Your phone company is selling this data. Your tax dollars are then used to spy on you. But let's place the blame with the enablers. If the data wasn't being sold, ICE couldn't buy it with your money.
Privacy is a myth in the United States.
this post was submitted on 08 Jan 2026
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yeah, you have to analog.
There's plenty of blame to go around on this, no need to only go after one party in the whole chain that allows this to occur.
Privacy is a myth everywhere that you use social media, cellular connected GPS trackers (aka phones), drive around with unique number plates while OCR capable video cameras take continuous records of which plates passed by them and when. Yes, it's bad in the US. Is it better anywhere else?
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FYI, the most relevant information to avoiding your phone showing up in ICE's rented databases is how they are getting the location data:
The material does not say how Penlink obtains the smartphone location data in the first place. But surveillance companies and data brokers broadly gather it in two different ways. The first is from small bundles of code included in ordinary apps called software development kits, or SDKs. SDK owners then pay the app developers, who might make things like weather or prayer apps, for their users’ location data. The second is through real-time bidding, or RTB. This is where companies in the online advertising industry place near instantaneous bids to get their advert in front of a certain demographic. A side effect is that companies can obtain data about peoples’ individual devices, including their GPS coordinates. Spy firms have sourced this sort of RTB information from hugely popular smartphone apps.
This includes a link to a prior 404 story that may have a list of apps, but it's paywalled and none of the archive sites seem to have it indexed: https://www.404media.co/candy-crush-tinder-myfitnesspal-see-the-thousands-of-apps-hijacked-to-spy-on-your-location/
This is the link to the full list provided in that article but it may also be paywalled by 404 Media which I am a subscriber to. It's also got more than ~~1K~~ 10K entries on it.
A lot of these seem to be mobile games, fitness apps, photo editing apps, and prayer apps though.
Do you think a Linux phone would have the same weaknesses?
I'm sure that app developers who want to sell user data because it is big business will find a way to do so, yes.
Phones for the vast majority of people are a black box. Most of the users have no idea how their apps work or what data is going where and they don't know how to check. People who work in cyber security, or the tech field (engineers, coders, developers etc) who's jobs revolve around this type of thing know how to check and generally take steps to avoid apps and services that siphon up this kind of user data.
I know little to nothing about the Linux phone. I haven't tried it. I haven't delved into what it can do and why it's "not ready for prime time".
So all I can do is extrapolate from what we already know which is, these apps request permissions that a lot of people give them without thinking about it. People do this on windows and Mac too. Humans and their lack of understanding/preference for convenience are the main problem. That and there's no regulations that hold these app devs accountable.
These apps aren't breaking the TOS of the Apps stores they're on.
My hope is that a lot of the Linux phone apps will be FOSS. That way the code can be independently audited. That would be better than the alternative.
My SMS app was on it. Which makes me sad because Textra was dope, I've moved to qksms.
Thank you, that's exactly what I was looking for. More than *10K entries, by the look of it...
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Do not take your phone to protests/rallies/organized events. Do not turn it off and take it with you thinking it's okay, they will know when and where you turned it off. Jury is still out if modern phones truly turn off as well. Use a regular camera for taking pictures, take lots of them, get faces, IDs, anything if you can of ICE. Let them start the violence first.
also, tape recorders. And if you travel out of the country... buy a burner flip phone to use.
Pardon the pedanticness: Phones do NOT completely power down. The jury is out on if they are still traceable in "standby"/psuedo-powered off mode. The generally accepted advice is to treat them like they are still tracable.
If "Find my phone" still works when it's turned off, then yes, phones are definitely traceable when powered down.
For iPhones, Find My only works powered off by Bluetooth connections to other devices. Unless someone is scanning and tracking Bluetooth radios, they can’t track you.
The vulnerability in the article is about apps that send location data back to a third party who makes it available to law enforcement.
Mainly, this is a problem for people who give any random app access to location data.
Wasn't sure if they were or not, why I mentioned the jury was out on it. Regardless, leave your phone at home.
One of the best things about phones with batteries you can replace. You can take them out of the phone as well.
Yep, I miss removable batteries. Not just for the ability to replace the batteries (e.g. due to degradation) but also to be able to completely remove power from the device.
