23 votes

How to track President Trump (tracking of government employees using cell phones)

Posted by skybrian
Tags: usa, politics, surveillance, phonessmart, tracking, telecoms, republican party, donald trump, presidents, interactive, opinion, author.stuart a thompson, author.charlie warzel, source.the new york times, paywall.soft
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/12/20/opinion/location-data-national-security.html

Link information

This data is scraped automatically and may be incorrect.

Title
Opinion | How to Track President Trump
Authors
Stuart A. Thompson
Published
Dec 20 2019
Word count
3258 words

11 comments

  1. skybrian
    Link
    From the article: [...] [...] [...] [...]
    • Exemplary

    From the article:

    The Times Privacy Project obtained a dataset with more than 50 billion location pings from the phones of more than 12 million people in this country. It was a random sample from 2016 and 2017, but it took only minutes — with assistance from publicly available information — for us to deanonymize location data and track the whereabouts of President Trump.

    [...]

    The meticulous movements — down to a few feet — of the president’s entourage were recorded by a smartphone we believe belonged to a Secret Service agent, whose home was also clearly identifiable in the data. Connecting the home to public deeds revealed the person’s name, along with the name of the person’s spouse, exposing even more details about both families. We could also see other stops this person made, apparently more connected with his private life than his public duties. The Secret Service declined to comment on our findings or describe its policies regarding location data.

    [...]

    We were able to track smartphones in nearly every major government building and facility in Washington. We could follow them back to homes and, ultimately, their owners’ true identities. Even a prominent senator’s national security adviser — someone for whom privacy and security are core to their every working day — was identified and tracked in the data.

    [...]

    Even areas once thought to be secure showed up in the data. Personal phones aren’t generally allowed inside the C.I.A. or the National Security Agency. But while no pings registered inside the C.I.A. headquarters, we found thousands of pings in the parking lots outside, with trails that led to the homes of likely employees.

    [...]

    WHILE THE DATA REVIEWED by Times Opinion is from three years ago, similar information is being collected daily and often resold to third parties, meaning anyone with current access to such data could feasibly, in near real time, track people within arm’s reach of the president or other powerful figures.

    16 votes
  2. Kuromantis
    (edited )
    Link
    Wow. Seriously, you could plot an assassination of him with that much data.

    Wow.

    Seriously, you could plot an assassination of him with that much data.

    7 votes
  3. [4]
    Diet_Coke
    Link
    Someone should do this but with Epstein and others in his circle and reveal their child abuse ring.

    Someone should do this but with Epstein and others in his circle and reveal their child abuse ring.

    3 votes
    1. Omnicrola
      Link Parent
      I understand this sentiment, but let's be clear: someone should legally do this. One of the primary concerns I have about this kind of data is it is so easily abused because there is do much of...

      I understand this sentiment, but let's be clear: someone should legally do this. One of the primary concerns I have about this kind of data is it is so easily abused because there is do much of it.

      I applaud NYT for this whole series, as it proves just how easy it can be to abuse this data. I'm sure they had long, heated internal arguments about how to publish their findings on this topic. One of the dangers of this is, people are not more aware that this is possible, and some of those people are assholes. Even the NYT is doing a lot of inference, and so there are still some assumptions that are being made about how people move, and what it means if a one appears in a certain location. It would be incredibly easy to find someone you dislike, trace all their movements, and build a narrative that would crucify them in the realm of public opinion. This is one of the key dangers of this kind of data behind so ubiquitous and easy to analyze.

      5 votes
    2. [2]
      unknown user
      Link Parent
      I think the idea is that this sort of information should be illegal to collect in the first place.

      I think the idea is that this sort of information should be illegal to collect in the first place.

      1 vote
      1. markh
        Link Parent
        Sure, but given that the technology already exists, it seems unlikely that even making it illegal is enough to deter those who really want it. Instead, I suggest we make it public. Really, really...

        Sure, but given that the technology already exists, it seems unlikely that even making it illegal is enough to deter those who really want it.

        Instead, I suggest we make it public. Really, really public. That’ll get people to care about who is tracking them. What’s the inverse of “out of sight, out of mind”?

        1 vote
  4. [5]
    Ellimist
    Link
    All the VPN providers should be thanking the NYT profusely. If there was ever a debate on the wisdom of VPN's on your cellphones/laptops, this is it.

    All the VPN providers should be thanking the NYT profusely.

    If there was ever a debate on the wisdom of VPN's on your cellphones/laptops, this is it.

    1 vote
    1. [4]
      balooga
      Link Parent
      I'm 100% pro-VPN, but it's worth pointing out that this data was almost certainly not collected by geolocating IP addresses. To my knowledge there are two plausible ways to aggregate location data...

      I'm 100% pro-VPN, but it's worth pointing out that this data was almost certainly not collected by geolocating IP addresses. To my knowledge there are two plausible ways to aggregate location data this granular:

      1. Cell carriers are in constant communication with your device's wireless radio. This is a fundamental requirement of how the technology works; as you move the network automatically routes your signal through the nearest cell site and keeps a record of your location at all times. Carriers like Verizon and AT&T certainly have location history on file for all customers; law enforcement agencies (and possibly others) have been known to abuse this for surveillance purposes too, using "stingray" cell site simulator devices.
      2. Many smartphone apps request GPS location data and have the ability to send that data elsewhere. (That could occur over your VPN connection or otherwise, but it doesn't matter because the GPS position is independent from your network and more accurate anyway). You should be skeptical of any apps that request location permissions for any reason, because you don't know who might be on the receiving end of that data. Assuming you use Google Maps for turn-by-turn navigation, your device is likely sending a constant stream of location data to Google, long after you've finished driving. They have a detailed, full history of your whereabouts that may go back for years.

      Get a trustworthy VPN, but don't expect that alone to safeguard your privacy.

      12 votes
      1. [3]
        unknown user
        Link Parent
        Any recommendations? I'm looking into subscribing to one's services.

        Get a trustworthy VPN

        Any recommendations? I'm looking into subscribing to one's services.

        1. [2]
          sqew
          Link Parent
          Can't say I've done too much research recently, but, as a heads up, one that a ton of people used to recommend, Private Internet Access (PIA), apparently just got bought by a shady-ish company....

          Can't say I've done too much research recently, but, as a heads up, one that a ton of people used to recommend, Private Internet Access (PIA), apparently just got bought by a shady-ish company.

          They're trying to show that they'll remain transparent and a good provider, but a lot of people seem to consider them dead in the water from a privacy standpoint now.

          3 votes
          1. balooga
            (edited )
            Link Parent
            Yeah that's me for the moment. I've been recommending PIA for years but that acquisition was just a punch in the gut. Mullvad seems to be the heir apparent. I'm still considering making the switch...

            Yeah that's me for the moment. I've been recommending PIA for years but that acquisition was just a punch in the gut. Mullvad seems to be the heir apparent. I'm still considering making the switch but want to do some additional research first.

            Edit: Spelling

            2 votes