TRACKING – If you have a smartphone, look at this and gimme some info?
ATT Skeksi
VERIZON AND ATT ARE TRACKING SOME PHONES by inserting a piece of code into EVERY web request your phone makes. And the places you GO can track it, TOO.
(CLICK ON THE LINKS, THEY’RE REALLY INFORMATIVE!)
First, a terminology correction….this thing isn’t an “advertising header” (ATT), it’s a “Unique Identifier Header” (Verizon), in the sense that it’s tracking everything you do on the web, and providing that info to ANYONE able to capture the header (everyone), and allowing those sites to gather that data in one place and get a VERY clear view of you and what you do with your phone on the web.
After reading a great article about this that really kinda shocked me, I went to this site to see if I was one of the Lucky People That Get that Crappy ID TAG.
(Quick plug for an app that I use to aggregate news stories I’m interested in called “Zite“, this thing is the bomb for finding news I care about and I recommend it highly, tho it appears to cause SOME memory leaks on my phone according to an Apple Genius who plugged some little doo-dad into my phone at the store that told him all kinda cool stuff about my phone, and presumably me, since he didn’t want me to look over his shoulder and would NOT send me the report about MY phone, which I found really interesting, but that’s a whole other deal.)
I am being tracked, shocker.
However……
When I sent that link around to a bunch of people, I got back word that some of them were NOT being tracked –
what he said
THAT got me wondering why.
Why NOT track some people and track others?
Hmmm….well, one thing might be our political views and how vociferous about them we are. I’m extremely motivated and aggressive about my political views (drrrr), the other fellow not so much….so would that play into it?
And honestly, I don’t know. But one could easily imagine that in this time of technology and NSA spying and corporate governmental takeover and erosion of free speech via erasing of privacy, that such a thing would be a trivial decision to make by those whose interests lie NOT with the public interest, but with their very very extremely rich overlords, in order to find yet one more way to track/commodify/ensnare/intimidate/control/restrain us/me/you/everyone/anyone.
One thing I know, this is NOT OK with me, and I want it to stop ASAP. So I’m gonna get in touch with ATT and let them know I’ll be moving to another provider if that thing isn’t turned off and I mean NOW.
I’ll let you know how that goes….
(Another BTW, just TRY reaching out to ATT if you’re on their GoPhone plan, and not a month to month contract plan. You’ll immediately understand that they REALLY don’t like you not allowing them to rape you for every nickel and dime they can, if you DON’T know what I mean, click that link to find out how hard you’re getting screwed, it’s a doozy that most people still don’t seem to know. Here’s another.)
So I think it’s going to be very tough to even get someone on the phone about this issue, much more so to get it changed.
Another related note….ATT wants you to think that this thing is about identifying and quantifying you and your preferences for their advertisers, (which, if truly their ONLY motivation, is still WAY NOT OK with me. I’m not the least bit interested in subsidizing them making money off of me by PAYING to be followed around everywhere I go just so someone can SELL me shit I don’t want/need!! Are you fucking kidding me?!?!)
“Take advertising, for example. The whole basis of that industry is to mislead and manipulate, to create desire where none existed before. The concept of a rational consumer may have made sense a hundred years ago, but it was posited before the advent of two essential advertising tools — mass media communications and public relations psychology.”
My last point being, if they plan on using my habits/needs/wants/interests/friends/family/sexual stuff/etc etc, then they can PAY ME FOR THAT, and TELL ME THEY’RE DOING IT!! Maybe we’ll make a deal, much like Google does; you give me a free phone that you can make money off of me with by selling my very specific info, or YOU DON’T SELL OR TRACK ANYTHING ABOUT ME, and I’ll pay for the phone.
THAT seems fair, and would allow everyone their own choice in the matter.
But I digress, usually, and often…
Something else to mention here, and that is that ATT is ALLOWING you to “opt-out” of this tracking.
Well…….kinda…
As you can see, that’s a complete farce.
But this another kind of tracking, that’s what I’m talking about.
ATT has something they call ATT AdWorks Relevant Advertising, which is what they say this bit they stick into your http requests is for, and you can *allegedly* opt out of that, so let’s look at that…
ATT’s NON OptOut
As you see, it appears that this is a way to OptOut of their tracking you on sites….BUT…bullet points #2 and #3 make it clear that’s not the case, and that it will NOT get rid of the code they insert into your http requests, #2 because all it’s saying is that you’ll still be getting ads from them, they just won’t be designed to fit you based on the profile they will develop of you, (and NOT delete, I’d bet a finger on it), and #3 because they’re making it clear that whatever deal you make with ATT will NOT be honored by anyone else, so the implication is that the info will still be there in the header, and that the info will still be gathered by others, and further that ATT might not be using THEIR profile to send you tailored ads, but I’ll bet they’ll happily use OTHER company’s profile of you….to send you tailored ads….
ATT NON Opt Out
Net effect, you still get tracked all over Kingdom Come by everyone, but you feel like you aren’t being tracked because you “opted out”.
Nice.
And yes, a lot of people are that stupid or busy that they won’t pay attention.
