U.S. Government Tracking Millions Of Cellphones To “Combat Coronavirus Pandemic”

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Our constitutional freedoms have been stolen from us – no due process, no habeas corpus. There was no process at all so how do we get them back? And nobody is even questioning it. There are no pleas on social media to free us from house arrest. Stunning. These are our unalienable enshrined in the Constitution and without so much as a gunshot, poof. They’re gone.

Now this.

Government Tracking How People Move Around in Coronavirus Pandemic

Goal is to get location data in up to 500 U.S. cities to help plan response; privacy concerns call for “strong legal safeguards,” activist says

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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has started to get data through one project, dubbed the Covid-19 Mobility Data Network.

By Byron Tau, Wall Street Journal, March 28, 2020:

WASHINGTON—Government officials across the U.S. are using location data from millions of cellphones in a bid to better understand the movements of Americans during the coronavirus pandemic and how they may be affecting the spread of the disease.

The federal government, through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and state and local governments have started to receive analyses about the presence and movement of people in certain areas of geographic interest drawn from cellphone data, people familiar with the matter said. The data comes from the mobile advertising industry rather than cellphone carriers.

The aim is to create a portal for federal, state and local officials that contains geolocation data in what could be as many as 500 cities across the U.S., one of the people said, to help plan the epidemic response.

The data—which is stripped of identifying information like the name of a phone’s owner—could help officials learn how coronavirus is spreading around the country and help blunt its advance. It shows which retail establishments, parks and other public spaces are still drawing crowds that could risk accelerating the transmission of the virus, according to people familiar with the matter. In one such case, researchers found that New Yorkers were congregating in large numbers in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park and handed that information over to local authorities, one person said. Warning notices have been posted at parks in New York City, but they haven’t been closed.

On Dec. 1, 2019, a patient in Wuhan, China, started showing symptoms of what doctors determined was a new coronavirus. Since then, the virus has spread across the world. Here’s how the virus grew to a global pandemic.

The data can also reveal general levels of compliance with stay-at-home or shelter-in-place orders, according to experts inside and outside government, and help measure the pandemic’s economic impact by revealing the drop-off in retail customers at stores, decreases in automobile miles driven and other economic metrics.

The CDC has started to get data through one project, dubbed the Covid-19 Mobility Data Network, that is being coordinated through an ad hoc coalition of epidemiologists at Harvard, Princeton, Johns Hopkins and other universities along with numerous tech companies and data providers—all working in conjunction with the White House and others in government, the people said.

The CDC and the White House didn’t respond to requests for comment.

The growing reliance on mobile phone location data continues to raise concerns about privacy protections, especially when programs are run by or commissioned by governments.

Wolfie Christl, a privacy activist and researcher, said the location-data industry was “covidwashing” what are generally privacy-invading products.

“In the light of the emerging disaster, it may be appropriate to make use of aggregate analytics based on consumer data in some cases, even if data is being gathered secretly or illegally by companies,” said Mr. Christl. “As true anonymization of location data is nearly impossible, strong legal safeguards are mandatory.” The safeguards should limit how the data can be used and ensure it isn’t used later for other purposes, he said.

Privacy advocates are concerned that even anonymized data could be used in combination with other publicly accessible information to identify and track individuals.

Some companies in the U.S. location-data industry have made their data or analysis available for the public to see or made their raw data available for researchers or governments. San Francisco-based LotaData launched a public portal analyzing movement patterns within Italy that could help authorities plan for outbreaks and plans additional portals for Spain, California and New York. The company Unacast launched a public “social distancing scoreboard” that uses location data to evaluate localities on how well their population is doing at following stay-at-home orders.

Other state and local governments too have begun to commission their own studies and analyses from private companies. Foursquare Labs Inc., one of the largest location-data players, said it is in discussions with numerous state and local governments about use of its data.

Researchers and governments around the world have used a patchwork of authorities and tactics to collect mobile phone data—sometimes looking for voluntary compliance from either companies or individuals, and in other cases using laws meant for terrorism or other emergencies to collect vast amounts of data on citizens to combat the coronavirus threat.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers have launched a project to track volunteer Covid-19 patients through a mobile phone app. Telecom carriers in Germany, Austria, Spain, Belgium, the U.K. and other countries have given data over to authorities to help combat the pandemic. Israel’s intelligence agencies were tapped to use antiterrorism phone-tracking technology to map infections.

In the U.S., so far, the data being used has largely been drawn from the advertising industry. The mobile marketing industry has billions of geographic data points on hundreds of millions of U.S. cell mobile devices—mostly drawn from applications that users have installed on their phones and allowed to track their location. Huge troves of this advertising data are available for sale.

