Image: Nevit Dilmen, Creative Commons
It seems that the NSA, the feds and law enforcement aren’t the only ones monitoring cell phone data and mobile devices.
The Ad companies are in on it, too – and are now using drones to spy, err.. track, err… keep pace with consumers.
Here’s what Venture Beat is reporting about the new drone fleet operating in the L.A. area:
It was only a matter of time before drones started monitoring signals from mobile devices.
Since early February, several small drones flying around the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles have been determining mobile devices’ locations from Wi-Fi and cellular transmission signals.
They are part of an experiment by Singapore-based location marketing firm Adnear, which has offices around the world.
For now, this company (and likely other competitors) are “testing location mapping” to quantify which areas are most heavily trafficked, and thus hold the best potential for profit.
In the long term, the intent is to use this data to deliver real-time targeted ads at consumers to draw them into nearby business – perhaps ones they walk past but never shop in – or to special products and sales. It might go something like this:
“Let’s say someone is walking near a coffee shop,” Kataria said by way of example.
The coffee shop may want to offer in-app ads or discount coupons to people who often walk by but don’t enter, as well as to frequent patrons when they are elsewhere. Adnear’s client would be the coffee shop or other retailers who want to entice passersby.
The entire affair is very much like Minority Report, where personalized ads are delivered straight to the consumer with the help of all your personal data, demographic profile and shopping habits. The result is customized pitches based on your location and interests.
For some, that is progress. For most others, it’s an invasion of privacy on nightmarish levels.
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OOOPPPPSSSS
Just shot one of them UFOS down.
Just kidding.
I just wonder what some of the Eagles and Red Tail Hawks, Crows, and even the smaller birds will do to them when the fly around here. Have you ever watch the sky in the summer and see the small birds fighting with the bigger birds?
Sgt.
DALE-
I did see an owl grab up a bunny a couple days ago.
A small drone would be no match , LOL .
wOULD BE FUN TO SEE THAT!
Sarge, drones are vulnerable to ‘accidents.’
Joke for all. Red tail hawk spots a snake in tall grass in my back yard. The hawk swoops down and grabs the snake in its talons and begins climbing to the heavens. The snake unsuccessfully tries to bite the hawk and goes limp from exhaustion. Hawk then swallows the snake whole, belches once and continues to climb in altitude. The snake wakes up in the belly of the hawk and tries to escape. He finally sees an opening and realizes it is the hawks butt. The snake sticks his head outside and realizes how high in the sky he is. He then looks at the hawk and says, You wouldn’t shit me would you?
Spielberg’s “The Minority Report” was a great movie!
“Gonna send it to your smart phone”…. Good luck with that. I still use a flip phone (and don’t want it neither). My kids call it “The antique”.
Po’d Patriot –
You kidding me, a flip phone?
Ha! I still have this SAT Phone, and I still can’t get this piece of shit to work!
I’m still using two tin cans on a string, and still can’t tell what the wife is saying from the other room. Trekker Out.
Works for the Progresso Soup company. “I’m watchin’ you soup people”………..
TM, still got the Verizon G’z One. Been a bullet proof phone.
You dumbass
two tin cans and a string , doubles as an alarm system when not in use .
Every prepper needs one .
Hammer your right, it does work as an alarm system. If the house is on fire and you yell loud enough into the can for her to get out of the house, she may be able to hear you. Trekker Out.
PO’d patriot: Same with us, a pre paid flip phone, not a smart- crazy phone. Those with the crazy phones, shut them off when not using them.
Everyone needs to buy Silent Pocket to ensure you can’t be tracked by government goons and the corporatists that they work for. Make it a priority to buy this product for your phones and other wireless devices
Problem with those is they also block incoming calls, defeating the purpose of having a phone in the first place (at least for most of us). You take it out of the “silent pocket” to make a call and you’re on the communications grid again so if you don’t want to be tracked by it either don’t make or receive calls and leave it at home or just put it where you would prefer to have people think you are instead of where you are.
a sheet of heavy tin foil wrapped around the phone will do the same thing.
