danger with a WhatsApp group is that everyone knows the phone numbers of the other people in that group. Someone who joins the group by masquerading as a friend could then disclose the phone numbers of others in that group. And your phone number gives away your location in a heartbeat. – Read More
- Limiting Location Data Exposure – National Security Agency (NSA)
- Location Data Tracks Abortion Clinic Visits – EFF
- Smartphones Are Used To Stalk, Control Domestic Abuse Victims – NPR
- Cellphone tracking tool provides police ‘mass surveillance on a budget’ – PBS
- How domestic abusers are exploiting technology – The Week
Your cell phone is a snitch
Your cellular carrier can determine your rough location. This works through triangulation, by measuring the relative signal strengths of your phone to three different cellular towers, your carrier can have a pretty good idea of where your phone is. Cellular carriers have been found selling this location data to shady third-party companies. WiFi HotSpots and Bluetooth beacons can also be used for tracking you as you move around. – How To Geek
Cell phones reveal your location
Cell phone communicate through cell towers and by knowing your location relative to three towers (triangulation) it’s easy to know your exact location. By knowing where your phone is at night, it’s simple for hackers to know where you most likely live. Read more.
Geofencing collects details of everyone in an area
Phones have unique IDs. It’s simple to draw a boundary around an area (like a protest) and see which phones were in that area at a given time. Read more
Mobile apps collect data on you
Apps like Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and Linkedin collect data and sending it to others. This data can include date, location, time, an what you’re doing on your phone. Read more.
Keep your phone in a Faraday Bag
Put your in airplane mode or toggle Wi-Fi off. Faraday bags are made of a conductive metallic fabric that blocks signals from reaching whatever is inside. Go incognito, using a Faraday bag which cost about $15. – Read more
Use a VPN
VPNs (Virtual Private Network) act as your proxies on the internet and hide the location of your browser and encrypt traffic. But hackers can still locate you based on your cell phone number.
Encrypt your messages while offline
Use the free Make It Private service to encrypt your messages with your own password before you send them so they can’t be read when you text, email or post them. You can encrypt and decrypt messages while offline for more security. Read more
Security advice from the NSA
- Disable location services settings on the device.
- Disable radios when they are not actively in use: disable BT and turn off Wi-Fi if these capabilities are not needed.
- Use Airplane Mode when the device is not in use. Ensure BT and Wi-Fi are disabled when Airplane Mode is engaged.
- Apps should be given as few permissions as possible
- Set privacy settings to ensure apps are not using or sharing location data.
- Avoid using apps related to location if possible, since these apps inherently expose user location data. If used, location privacy/permission settings for such apps should be set to either not allow location data usage or, at most, allow location data usage only while using the app. Examples of apps that relate to location are maps, compasses, traffic apps, fitness apps, apps for finding local restaurants, and shopping apps.
- Disable advertising permissions to the greatest extent possible
- Set privacy settings to limit ad tracking, noting that these restrictions are at the vendor’s discretion.
- Reset the advertising ID for the device on a regular basis.