The industry is largely unregulated under existing privacy laws because consumers have opted-in to tracking and because the data doesn’t contain names or addresses—each consumer is represented by an alphanumeric string.

Cellphone carriers also have access to massive amounts of geolocation data, which is granted much stricter privacy protection under U.S. law than in most other countries. The largest U.S. carriers, including AT&T Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc., say they have not been approached by the government to provide location data, according to spokespeople. There have been discussions about trying to obtain U.S. telecom data for this purpose, however the legality of such a move isn’t clear.

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felix1999
felix1999
4 years ago

It’s becoming more and more like Big Brother time!
CDC asked for this! They are taking away our freedom under the guise of a “crisis”.

CDC Asks Tech Giants Twitter, Google, Facebook for Location of US Citizens — Will Track Whether Americans Are Practicing Proper “Social Distancing”
Friday, March 20th 2020, 1:16:39 am
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/03/it-begins-cdc-asks-tech-giants-twitter-google-facebook-for-location-of-us-citizens-will-track-whether-americans-are-practicing-proper-social-distancing/
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patd
patd
4 years ago
Reply to  felix1999

Well mine and my wife’s are next to each other no matter where we go…I think cell phones are not accurate enough to get within the 6′ requested distancing.

felix1999
felix1999
4 years ago
Reply to  patd

I don’ t like any of it. It’s a huge invasion of one’s privacy. Next they’ll be requesting you stay away from your wife!
One of the few things Gov. Christie did that was useful was passing the Big Brother Act. They have cameras on laptops recording and filming you! They really want to have you under surveillance. Most laptops have it. Many people still don’t know about it…

Anti-Big Brother Act is Now Law in New Jersey

After students in Pennsylvania were monitored in their homes using school-issued laptops without knowledge or consent, a law was passed in New Jersey to ensure written notice of such activities is provided.

On April 15, New Jersey’s “Anti-Big Brother Act” (S-2057) was signed into law and takes effect immediately.

https://www.govtech.com/education/Anti-Big-Brother-Act-is-Now-Law-in-New-Jersey.html

patd
patd
4 years ago
Reply to  felix1999

My cameras are always disconnected or covered with tape…sometimes both. The issue is the FCC controls the airwaves and just like states that claim that I can’t detect their radar, but the FCC says I can but I can’t interfere with it. If the morons want to track where my phone is they can…I’m not committing any crimes or doing anything illegal.

Dirt Doctor
Dirt Doctor
4 years ago
Reply to  felix1999

Simply COVER those computer cameras up with tape or ? – I use Kapersky Internet Security – & have many alerts that someone is trying & activating my web-cam. Not sure what the sticky side of tape looks like – but I’m sure it satisfies their demonic minds!

movingwaters
movingwaters
4 years ago
Reply to  Dirt Doctor

I use a small piece of black electrical tape on all of my devices with cameras except the rear camera of my phone.

Leonard Payne
Leonard Payne
3 years ago
Reply to  Dirt Doctor

Thank God for band-aid.

Leonard Payne
Leonard Payne
3 years ago
Reply to  felix1999

Oh, it’s law???

So is the Second Amendment …. the most highly INFRINGED of all law…. even though it is The Highest Law in the Republic.

movingwaters
movingwaters
4 years ago
Reply to  patd

I bet they are either that accurate with location data, or will be very soon. Other countries are talking about having constant access to location data of all people all of the time through their mobile phones. At some point tracking your location will be done through a chip in your body. That chip can also be inserted during the process of a forced vaccine. Welcome to the Mark of the Beast. That time is at hand.

Leonard Payne
Leonard Payne
3 years ago
Reply to  patd

You are a fool if you believe that.

If GPS is accurate enough to do land surveys at 15mph on a quad-runner, you can be sure it is more than accurate enough at a walking pace.

patd
patd
3 years ago
Reply to  Leonard Payne

Maybe you are the fool! All 4 of my vehicles NAV are off by over 15-20 feet and barely lucky to be right on. And our phones don’t have our positioning on unless we check the weather. And maybe you should look up what GPS uses in a NAV unit and what positioning is used in your phone? Phones are land based, which require a tower to pick up your position and NAV are satellite based and use many to acquire the positioning. But there I go throwing real facts into the situation again. Always funny when someone calls you a fool and have no idea what they are talking about!

