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Ad Networks Using Inaudible Sound To Link Phones, Tablets and Other Devices (arstechnica.com)
ourlovecanlastforeve writes with a link to Ars Technica's report of a new way for ads to narrow in on their target: high-pitched sounds that can make ad tracking cross devices and contexts. From the article: The ultrasonic pitches are embedded into TV commercials or are played when a user encounters an ad displayed in a computer browser. While the sound can't be heard by the human ear, nearby tablets and smartphones can detect it. When they do, browser cookies can now pair a single user to multiple devices and keep track of what TV commercials the person sees, how long the person watches the ads, and whether the person acts on the ads by doing a Web search or buying a product.
IANAL, but I was wondering if this would be illegal under wire-tapping laws. A quick glance over the code (18 - US 2511) actually specified "oral" not "audio" communication. Would this then be exempt?
I suppose any app that takes advantage of this would have a disclosure about the recording buried deep in its legalese.
Sounds like it might be time for an Ultrasonic Jammer in my house. They have them to supposedly keep pests away. I'm sure it would blanket the area and disrupt any ultrasonic tracking. Hopefully they won't bother the family pets too much. http://amzn.to/20SJgu6
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They're half right.
*Adblock* is evil ("acceptable" ads, the sale of Adblock, etc).
I've uninstalled it from any/all browsers for the whole family, and replaced that with uBlock (and uMatrix / Ghostery / Privacy Badger)
the question is why does a phone intended for *human* consumption even allow frequencies beyond human hearing?
People in cars cause accidents....accidents in cars cause people
Google do this all the time. EVERY EFFING TIME you install an application from non google-play source, it asks whether you'd like google to scan your applications for potential threats. there's no "Decline forever" option. google treat themselves differently.
i gave up on gapps (apps for google services). i run cyanogenmod without gapps with f-droid and amazon as my two package sources. if i need something from play store, i download it manually using RACCOON and install the apk. i use caldav-sync and carddav-sync to sync with google contacts and calendars.
It is a radical improvement to my life. No google tracking, longer battery life, fast bootup, longer battery life, phone uses less memory and i have a longer battery life.
there's no "Decline forever" option.
Yes there is. It is called death and is a part of nature.
Well people --- you're just in a pickle because you've let 'em abandon THE SWITCH. How was grandpa sure he could get some shut-eye without the vacuum cleaner going round in circles? How'd we know that when we flicked on that AM radio, the batteries in it would be just as good as we left it? When we put down the phone how'd we know the gub'mint wasn't listening? We had honest to God switches, little bits of metal with springs that snapped 'em so far apart those electrons would just stay put.
Now all you have are little copper titty-buttons on the sides of things, and you've got chipsets to manage the buttons, see? And everything is really connected all the time to these chips, and it's all programmable. It's all flashable. It's all exploitable. There was a time when people liked switches on things because they liked control. You could actually beat your competition if your thing had more switches than your competition's thing, even if some of them were silly. But something changed, and now consumer focus groups and product design engineers try to eliminate as many controls as they can. When we started seeing switches disappear from things we thought engineers were stupid. Turns out engineers were doing it because they thought people were stupid.
If you think you have a Power button that's an actual Power button --- well you don't really. There's probably a timer in there somewhere I could exploit to tell your thing to turn on again. And why would I bother? I could just take control of your thing and make it sing and beep like it's shutting off and once you see that dark screen you'd be none the wiser.
Sometimes I used to send a WAKE-on-LAN packet to my buddy's computer the moment he sat down at his desk in the morning, just as he was reaching for the power button. He'd hear the computer beep and withdraw his finger, puzzled. Took him a while to figure out what was happening.
We now worship the Golden Calf of the Software Sandbox... and we expect our devices to be on their Super Duper Boy Scout Best Behavior. Hope that works out for everyone, but I don't want to hear any whining when shit happens. Google offering a 'Decline Forever' button,
Shoo Google, don't bother me,
Shoo Yahoo, don't bother me,
Shoo Amazon, don't bother me,
Nothin' ever turns off
and I ain't gonna pay
gimmie everything for free.
I'm going to thwack off the MONSTER FRANKENSTEIN KNIFE SWITCH that I have all my modern tech wired to, and get some serious shut-eye.
NO CARRIER
<blink>down the rabbit hole</blink>