Coronavirus - Part Two.

[RollingJ]

14 minutes ago, butlers said:

They don't need a vaccine passport ,what with the nano microchips being injected...

All that free wifi in town obviously had a prior dark intent

🤣😂🤣 Sometimes, I wish we could 'grow' the emojis.

[altus]

16 minutes ago, butlers said:

All that free wifi in town obviously had a prior dark intent

You mean an additional dark intent from the one to track people as they move around the city centre?

[RollingJ]

4 minutes ago, altus said:

You mean an additional dark intent from the one to track people as they move around the city centre?

Where did that idea come from?

[Guest sibon]

8 minutes ago, altus said:

You mean an additional dark intent from the one to track people as they move around the city centre?

I went into town today. Ended up magnetic. 
 

It’s not funny, I’m stuck to the bus and I can’t get off.

[altus]

8 minutes ago, RollingJ said:

Where did that idea come from?

How do you think the free Wi-Fi is paid for? The company running it track people who use it as they move around the city centre recording how long they spend where. Knowing someone who visited your store also went into other stores is commercially useful information for a store. Shopping malls do the same thing, except it's easier for them because they are spread over a smaller area. Stores also use phone technology to track people as they move around within the store, this is just a wider scale version of that.

 

 Search for "shopping wi-fi phone user tracking" if you want to frighten yourself.

[RollingJ]

6 minutes ago, altus said:

How do you think the free Wi-Fi is paid for? The company running it track people who use it as they move around the city centre recording how long they spend where. Knowing someone who visited your store also went into other stores is commercially useful information for a store. Shopping malls do the same thing, except it's easier for them because they are spread over a smaller area. Stores also use phone technology to track people as they move around within the store, this is just a wider scale version of that.

 

 Search for "shopping wi-fi phone user tracking" if you want to frighten yourself.

You are not telling me anything I don't already know - possibly less - but I don't see a problem with it myself. Admittedly, I only visit shops in town (or anywhere else, for that matter) if I need to, and if I was that paranoid I could turn the phone, and/or tablet off, but tbh it's more faff than it's worth.

 

I've read some of those stories - and laughed.

[altus]

13 minutes ago, RollingJ said:

You are not telling me anything I don't already know - possibly less - but I don't see a problem with it myself. Admittedly, I only visit shops in town (or anywhere else, for that matter) if I need to, and if I was that paranoid I could turn the phone, and/or tablet off, but tbh it's more faff than it's worth.

 

I've read some of those stories - and laughed.

If you knew where the idea came from then why did you ask?

 

I have no problem with people knowingly agreeing to being tracked in exchange for free Wi-Fi. It should be an opt in thing though - no tracking unless people have signed into the system.

[RollingJ]

41 minutes ago, altus said:

If you knew where the idea came from then why did you ask?

 

I have no problem with people knowingly agreeing to being tracked in exchange for free Wi-Fi. It should be an opt in thing though - no tracking unless people have signed into the system.

I don't quite understand your first point - just didn't/still don't understand your 'dark intent' comment.

 

How the hell do you 'opt-in' to free Wi-Fi - other than using it, of course? As I said, unless you totally disable your phone/tablet, it is transmitting location data anyway.

[altus]

1 minute ago, RollingJ said:

I don't quite understand your first point - just didn't/still don't understand your 'dark intent' comment.

The 'dark intent' is tracking people without their consent.

Quote

How the hell do you 'opt-in' to free Wi-Fi - other than using it, of course?

Have some sort of consent system, with some form of persistent method of recording that consent if need be. Just don't track people unless you've made it explicit that is what you'll be doing and got their informed consent to do so.

Quote

As I said, unless you totally disable your phone/tablet, it is transmitting location data anyway.

It's not about whether it's technically possible, it's about whether companies should be allowed to do it and what restrictions should be placed on placed on them if they do. It's technically possible to have a stranger follow someone around town noting down everywhere they go, would people be happy about that?

[RollingJ]

2 minutes ago, altus said:

The 'dark intent' is tracking people without their consent.

Have some sort of consent system, with some form of persistent method of recording that consent if need be. Just don't track people unless you've made it explicit that is what you'll be doing and got their informed consent to do so.

It's not about whether it's technically possible, it's about whether companies should be allowed to do it and what restrictions should be placed on placed on them if they do. It's technically possible to have a stranger follow someone around town noting down everywhere they go, would people be happy about that?

I'm fairly technically up on this - been using computers before the interweb was around, and have spent a while on application development/commissioning, but I suspect you would find your idea - laudable as it may be - is somewhat unworkable. To be honest, it sounds like paranoia to me - is you own home system so locked down you can't be tracked if you trawl the web, and do you notice any strange 'behaviour'

 

My home network is reasonably secure, and although I have ad-blocking controls in place, so rarely see them anyway, I am unaware of anything 'following me'.