You already know, not only are we being tracked by private companies which sell our data to the highest bidder (often the government), via Dangerous Wearable Smart Devices. President Trump has made a deal to make an AI to track everyone now too. There’s always been a database on the human population in this country, but if you were careful, you could mitigate some of the tracking.
Dangerous Wearable Smart Devices
We can mitigate some tracking from these Dangerous Wearable Smart Devices, by turning off our phones or using Airplane Mode, staying away from public places, staying away from cameras whenever possible. That is actually getting harder to do. Everyone seems to be sharing images and videos of everything. They then upload it to the cloud.
I can guarantee you that the US Government — specifically the NSA has access to all of that data. They can then go through the EXIF data on pictures and videos to find routes that a suspect goes, and who they meet with. Personally, I use an app on my phone to remove this EXIF data (via Image Toolkit — it may not be on the Google Play Store, I use open-source software, for apps when possible).
DNA
We have already seen through the Senate hearings that 23 & me, is selling your DNA. Even if you delete your account, they don’t delete your data. I knew it was a bad idea when it started. My mom was desperate to find her lost children before she met my father (it worked). I personally, avoided tracking my family tree. After all, prior to GUI cell phones, a cousin of mine did our family tree. There’s nothing else I could have learned other than our ancient ancestry…
Also, I knew eventually our DNA would be shared. And share they did. They shared it with law enforcement. Even as I learned this, I stayed away from any DNA tests and genome matching. Why? In case a family member needed protection. After all, blood is thicker than water and the government has no right to my DNA unless I choose to give them an unlimited license.
Tracking you via Devices and Apps
Let’s talk about the other ways that the government or companies can track you. They can use electronic devices called “wearables”. These might be watches, music players, earphones, or any other device that connects to your phone. If I am connected to my phone with my Bluetooth earphones, that means I am close to my phone. If you find my phone, then if I am hiding, you can probably track me via my Bluetooth connection. When I am wearing a watch or fitness device, you can track my heartbeats, and use the data from my phone to see if I am running, walking, or stationary.
With wearables, you can tell how long I am stationary, and if I exercise regularly. It’s possible to know how I sleep. Do I sleep with regular time, do I get 6 hours sleep, 4 hours sleep, is it broken up, or I sleep too much (indicator of depression). A solid 8 hours (as adults, we need 6 hours, but as children, we require 8) is also an indicator depending on your age. When my sleep is broken into many short naps, then this can be an indicator that something is wrong with me, or my home life is causing issues.
Determining our Addictions
When you drink alcohol (beer/wine) to sleep, you often wake up in 4 hours to go pee. If you do this regularly, they will know you drink alcohol, even if you claim not to drink. Alternatively, it could mean you have diabetes. Your body will try to flush itself clean with water, and will shunt sugar into your urea (the part of your pee, that isn’t water) to get rid of it. Then you will instantly get thirsty again.
You might not even know you are diabetic, or pre-diabetic. If I am drinking, they can measure the amount of time I spend at a bar. My watch might even tell them how many times I lifted my arm, to drink at said bar or to eat at a restaurant. Your wearables will know, which means the government and your health insurance will.
Medical Devices
Maybe I don’t exercise enough, my blood sugar levels stayed higher than they were supposed to, or my sleep patterns are not for a 9 to 5 worker. Perhaps my favorite restaurant uses primarily rapeseed (AKA Canola) oil to cook with (it’s cheap, but marketed as canola: which people confuse with corn). Whatever the case may be, this all brings us back to what wearables can do. This all comes into play to be denied health coverage for any number of reasons. It is a lot more profitable, if they only provide healthcare to people in great shape.
Phones can track who I am meeting with, for how long, what we discuss, and if I am intimate with anyone other than my spouse. After all, these things know my voice and can discern and isolate it to tell what I am saying. AI is amazing at this. Take the newly released song by the Beatles, Now and Then. They used AI to isolate John Lennon’s voice from a song he sang while playing the piano. It was nearly garbage when it was first heard, there was no way to get his voice off the track until AI came on scene.
Homegrown Terrorism
Now, imagine being able to tell if I met up with someone whom the gov decides is a home-grown terrorist. If I meet this person or a group of people, the FBI could use this data to build a profile on me. This data could be used to build a case against me, prior to an event of some sort in which a foreign dignitary is coming to town. It could be completely innocent, and a simple mistake.
These wearables are getting more and more advanced, to the point where they are all now classified as Dangerous Wearable Smart Devices. At one point, I had a Chinese brand smartwatch which was darned accurate in checking my blood pressure. I have a blood pressure monitor as part of my med kit at home, so was able to compare. They weren’t an exact match, but they were close enough to gauge the accuracy over time. I would not be surprised to find out in a few years they can get more and more biometric data on us.
Measuring our Gait — or how we walk
Even our gait (how we walk) should be able to be measured soon. How? By tracking our movement of the watch, in comparison to the position of our phones. They are going to be some very Dangerous Wearable Smart Devices. It’s not available now as far as I know, but it will be. This is true: You can identify someone by their gait. It is used in surveillance to track people, even if they change clothes. How someone walks is a very easy way to tell different data on them.
AI
But now, Palantir is building a database and an AI to manage it. USA law-abiding citizens should be ok. But since they will be able to collate all the data, to find and target “terrorist cells” or Persons of Interest. We will not know if it suddenly finds home-grown terrorists or just someone who writes articles against the vast control that the government and Dangerous Wearable Smart Devices now hold.
What we can do:
- Secure Your Browsing.
- Install SpyBot Anti-Beacon on your computer, and turn on recommended settings.
- Force stop apps that are on your phone and not being used.
- Uninstall apps or remove permissions for apps which ask for too much information (more than is needed to run the app, like location or health access for a writing tool).
- Stop using Bluetooth devices, but more specifically watches, rings, and fitness trackers.
- Consider buying a basic phone without Android or iPhone software.
- Learn to change up your gait — especially if you think someone is tracking you.
There are probably more ways than I am thinking of to track you via smart devices, but those 7 suggestions will definitely help you to stop a large measure of tracking.
Dangerous Wearable Smart Devices Conclusion
You’ve now learned why Dangerous Wearable Smart Devices are bad for individuals, but let me also mention — they can be good, too (in rare occasions). They can establish an alibi if something happens which you told the police wasn’t you. It’s not all bad, but to avoid issues in the first place, stop wearing these Dangerous Wearable Smart Devices, and start turning off your phone more.
