Cell phone privacy settings to restrict apps' tracking

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afadeev

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PSA for those who care - iOS 14.5 lets you stop iPhone apps from tracking you, or your kids.
I've just gone through and updated all of my kids devices (including school-issued iPads), and figured some of you might want to do the same.

Here's how to set up the new feature:
https://www.cnet.com/how-to/ios-14-...king-you-heres-how-to-set-up-the-new-feature/
Alternatively, this is the level of information granularity that FB is casually aggregating:
dims

https://www.engadget.com/signal-facebook-targeted-ad-data-100549693.html
... including school apps surreptitiously collecting and selling the data to a variety of third parties :
https://gizmodo.com/60-of-school-apps-are-sharing-your-kids-data-with-thir-1846819024
 
yeah, not too thrilled at how the internet & 'online' has morphed into "big brother" but mainly for marketing..

It's amazing: all the crap they gather about you (as you show) and they still shove ads for totally irrelevant stuff at me / in my feeds.. "Targeted ads" my a$$!!

And the adage of "surveys show that most users will accept up to 80% of their view screen to be used by 3rd party ads".. Look at how many ads are littering pages & such. don't even bother with a lot of these anymore..
 
We have no idea what goes from our devices to "teh interwebz". I do my best to limit it, but there are only so many hours in a day. Those EULA's and privacy notices could have me signing over my home and family and selling my third generation into perpetual bondage and I wouldn't have a clue. Something needs to be done, but what? And, of course, the selling of all this information is what keeps the costs so low...
 
We have no idea what goes from our devices to "teh interwebz". I do my best to limit it, but there are only so many hours in a day. Those EULA's and privacy notices could have me signing over my home and family and selling my third generation into perpetual bondage and I wouldn't have a clue. Something needs to be done, but what? And, of course, the selling of all this information is what keeps the costs so low...

Nice to be a commodity, like wheat, pork bellies, or petroleum.

I have little confidence the right to own our "profile" will be allowed to be possessed by the individual.
 
And the adage of "surveys show that most users will accept up to 80% of their view screen to be used by 3rd party ads"..

Ready Player One (movie, haven't read the book) had a great take on this set in the game's VR user interface terms.

During a board meeting: "We estimate we can sell up to 80%! of an individual's visual field before inducing seizures"
 
Ready Player One (movie, haven't read the book) had a great take on this set in the game's VR user interface terms.

During a board meeting: "We estimate we can sell up to 80%! of an individual's visual field before inducing seizures"
exactly!! (And do read the book, muuuch better!!)
 
yeah, not too thrilled at how the internet & 'online' has morphed into "big brother" but mainly for marketing..

It's amazing: all the crap they gather about you (as you show) and they still shove ads for totally irrelevant stuff at me / in my feeds.. "Targeted ads" my a$$!!

And the adage of "surveys show that most users will accept up to 80% of their view screen to be used by 3rd party ads".. Look at how many ads are littering pages & such. don't even bother with a lot of these anymore..
I seems America's path from 2021's Marketing to 1984's MiniTrue is getting shorter and shorter, thanks to the tech oligarchs. The Chinese Communist Party looks like it's already arrived there.

Good skies,

GlueckAuf
 
I conveniently got burned a few times with my phone.

I'm Canadian, and I fly in the US. SO, I enter the US for a day. As soon as I enter, I get a "click here to..." to use my Canadian provided phone in the US..

I then noticed an extra $7 charge on my phone bill, once a month, on the day I would fly. And this despite not touching my phone while in the US..

After a few calls to my phone provider [Bell], I got to the jist of the extra charge: they charge me $7 to "enter" the US, and since I didn't turn off my phone, or put it into 'Airplane mode' I get charged regardless.. (as soon as my phone sees a US tower, it's linked to the US system, and is charged regardless..) I thought that pretty low... But we are talking about a cell phone provider..

