Nobody needs to follow you to know where you went this week.The phone in your pocket can already keep a record of your movements.
And parts of that information can end up in the hands of other companies.Your pharmacy.Your cardiologist.
The church you attend on Sunday morning.The support group you'd rather nobody knew about.
None of it necessarily comes from hacking.It can come from ordinary apps you installed yourself and the permissions you gave them.
Here's how your movements can get out, who buys location data and the settings that can limit how much gets shared.Join us for a free CyberGuy LIVE class.Kurt "CyberGuy" Knutsson shares practical ways to stay safer, smarter and more confident with technology.Explore classes on stopping spam, phone security, financial protection and using AI to get better healthcare.
Each class is free, easy to follow and comes with a free printable checklist.See the classes and register at CyberGuyLive.comWHAT YOUR INTERNET PROVIDER, WEBSITES AND ADVERTISERS SEEA smartphone can share location and other device data that may reveal sensitive details about where you go.(Tero Vesalainen/Getty Images)Smartphones can use advertising identifiers that help advertisers and developers measure ads and activity.
On Apple devices, the system advertising identifier is known as the IDFA.Android devices can use Google's advertising ID.Advertising identifiers can help connect activity across apps when apps and advertising systems are permitted to use them.
Combined with location data and other signals, those identifiers can help companies build a much more detailed trail of where a device has been.And a trail stops being anonymous fast.A device that sleeps at your address every night and turns up at a dialysis center every Tuesday and Thursday isn't much of a mystery to anyone who can connect those locations with other identifying information.An app asks for your location.
Often for a fair reason, like providing a local forecast or showing the...