from Hacker News

Location tracking of phones is out of control

by dangle1 on 10/24/24, 12:53 AM with 7 comments

  • by 486sx33 on 10/24/24, 11:11 AM

    About 2 years ago, an isp we use for one of our operations in Canada called R… which is also a media company and an advertising company… came to us and said hey! We have this amazing new technology , all you do is geofence your competitors and then we will retarget anyone who visits their location with your web ads for as long as you want! Since they are also the isp for mobile data , they just force replaced ads for the targets web browser. (Basically they inject ads)

    They also made it clear their system is not at all dependent on your phone location services or even your advertiser ID, since they are the isp and the cell provider they just use your SIM ESN to track you. ( cell towers know where their users are, with better accuracy than ever now )

    It worked, but it’s darn scary. This has been around for awhile.

  • by tim333 on 10/24/24, 6:25 PM

    While I don't really mind tracking and have google maps tracking on so I can see where I've been, quite a good anti tracking thing is Silent Link. They do an eSIM with no ID attached which you pay for using bitcoin lightning. Combine that with a burner phone and you are good to go.

    Silent Link is also pretty handy for non privacy things. It works in nearly every country and even in your own country you can select any network, not just your usual provider. Handy for me in Hyde Park when O2 packs up but EE works.

  • by zug_zug on 10/24/24, 1:09 PM

    I heard it’s even worse than this: I heard any app can access a list of wireless access point unique IDs your phone is near and that there is a database of enough of these to lookup your location regardless of settings.

    Would love to hear confirmation from an iOS developer

  • by Havoc on 10/24/24, 11:34 AM

    > Not surprisingly, Android users who want to block intrusive location gathering have more settings to change than iOS users.

    > ignore the long, scary warning Google provides

    Phone OS by an adtech company. What could possibly go wrong on privacy?

  • by ChrisArchitect on 10/24/24, 1:44 PM

    Related:

    The global surveillance free-for-all in mobile ad data

    https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41923931