So, you’re likely being tracked, in new ways that you haven’t been told about and likely wouldn’t allow if you were, and you can’t do a thing about it, unless you do.
Go to this site and find out if you have the tracker, then please let me know if you do or don’t will you? I have a feeling there’s more to this bit of code than just advertising, whatcha think?
UPDATE 5:15 pm 10/29 – It appears that opting out has worked for me at least, there is now nothing in my UID field at the testing site. YIPPEE!!
The Enforcement “Class” rise up….?
Reposted from my buddy Dillon O’Brian, with whom these conversations have been going on for about 30 years….we diverge these days in some of our thinking, but it’s still an interesting topic.
Enforcment Class Rise up?
It’s my view that this will never happen, as I think that the men and women that go into these areas of work are in modern times attracted by a different motivation than is commonly thought. It’s my view that they are now joining these institutions BECAUSE of the thuggery, the criminality, the abuse of power, the right to wear a weapon, the power of the institution to validate their criminality and natural violence , and as a way to continue their schoolyard bully pattern into adulthood, but with much more lethal and permanent effects.
If you want to have the Police show up where there’s some kind of trouble, say “gun”, they’ll be there in seconds, because they want to shoot someone, want to be that cowboy swagger that only comes from getting to kill someone and call them the bad guy.
Yes, of course there’s REAL bad guys, and of course there are people in these institutions with honorable motives, of course it’s likely that they are even the norm, but there’s one thing that’s has always been true and will likely continue to be, and that is when one of their own commits one of these incredible acts the others will close ranks around them and protect them, and by doing so, they tacitly validate and support those that do these things, even if they themselves never do or would. This is at best guilt by association, and in my mind they become accessories to the criminality by allowing it without repercussions.
If someone breaks the law, they are a criminal, and should be dealt with as such, regardless if they are an Enforcement Class member or not, in fact, MORE so if they are. To NOT punish and invalidate these actions is to become little more than any common street gang, and to ignore that fact is to put ourselves in constant danger from these institutions.
Of course there are exceptions to this, the most obvious one being a Whistleblower like Snowden, whose acts are only illegal really because of laws put in place as deterrents to the act of whistleblowing itself, and not because what they are doing is a threat to the country, it’s only a threat to criminals changing the laws to support their actions. (Lacking a better document, we should ALWAYS be referring to not only the LETTER of the Constitution, but also the SPIRIT of it, which often times can be gleaned by the writings of the people involved in it’s creation, where they tend to be very specific about what their intents and fears were.) (And yes I understand that the document has as one of it’s primary functions codification of the power and rights of the rich landed class, but as I said, it’s the best map we have right now, and DOES contain a lot of good structure.)
So although I think it’s a nice thought that the insiders will “revolt” against the actions of their fellows, I see it as extremely unlikely. Change in these institutions rarely comes from the inside, it’s always pressure from the outside, and that’s going to be a long time coming with the control sector in full command these days.
Obama – some more business as usual..gross.
Obama is a corporate guy.
Period.
In these videos the assertion is that Obama is keeping Bush’s policies in regards to secrecy and executive power intact, simply to appease the U.S. intelligence community and keep them on his side, (?!?!? – What other side would they be on?), but I personally feel he doesn’t want to open the can of worms that Olbermann talks about at the start of the fist vid, which is to NOT discuss any arrangements that the U.S. government and a private company may have had in matters of National Security.
Then he goes on to actually EXPAND the Executive powers Bush claimed, on TOP of what Bush’s people did! And Obama’s background is in CONSTITUTIONAL LAW!!
It’s insane.
I would argue that not being open about this MASSIVELY illegal snooping on the American Public is WAYYYYY more threatening to our National Security than any disclosure would be, especially when you consider that very likely the most damaging thing likely to come up with the release of this info would be the amount of lying and the level of illegality that the government and ATT actually participated in.
Of course there could also be effects in other relationships that the government may have that would be exposed or jeopardized, Blackwater certainly comes to mind as one that might be interesting to get some hindsight into, and that’s something I’m SURE they don’t want to get into….the examination of private contractor’s roles in taking actions the government can’t or doesn’t want to do.
I STILL think that Obama is a HUGE positive change overall, but this thing is one of the worst areas of Bush’s reign, and further coverups and continuance of these policies has got to be stopped. The wound must be uncovered, cleaned, disinfected, and the offending parties held up to the light, not only to show that we as a country will NOT stand for such behavior under any circumstances, but also that the rule of law DOES apply to everyone, all the time. Otherwise laws are only for some people, some of the time, and that’s not the kind of system I want to live under…you?
Remember, you can support him and many or most of his policies, and STILL push back against this stuff, and you really HAVE to. He has taken Bush’s worst transgressions to a new level, it cannot be allowed.
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Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
9-11, NSA knew? Nova Feb 3 PBS
You’ve always known this…..
Read the sidebar on the YouTube listing for links to transcripts from the show, pretty serious things were and are going on in our government, stuff that you’ve always known under your skin, but now they’re flat out telling you it’s happening…..Fall of the Empire coming up…..