Uncovered: The Ad Network Spying on Billions of People
Jan 30, 2024
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The podcast discusses global ad spying, the mother of all data breaches, Ring stopping data sharing with police, privacy threats of smartphone ads, the requirement of creating an account to view articles, blocking ads for privacy, various data breaches and hacking incidents, flaws in security mechanisms, the NSA buying internet data, surveillance technology in San Francisco, a ransomware attack on a water services company, and other stories.
A global ad-based spy industry utilizes Patterns to collect and analyze vast amounts of data on smartphone users, raising concerns about privacy and data security.
The 'mother of all breaches' exposed an unprecedented 26 billion records, emphasizing the urgent need for improved data security measures across platforms.
Deep dives
Global phone spy tool patterns tracks billions of user profiles
The podcast highlights the global surveillance tool called Patterns that can track the physical location, hobbies, and family members of smartphone users. By starting with ads inside ordinary apps and utilizing real-time ad bidding, Patterns can collect and analyze vast amounts of data, analyzing more than 90 terabytes of data daily and having profiles on more than 5 billion user IDs.
Massive data breach reveals 26 billion records
The podcast discusses a significant data breach known as the 'mother of all breaches' that exposed an unprecedented 26 billion records, including user data from various platforms such as LinkedIn, Twitter, and Weibo. The breach is composed of meticulously compiled and re-indexed leaks, breaches, and privately sold databases and highlights the urgent need for improved data security measures.
NSA purchases commercial metadata for cybersecurity and intelligence
The podcast reveals that the National Security Agency (NSA) purchases commercially available metadata, specifically net flow data related to domestic internet communications, to support its foreign intelligence and cybersecurity missions. While privacy concerns arise, the agency claims to take steps to minimize the collection of personal information.
Amazon's intrusive surveillance system and data monitoring practices
The podcast exposes Amazon's surveillance system used in its warehouses, which included monitoring warehouse barcode scanners and employee data. The Canal de system categorizes certain practices as overly intrusive, such as recording inactivity and implementing stone machine gun indicators. The French Canal specifically ruled that some measurements violated GDPR regulations.