So, a bit of yelling at the service rep, that their 'notice' is a little misleading: "$7 to use your phone in the states." Not "$7 when you enter, regardless if you actually use it or not (if it is call ready, you will be charged)"

So now, every time I wait at the border to cross, I put my phone into airplane mode.. (WIFI still works, so I can do my Eggfinder stuff!!)

The one thing I really wanted to see in the new Free Trade deal: "Borderless cell phone service"..

I can call my sister in Vancouver (the other side of the continent) free of charge, but I get billed for driving south for an hour..
 
The one thing I really wanted to see in the new Free Trade deal: "Borderless cell phone service"..
Sadly that problem comes from Ottawa.

The Canadian government is often a little too comfortable with the big Canadian businesses, and puts up barriers to entry that are supposedly to protect Canadian companies. In reality, they just protect the big Canadian companies from small Canadian companies.

Now all the big guys (Bell, Air Canada, etc.) know they have a captive market and no competition, and all kinds of stuff ends up costing 30% more than down south, even before taxes.
 
Sadly that problem comes from Ottawa.

The Canadian government is often a little too comfortable with the big Canadian businesses, and puts up barriers to entry that are supposedly to protect Canadian companies. In reality, they just protect the big Canadian companies from small Canadian companies.

Now all the big guys (Bell, Air Canada, etc.) know they have a captive market and no competition, and all kinds of stuff ends up costing 30% more than down south, even before taxes.

yeah, I'm a little disappointed in Trud'Oh.. I had high hopes for him.. but he ain't his dad!
 
'm Canadian, and I fly in the US. SO, I enter the US for a day. [...] I then noticed an extra $7 charge on my phone bill, once a month, on the day I would fly. And this despite not touching my phone while in the US..
After a few calls to my phone provider [Bell], I got to the jist of the extra charge: they charge me $7 to "enter" the US, [...]
The one thing I really wanted to see in the new Free Trade deal: "Borderless cell phone service"..

That's 100% [Bell] screwing you over. Nothing more, nothing less.
Absolutely nothing forces Bell (or Telus, or Rogers, or SaskTel) to charge any fixed or variable roaming fees. All carriers around the world have roaming agreements with each other that specify bilateral data/voice/sms roaming rates, usually at ~10% of the retail charges.
For example, the US has 70+ wireless carriers (mostly people think of just 3, but there are many more), but none of the majors charge any roaming rates when their customers stumble into an area served by the others. They just net it out, knowing that on average, it will be a wash.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_wireless_communications_service_providers
Many US service plans treat Canada as another US territory, and don't charge roaming.
Others throttle data rates while roaming, to contain the costs. A few pre-paid plans don't allow roaming at all, under any circumstances, but those are in the minority.

Generally speaking, Canada is the only place in the world with monthly cell phone service charges higher than the US!
That was going to change a few years ago, when US carriers were sniffing around to acquire Canadian providers. But your government had quickly passed a law barring foreign ownership of Canadian carriers, and the service charges promptly increased.

Sadly that problem comes from Ottawa. The Canadian government is often a little too comfortable with the big Canadian businesses, and puts up barriers to entry that are supposedly to protect Canadian companies. In reality, they just protect the big Canadian companies from small Canadian companies.

Indeed.
Perfect example of protectionism in action!

Guess who pays the price for this policy?
:facepalm:

a
 
Indeed.
Perfect example of protectionism in action!

Guess who pays the price for this policy?
:facepalm:
The idiots who keep voting for it.

The big incumbent companies keep justifying blaming their inflated prices by saying it Canada is expensive because of the social services, the government justifies funneling contracts to the incumbents by saying it protects the Canadian economy, and the Canadian citizen ends up deceived, underpaid, and overcharged.

And that's how you end up with a country with the natural resources of Saudi Arabia, the human capital of Switzerland, and the per capita income, purchasing power adjusted, of Alabama.

As new generations of Canadians grow up with Amazon and compare the prices south of the border, hopefully they'll stop putting up with it.
 
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