I prefer wearing my tin foil on my head!!!! Stops the government from knowing what I’m thinking. No thought crimes coming from my head ….. move along, nothing to see here
If you got any techicology smarts, drones are like tracers: They work both ways.
(Techinocology, is that a word? Of course it is, I just used it.)
Techinocology, thats that thing they use when they check your colon, ain’t it? Trekker Out.
Sorry but my buying habits are not that sophisticated. Don’t care much for the intrusion though. Maybe they can use this new technology to fight political corruption or welfare fraud.
I got rid of my Verizon cell phone a month ago, I’m glad I did.
Oh please, the Bulk Dry Index (BDI) is down to 80’s level. This is not going to be cost effective because the World’s consumer is tapped out. Retail is dead/dying/done. Stick a fork in it. The NOT EVEN affordable care act (Obama care) is eating up any left over crumbs the retail outlets are hoping for. Sears Kmart, Best Buy, Radio Shack, etc etc. are going going gone. Wal Mart admits their sales are slumping and if not for the EBT cards they would be closing more stores than they are. Food prices skyrocketing cant be hidden by smaller packaging with larger costs any longer. Even brain dead ghetto dwellers are catching on.
.02 –
I like the way you explain things.
No fuss, cut and dry and to the point.
All laid out like one big fk’n buffet.
.O2;
You nailed it!!! The end of this story is on the next page.
The only thing we can do now is keep prepping and praying.
I thought a year or two ago it would collapse , but for some reason it has not. The silver lining is that it has given me more time to get ready.
The black cloud is that things, when they do brake is going to be worse.
S.T.S.F.P. N.R. N.S. N.Reb
02: Sears (decades old) closed here several months ago, we have two K marts (krap marts) which I haven’t been to in years, just a giant dollar store. These stores are so 60’s and 70’s, behind the times and bad service. These ancient stores are away from other shopping in older run down areas in most cities. People want quality stuff and go more upscale and watch for the sales. There seem to be more sales/markdowns in JCP, Belk, etc in malls.
Have a good memory?
This happened to me, already.
Make a negative remark about (fill in the blank), you might get a targeted ad for a product used only by minority members. I’ll leave it to your imagination. Does the computer make associations between Democrats and black haircare products, BO care and rap? Yes it does.
You stare off, and the monitors show you ads, according to what you were looking at, and how long.
These devices make guesses, but cannot read minds, are not necessarily any more relevant than so many focus groups, who brought us so much puerile, depressing, visual diarrhea.
Don’t look for me, advertisers. I will look for you, or maybe not. Take this crap out my field of vision, now, ftlog.
Howdy guest. You’re behind on your premium payment. Don’t miss out our super duper offer for one month only. Make your payment before the end of this month and you’ll receive our super duper premium health benefit just for farting… So your only worry now is how many beans can you get down your neck! YOU FARTKNOCKER.
Every time I see a drone flying around I think “FREE SKEET SHOOTING!” That’s all they are, target practice.
Sixpack, if I see any drones out, I’ll bring out “Bertha” for a “workout”. PULL!
I’ve been playing with a toy drone for a few months now. I’ve master how to fly it. If I crash my copter into there drone …… What does that make me?
An idiot.
You don’t even know how to spell… You dumbass… Their, there, they’re… DURRR! Now which one is it? You pathetic dumbass.
Hell smartypants, it don’t make no never mind to 90% of the posters here nohow, we kain’t spell none anywho but just you watch us cipher uncle jed!
As I have said previously “Just because I’m paranoid doesn’t mean I’m not being watched/followed!!
It doesn’t matter when you turn on the computer adds come up constantly. Just because one day I looked for something. they’re always watching, listening, following. Just trying to sell something ya right!!
