A hundreds-of-billions $ industry including the largest tech giants has been lying to the public and to people for years by claiming that all the personal data harvested from smartphones, apps and other devices would be 'anonymous'. It's not and never was:
vice.com/en/article/epn…
vice.com/en/article/epn…
So-called 'advertising IDs' are linked to specific smartphones or other devices, and thus have always been 'pseudonymous' personal identifiers.
As @josephfcox's article shows there are companies who openly sell the corresponding names, postal addresses, phone numbers, and more.
As @josephfcox's article shows there are companies who openly sell the corresponding names, postal addresses, phone numbers, and more.
But even if there is no name, advertising IDs are not 'anonymous'.
In most cases, it doesn't matter if data is tied to a name or not. With pseudonymous IDs, companies can perfectly track, follow and act on individuals over time, across the digital world.
crackedlabs.org/en/corporate-s…
In most cases, it doesn't matter if data is tied to a name or not. With pseudonymous IDs, companies can perfectly track, follow and act on individuals over time, across the digital world.
crackedlabs.org/en/corporate-s…
The one and only villain who is primarily responsible that thousands of data companies across the planet have been able to harvest personal information from smartphones for many years at scale is: Google.
G introduced the Android Advertising ID and has sole control over its use.
G introduced the Android Advertising ID and has sole control over its use.
Apple did/had so as well for iOS devices, but has now at least introduced some serious restrictions on its use (even though still not enough).
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