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The people should start buying this data to identify ICE personnel involved in incidents. It's not like you need to be law enforcement to get access to this. You just need money.
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I thought this was going to say they were deploying Stingrays in neighborhoods. Pretty sure this is worse, because at least a Stingray requires something be physically present. Fuck all of this.
Yeah, same. I setup an Orbic with RayHunter exactly for this reason. I took that with me when I've gone by protests just to see if there's one present. Then, if in the clear, shut down my personal devices and attended. I'm paranoid like that I guess...
Setup Meshtastic nodes too.
Having the ability to communicate without using cellular infrastructure is incredibly useful, especially during natural disasters (which ICE certainly qualifies).
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"This is wrong" — Lucius Fox, The Dark Knight
Prescient, and also an example of copaganda/how corporate media conditions the public to accept this shit because the "good guy" is the one using it.
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It wasn't that long ago we had phones that couldn't leave the house. This choice does still exist for us.
Does it? It was possible a while ago, but in the last years, we saw train tickets going to apps. There is no ticket machine at my local stop. There are areas where you can only park your car with an app. I need 2FA to get into my accounts. Restaurants have QR code menus. So going to protests or just living your life without a phone is getting harder
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The choice does exist, but it gets harder and harder to go without a phone
Many jobs expect us to be available at all hours. Younger generations cannot navigate without maps. Phones are also the primary way we record/observe ICE. They're also our calendar/organizer, notebook, and many other things
Sure, we can have an independent GPS, camera, calendar, and notepad, but the barrier keeps getting higher
We need to develop counter measures, and long-term pass strong laws banning this level of government surveillance
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In July 2023, PenLink merged with Israeli surveillance contractor Cobwebs Technologies
Tangles is a web platform, originally developed and sold by Israeli firm Cobwebs Technologies, that scrapes data from the open web, deep web, and dark web, as well as allowing for the tracking of mobile devices within a user-designated area, in a process known as "geofencing," through an optional add-on feature called WebLoc.
Cobwebs and how the spying is going global.
People get offended whenever I've said that even random app developers are part of the problem. They can't or won't see that what we have arrived at is a Kafkesque world. It has been death by millions of papercuts. The collective rush to make an "app for everything" was in net effect building a global surveillance dragnet. It was inevitable the aggregate of data would turned into an authoritarian system of oppression.
All you wanted to do was make a 99 cents a sale for your basic phone app. You blindly stuffed it with copy-paste analytics APIs that voraciously collect data from users without transparency at all. You insisted that these random data brokers are 100% super honest. Just trust them, bro. You ridiculed anyone of trying to warn people how reckless this is. Good job, guys.
Everyone should be using an ad blocker for this reason exactly.
Ads are often the culprit of data for the location data brokers. Fuck the ads.
Important to note that it isnt just ads. Any app on your phone with location permission can share it, including some OEM aps qnd bloatware depending on the phone.
If you dont want to be seen, dont take your phone. About the only reasonable way to be sure your data isnt being collected is to not create the data in the first place.
Stay safe out there.
I disable location services, I dont have sim on my phone all the time, I only put the sim on the phone when I expect a traditional(insecure and shit) call or SMS (which I only ever get whe verifying phone number), my phone is always in airplane mode
If you are not specifically targeted d/t your status... start first with phone free Fridays. You will feel at first some discomfort... but after that initial feeling... you will start to feel free. Make sure your family has your work number. Turn off the phone on the weekend and put it in something like a lead lined or metal mesh sack... what they used to call a Faraday Cage/Bag.
Per EFF: US a surveillance regime as much as North Korea, China and Russia.
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Turning off our phones isn't the answer, prohibiting this invasive and predatory practice is the solution. They couldn't follow you around town and all the way home, and take note of your address without getting flagged for stalking, or at least a restraining order.
They shouldn't be able to stalk you electronically, any more than they can do it on person.
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Laughs in root level location spoofing module
How does anything in your phone "spoof" triangulation by cell towers? Just tell them "This phone's not actually connected to you"?
That's not what they're using. Apps that sell location data is the source.
Oh, and I have a removable battery for avoiding triangulation if need be.
You can also get a faraday bag.
or airplane mode without a sim chip
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