Twelve Million Americans Were Tracked through their phones

Today Times Opinion published the first story in one nation, Tracked: An investigation into the smartphone. The series is a part of the Privacy Project. The Privacy Project obtained 50 Billion location pings from phones from 12 million Americans across several Cities. The Data was provided to times by people who wish to remain anonymous because they were not permitted to share it and could face severe penalties in doing so. In the 12 months of poring the location data, they had to speak to people they were able to identify and report on the industry, It has become clear that many Americans are brainwashed into surveilling themselves. 10 years ago, Apple unveiled its App store. Since then Americans have downloaded hundreds of billion of apps. In return companies ask the people who were downloading their product for personal information, including location tracking and advertise it. In perspective Americans would be outraged if the government required that every person must carry a tracking device that broadcast their location dozens of times each day. However Americans have with every terms of service agreement they click “agree” on, consented to just carry a system run by private companies. Millions of Americans, Including many children, are now carrying spies in their pocket. In the recent months they have spoken to people about the data, The reaction was surprised as it blended with a mix of emotions like outrage and apathy. As Privacy Project began to wrap up their Investigation, It is still shocking how the world has changed. The location tracking Industry did not really exist until the end of the 2000s. Powerful location-based apps became ubiquitous in the blink of an eye. As the 2019 ends, technology continues to evolve and new ways of information gathering will be exploited. Once your location is shared with companies, there's no way to delete that information or get it back. Your best course of action is to avoid sharing your location