Frank
Frank
3 years ago
Reply to  felix1999

Sounds a lot like 1984

Leonard Payne
Leonard Payne
3 years ago
Reply to  felix1999

I told every one I spoke to, long, long, ago, that this was the first step in Martial Law.

nag2
nag2
3 years ago
Reply to  felix1999

Back to our conversation the other day, this article says that social distancing means they are tracking if folks are staying at home or not if I’ve read this correctly. Not whether they stay 6 ft apart or not.

felix1999
felix1999
4 years ago

WOW! Suddenly state borders make sense to liberals and reinforce the importance of borders for other states. Also notice “sanctuary states” and “sanctuary cities” are the ones begging for the most help from the federal government that you will be paying for in taxes.

Some states are requiring 14 day quarantine from others states before entering their state. If you are going to do this why not just mouth swab them to see if they have it? Results are fairly quick.

RI has 38 new cases of COVID-19;
National Guard to go door-to-door looking for NY travelers


Additionally, the second-term DEM Governor Raimondo doubled down on her order yesterday to trace all New York travelers coming into the state by land and air, announcing the R.I. National Guard will be going door-to-door in seaside communities looking for New Yorkers, collecting their personal information and ordering them to quarantine.

https://www.wpri.com/health/coronavirus/march-27-ri-coronavirus-update/

(What happened to the Fourth Amendment? No TRUMP is not asking for this… Understand, inside EVERY liberal is a little intolerant totalitarian .)

Other states are requiring a 14 day quarantine if you come from highly infected states such as NY or NJ. They are also requiring paperwork to enter another state. I am becoming increasingly uncomfortable with this…. How far can this go? These appear to be freedom power grabs with the excuse of a “crisis”. Is it temporary or permanent? OTOH DEMS and RINOS still want wide open borders for mass immigration where no paperwork is needed in exchange for cheap labor and votes.

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Dirt Doctor
Dirt Doctor
4 years ago
Reply to  felix1999

Way too simple for Simpleton Luciferian twunts!

James Jones
James Jones
4 years ago
Reply to  felix1999

Just watched a Ted Anderson/Bill Gates interview. Gates talks about the potential later on of ‘papers’ identifying vaccinated or recovered/immune populace, being needed before an individual could travel even within the state. The unspoken implication is of course that anyone who does not get vaccinated will be grounded. “And now we will march”.
That little slimeball is connected to 2020ID and another research organization that is focused on miniature chip implantation through vaccines, you know, all in the name of public safety (that according to him needs a serious reduction of numbers).

James Randolph
James Randolph
4 years ago

When the phony companies just handed over phone records to SCHIFF during the impeachment …
Time to get a burner phone or app for some privacy …

https://hushed.com/use-cases/burner-phones

Dirt Doctor
Dirt Doctor
4 years ago
Reply to  James Randolph

NO! Time to get yourself an AR15 & a 1911! Do It!

Dirt Doctor
Dirt Doctor
4 years ago
Reply to  James Randolph

No! – it’s time to rid society of those DemonicRats & their Bolshevik agenda! .308 pills do an awesome job – when well placed!

stephen5970
stephen5970
4 years ago

During WWII there were mandated nightly blackouts, curfews, and other general protection orders. Breaking these laws was considered serious, even though North America was unlikely to be bombed. In Great Britain and Europe (on either side of the conflict) it was beyond serious to leave lights on and the curtains open at night for fear of bombers using it to confirm a target. Civil liberties were not the consideration when your choice was death from above.

Fighting this virus is a war. Sometimes you have to give something up for a while for the greater good, meaning protecting yourself and others from possible death.

That said, checking up on you via your cell phone is a bit too much, and I would say that is crossing a line that shouldn’t be crossed.

We are staying in. Going out means N95 mask and examination gloves, alcohol wipes, hand sanitizers, and staying away from people. It could be worse: we could be in China.

I wish this was over and things can be back to normal, whatever that is.

MuhamMUDTheFakeProphet
MuhamMUDTheFakeProphet
4 years ago
Reply to  stephen5970

N. America was never bombed, the closest was a Japanese submarine attempting to shell oil fields in Long Beach and maybe some of the Aleutian islands “invaded” by JP to the great consternation of the primary residents of such islands: seals.

Rusty
Rusty
4 years ago

The Japanese actually planned to send balloons with incendiary devices over the NW to create the obvious chaos. Muslims have advocated for similar and that is why the fires in Australia were so suspicious.

Laddyboy
Laddyboy
4 years ago
Reply to  Rusty

@R; The “Fire bombing” by Japan was not only planned, but was actually carried out. One family was harmed in one instance.
Yes, the muslem controllers have issued orders for its CULTIC members to start fires. These muslem IDIOT jihadists have set fires in America. Some were actually CAUGHT in the act. The NAZIFIED “msm” does not inform Americans of these small town FACTS. The ‘msm’ does not want to interfere with the COMMUNISTIC “new world order’s” agenda.
You might want to look up the “Georgia Monument / Georgia Stones”. It is carved into GRANITE what the “nwo” intentions are.