I spent hours googling stuff recently trying to find something. Now all I get are pop up adds for what I wanted. It’s not that I’m PO’d that I’m being watched from outside my house …… It’s having to explain why I was looking for what I was trying to find, to the Commander in Chief of the house!!!
When I was younger, getting passers by to come into a shop was done differently. The shop owner would stand outside and invite people to come in and shop. Sometimes they would put displays on the sidewalk in front of their shops. I guess the shop owners are too lazy to market their wares the old fashioned way now. Of course, there are the Chinese food restaurants pushing samples at you in mall food courts.
Everyone must send an email to their Congressman to tell them to not vote yes for the Net Neutrality Act. This isn’t about the government setting rates and regulating providers, it’s about regulating content. They want to control what we see, hear, read, and write on the internet. Note the key word – neutrality, it is to neutralize those items that government does not like. Don’t be fooled, the threat isn’t just from Democrats, but also from Republicans, both are statists. Though there is animosity between the parties there are some things that both parties together despise – it is independent minds, freedom of the press, and freedom of speech.
The internet is the only form of media not regulated. Stop talking about Baltic Dry Indexes, or what the best ammo is, write and say to them leave the internet the hell alone.
Once it is gone as we know it this site won’t exist let alone being able to post on it.
Okay. Couple thoughts. I won’t drone on about Linux again, except it is not likely to get loaded with spyware, malware, etc.
Regarding browsing on the computer and targeted ads. There are several things you can do to block this crap. I use AdBlock in Firefox, https everywhere and Ghostery. Firefox is nice because it open source, so the code can be read and searched for govt intrusions, back doors, etc.
I also suggest flashblock, so flash videos don’t automatically play and flash ads don’t automatically run. This can really be a problem at work… Better yet, disable flash altogether if you can… it is vulnerable to attack.
For your phone privacy, disable all of your location services and any apps that access the mic or camera (except the camera app itself, if you use it). I have read that agencies can turn these things on without letting you know and spy on you. I also have a signal block mylar bag. If I’m not using the phone, and don’t think I’ll need it, I turn it off and stick it in the bag. Boom, I’m now invisible to the NSA and any cell spies.
Make use of an encrypted voip app for your phone, such as voiponeclick. There is also silent circle, but that has a monthly fee.
I cannot emphasize this one enough… use a vpn on your computer and on your phone. OpenVPN takes a bit of work to learn, but it is essential. I actually pay for a service called PIA (private internet access) that encrypts all internet traffic, and alternate between locations. You can verify how it works by opening google maps when connected… it will show you the country you are connecting through, rather than the US, unless you are connecting through a US node… then it shows you the state you are connecting through.
Lastly, for serious privacy, esp if you are taking your laptop to starbucks and using their wifi, download a program called TAILS, install it on a USB stick, and boot from that stick. It will allow you to surf anonymously, and protect all that data on your hard drive from interception, because the drive will be disabled while running TAILS. It’s actually easy to set up (I was able to do it, and I can barely tie mu own shoes).
Hope this is helpful.
You can also jam the drone’s signal, although this is highly illegal and I know no one here would do this, so DON’T go to this link to see how it’s done: ht tp://www.fromthetrenchesworldreport.com/how-to-build-a-radiodrone-jammer/34089
You’re not too bright are you HT.
No… no, I’m not. Certainly not the genius you are, to be sure…
Hmmmmmmm… It’s obvious… Enough said.
Not to slight the fellow who goes by “Genius” on this site. Abswolutely had no intent of comparing you to some smartass – er, I mean smartypants – see, still not so bright…
🙂
You said it kiddo. Now jog on fella you’re becoming a real pain in the ass… as usual!
just the fact there is apic of a DJI..the cheapest user model available for this story is enough to ignore it! Fear porn!!
Come on now, why spend the money and launch drones when all they have to do is tap the lines at the towers. Geeze, sometimes I can’t believe the gullibility here.