Though we all know but it is on hackers news now..

https://thehackernews.com/2018/08/...

Speaks for itself

How did people think Traffic got its data?

@bkwilliams magic

No it does not. It tracks my phone's location. Fortunately that is still a big difference

And this is the reason why I block the living fuck out of that mass surveillance machine.

@bkwilliams from Waze actually. I mean that's what they state, but pretty sure that's correct.

@dontbeevil username checks out

GDPR to the rescue!

I hope...

@bittersweet Yeah.

Except no.

@filthyranter As an individual you have legal grounds to sure... As long as you're willing to sacrifice a decade of your life and drain all your savings into a lawyer's bank account.

@bkwilliams the problem is not the fact that they gather it per se - you can do that fair and square from people who are actively using Maps for navigation at any moment, and from those who haven't opted out of the setting.

The *real* problem is that the setting that you actually have to disable in order to stop them from gathering this data is a seemingly unrelated one, and the other setting that explicitly says "do not record my gps position" is not the one in charge of this behaviour.

Basically, the settings are deliberately misleading. Not that it's unexpected from Google, but it's another nail in the coffin that they're building for themselves. All this fuckery they're trying to get away with adds up, and will (hopefully) bite them in the ass one day.

I don't care, it gives me a water tight alibi if I every need it

Google "tracks" you so it can give you recommendations, directions, show you your location history, and things like that. It's not spying on you. You're not special. You're probably pretty boring.

You can literally turn location services off in Android or better yet rip the fucking GPS module out of your phone if you're that paranoid. Therapy might be better for you though.

@codechimp Google "targeted individuals" and then you will see just how paranoid people can get.

"Like it or not" - you can turn it off in settings.

@codechimp Why would therapy be better for the ranter? I find this very worrying.

Also the fact that Google is integrated within worlds biggest mass surveillance engine/network makes me worry even more about this.

@sSam Google has been caught collecting that data anyways without consent for half a year. They said it was a bug and apologized and what was it.

@linuxxx so is the Linux kernel.

@codechimp Alright, any links to evidence supporting the alleged fact that the Linux kernel is integrated within an NSA powered mass surveillance network?

@linuxxx https://itsfoss.com/nsas-encryption...

@codechimp Not exactly the same as PRISM, which is what Linuxxx is talking about.

Please don't drag me into this though lol. I just wanted to point that out

@codechimp Just because Speck is in the Linux kernel, doesn't mean NSA has any power over your system.

People criticize the IoT encryption algorithm for being light weight, so light that it's unacceptably weak.

There have been no successful attacks against the full-round variant, but it's suspected that it will be broken in the future.

But it being in the kernel is only a problem when you, or software you have installed, decides to start using it to encrypt your filesystem.

It's a bit like the NSA calling at your door, giving you a piece of cardboard, and telling you you should try it as a door. By itself the cardboard is harmless, unless you actually start using it as a door.

The problem was that Google considered using Speck for device encryption on low-end android devices. They have since abandoned support for it, in favor of the much stronger HPolyC/ChaCha.

With that development, there are many who think Speck/Simon will soon disappear again from the kernel as well.

@codechimp just like mentioned to you before there's a difference between "your system uses NSA stuff" and "your system has the ability to use NSA stuff"

@linuxxx do you have some links about it? Just would like my own read of the situation.

@codechimp That's having nsa code, not being integrated within a global mass surveillance/spy engine.

@SUsan links about what? 😅