MuhamMUDTheFakeProphet
MuhamMUDTheFakeProphet
3 years ago
Reply to  Laddyboy

That project failed to cause the large scale forest fires planned for. What would’ve been more interesting is the Japanese live experimentation on Chinese civilians to develop a means of delivering fleas infected w/bubonic plague.

Drew the Infidel
Drew the Infidel
4 years ago

During WWII the Imperial Japanese high command toyed with the idea of an amphibious invasion of the US West Coast. Their Admiral Yamamoto warned them away from that course of action, saying, “There will be a gun behind every blade of grass.”

There is your example of “a well-regulated militia”, per the Second Amendment.

MuhamMUDTheFakeProphet
MuhamMUDTheFakeProphet
3 years ago

Throughout the course of WW2 the majority of the Japanese army was mired in China. Invading the US would’ve required them to abandon their efforts to control China and even then, their tanks were so pi$$-poor they made the M4 Sherman look like a German King Tiger tank by comparison.

MAS
MAS
4 years ago

The only semblance of privacy remaining is in blending into the crowd, like a single starling in that huge swarm. Even then if someone really wants to track you there’s nothing you can do…

Philip
Philip
4 years ago

They weren’t prior to this. They are now. After this is over, they’ll probably just stop, right? Yeah, unless they really need to again. We should totally trust our omnipotent overseers. They love us. They protect us. They are our friends.

Dirt Doctor
Dirt Doctor
4 years ago
Reply to  Philip

You are WRONG! Echelon has been for years! Go give a big TY to rapist / criminal Billy bob Clintoon!

Jamfer Jones
Jamfer Jones
4 years ago

Nothing new. I’m stunned that somebody thought they didn’t track your phone.

Dirt Doctor
Dirt Doctor
4 years ago

Echelon has been doing this for years! – started back in Clintoon’s reign of chaos!

Dirt Doctor
Dirt Doctor
4 years ago

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Dirt Doctor
Dirt Doctor
4 years ago
Reply to  Dirt Doctor

Phuck all you Lieberal, useless eaters – you are the target!

Frank
Frank
3 years ago
Reply to  Dirt Doctor

There are no bullets in that gun! Get a better image!

MuhamMUDTheFakeProphet
MuhamMUDTheFakeProphet
3 years ago
Reply to  Frank

Would you want someone aiming a loaded handgun at you? Presumably right in your face?

Frank
Frank
3 years ago

There are a lot of dead individuals for pointing a unloaded or miss-fired arm, just saying.

Drew the Infidel
Drew the Infidel
4 years ago

I honestly feel sorry for the poor government minion tasked with tracking my dull and uninspiring movements.

OK, just to be helpful, I’ll be going to the firing range this morning.

The Second Amendment protects all the others.

LeslieFish
LeslieFish
4 years ago

“Safeguards”, nothing: whatever a govt. can do, it eventually *will* do. We need a technological fix for this, some way to block anybody from following our phones around, which common citizens can use. It’s the ability, not the law, that will keep us free.

Bill Pertwee
Bill Pertwee
4 years ago

All far too late – millions will die …

What a moron …

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/mar/28/trump-coronavirus-politics-us-health-disaster

durabo
durabo
3 years ago

George Orwell and Aldous Huxley were CENTURIES ahead of their time.

Frank
Frank
3 years ago

This is all written in UN Agenda 21, full control of all movements

Leonard Payne
Leonard Payne
3 years ago

” The data—which is stripped of identifying information like the name of a phone’s owner— ”

” “In the light of the emerging disaster, it may be appropriate to make
use of aggregate analytics based on consumer data in some cases, even
if data is being gathered secretly or illegally by companies,” said Mr.
Christl. “As true anonymization of location data is nearly impossible,
strong legal safeguards are mandatory.” The safeguards should limit how
the data can be used and ensure it isn’t used later for other purposes,
he said.
Privacy advocates are concerned that even anonymized data could be
used in combination with other publicly accessible information to
identify and track individuals. ”

TRUST US .. WE’RE FROM THE GOVERNMENT AND WE’RE HERE TO PROTECT YOU.
(Even if we have to kill you to make sure you’re safe)

Dave Glynn
Dave Glynn
3 years ago

The establishment are now putting to use unprecedented powers that we have never seen before on our “civilised” shores and the question is will these new powers be put back in the “Pandora’s“ box when this crisis has past and gone???

John Acord
John Acord
3 years ago

If you want phone privacy you have to obtain and use a burner phone and pay for it with bitcoin or better yet monero.

Mark
Mark
3 years ago

One more reason to leave them at home when you go out.

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