According to newly revealed documents, the U.S Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) used location data from tens of millions of Americans’ phones to track compliance with lockdown and vaccination mandates.
Joseph Cox for Vice’s Motherboard:
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) bought access to location data harvested from tens of millions of phones in the United States to perform analysis of compliance with curfews, track patterns of people visiting K-12 schools, and specifically monitor the effectiveness of policy in the Navajo Nation, according to CDC documents obtained by Motherboard.
The sort of data the CDC bought was aggregated — meaning it was designed to follow trends that emerge from the movements of groups of people — but researchers have repeatedly raised concerns with how location data can be deanonymized and used to track specific people.
The documents reveal the expansive plan the CDC had last year to use location data from a highly controversial data broker [SafeGraph].
Zach Edwards, a cybersecurity researcher who closely follows the data marketplace, told Motherboard in an online chat after reviewing the documents: “The CDC seems to have purposefully created an open-ended list of use cases, which included monitoring curfews, neighbor-to-neighbor visits, visits to churches, schools and pharmacies, and also a variety of analysis with this data specifically focused on ‘violence.’”
The procurement documents say that “This is an URGENT COVID-19 PR [procurement request],” and asks for the purchase to be expedited. But some of the use cases are not explicitly linked to the COVID-19 pandemic. One reads “Research points of interest for physical activity and chronic disease prevention such as visits to parks, gyms, or weight management businesses.”
Theo Wayt for The New York Post:
The CDC specifically monitored Americans’ visits to churches and schools, as well as “detailed counts of visits to participating pharmacies for vaccine monitoring,” internal documents from the federal agency obtained by Vice show.
Data brokers like SafeGraph say that the information they sell represents the movements of groups of people rather than individual users. But critics have raised concerns about the data being less anonymous than data brokers claim.
Google banned all app developers on its app store from working with SafeGraph last year after critics raised privacy concerns.
In the internal CDC documents, the agency said it was able to glean “extremely accurate insights related to age, gender, race, citizenship status, income, and more” based on the cellphone data.
The documents also show that the CDC wants to use the data for more than monitoring coronavirus efforts… “The mobility data obtained under this contract will be available for CDC agency-wide use and will support numerous CDC priorities,” the agency wrote.
MacDailyNews Take: As we wrote as presciently as usual back on March 30, 2020, one day before “15 days to slow the spread” never ended (in some parts of the U.S. and the world):
No location data is truly anonymized. It can be cross-matched with other publicly-available data to identify and track individuals. The idea of any government using cellphone tracking to monitor its citizens’ movements, regardless of the reason, is chilling.
As we wrote on April 2, 2020, two days after “15 days to slow the spread” never ended (in some parts of the U.S. and the world):
They’ll tell you the COVID-19 tracking data is secure and protected. You know, just like Equifax did before the personal information of 140+ million people, nearly half the population of the U.S., was stolen (and has since, perplexingly, seemingly disappeared).
Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. — Benjamin Franklin
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Smart people don’t doubt MDN.
I know when my govt watches me and all citizens, it’s for our best. Besides, it makes me feel warm and loved inside. For this reason, I’m confident our new Bureau of Proper Thinking will result in safety for all.
It’s the left’s POV and policies that will make us safe…let’s just look at China for proof. Is freedom that great anyway? Go CDC, FBI, NSA, CIA, DHS!
Because, in some minds, freedom is so/too dangerous (when inhabiting a mind other than mine).
in the USA, you have one political party trying to wedge their way into the healthcare decisions that in all other civil nations are privately determined by the patient and doctor.
then they come on this tech blog and hypocritically wag their fingers at the opposing opinions because they think they know everything.
must be okay to fool around behind Melania’s back if you have enough dough to afford the procedure and the hush money.
Dementia Joe’s America.
Stolen Elections have consequences.
MDN is proven right in hindsight almost as many times as President Trump!
• Hydroxychloroquine works
• COVID came from a Chinese lab
• Obama spied on Trump’s campaign
• “Russian collusion” was a Hillary Clinton / Deep State hoax
• Hunter Biden’s laptop is real; Widespread Chinese, Russian, Ukrainian graft = compromised Biden
• Lafayette Square was not cleared for a photo op
• The “Russian bounties” story was fake
• Blue state lockdowns didn’t work
• Schools should quickly opened
• Critical Race Theory is a disaster and bad for the country
• Trump’s Southern Border security program was unprecedentedly successful
• The 2020 U.S. presidential election was rigged
FYI:
Candidates endorsed by President Trump are currently 55-0 in the 2022 midterm cycle.
See you at the midterms on November 8th for the Red Tsunami Party!
I finally understand “First Then”.
He’s a master satirist and expert in hyperbole.
I mean…no-one could actually be THAT stupid, could they?
Yup those amercians sure need tracking and monitoring. Funny when I made funny names for Apple’s home nation I was banned butt now mdn is following suit, what sheep.
Baaaaah now.
The CDC is a criminal enterprise. Fauci is guilty of genocide and should be punished to the maximum extent provided by the Nuremberg Code. Same with Frances Collins and the CEOs of Pfizer and Moderna and all of the major hospital systems like the Cleveland Clinic and the Mayo Clinic. The heads of the FBI and CIA and State Department and DOJ are also guilty of war crimes against the American people in all of this COVID lockdown tyranny. They also should be tried and punished to the end of the rope.
What can you expect, they all come from amercia, a sooper pooper nation. Don’t trust anything coming from that sh*thole of a nation that hates the world.
People who believe absurdities can commit atrocities. What of the moment your mob turns on you for defending those you love.
No doubts the LEFTs wanted to destroy the USA then turn our country into communism like China. Seriously, it’s happening right in front of our eyes. If we don’t stand up and fight back, we are done.
Lol. It’s “Reds under the bed” again