Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Where America Didn’t Stay Home Even as the Virus Spread

Tracking us like a collared elk. Well not me, no iphone. Welcome to the brave new world.

Interesting that it’s people in the west; where necessary travel is highest on average in miles, were those who slowed fastest.

It’d be interesting to see this data overlaid on a map showing the party with whom the Governor is affiliated.

Seems travel was less affected in areas that were also less affected.

I know some of those counties in the west people have to go 2 miles to get to pavement, much less a store.

Shhhhh you’re not supposed to say that!

Looks like a lot of the darker areas in the west are energy/mining areas that are essential, so work is still happening.

You couldn't give me an iphone.

Noticed that the NYT big city reporters don't know the geography of SC (flyover country). They keep citing Spartanburg County sources - presumably because Greenville County ranked #1 in travel distances - about lack of stay-at-home orders.

I suspect they did their usual thorough research and once they found GSP (in trusted source Wikipedia or Google?) assumed that must mean that Spartanburg is in Greenville County.

There’s some value in the data - despite the massive violation of 4th Amendment rights this tracking reflects - though the conclusions are open to question and subject to the NTY ‘s and its minions’ biased political proclivities.

How much can we trust them and their conclusions after that?

the late start in the south is understandable. so few large cities I doubt most of those counties have triple digit documented cases, or even > 30

There are no rights being violated.

In telecom, there is a concept of PII (Personally Identifiable Information). There are SIGNIFICANT fines and penalties for tying any specific customer data to their location, unless they have specifically opted in (family trackers, "find my iPhone", and other location-tracking applications like that). One example is 911. When you dial 911, you immediately waive your PII protections, which makes sense because your PII data is being delivered to the Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP).

The threat of violating PII regulations is so real, that telecoms spend significant effort to train employees on how NOT to violate that privacy.

So, location data is generally decoupled from the individual user, and aggregated. Depending on the company and use, that is usually in the fine print (that none of us read, but we all sign off on), or, is simply just legal. That aggregated data is then sold for use in retail... Traffic engineering.... City planning.... and a whole host of other useful services.

There are ways to reduce your visibility on the network. Turn all location services off. Turn off Wi-Fi. Remove various cookies and other tracking apps.

Just overlay that map, with the actual infected, of the virus.

It looks like the proper take-away is "travel more, get sick less".

Meaningless without population densities. Walking 100 ft in some places will generate more social contact than going 100 miles in others.

We did good till the college kids came home from school.

Meh, I leave the cell on the counter when I go out the door. Screw with the man every chance you get.

We have a “wandering” Tom cat....now he’s being tracked at night! Not really, but I’m certain would raise eyebrows at the NSA! memtb

Excellent post.

Thank you for being here.

You’re missing the point. It is irrelevant that the data is being aggregated and depersonalized, when reported. The problem is that the individual data is being gathered at all. The individual whose data is being collected is totally dependent on the telecom companies’ decisions on how they might us it and share with government agencies for purposes other than intended.

Despite the legal restrictions you cite we know that has already occurred. BTW, the validity of agreeing to sign away your individual constitutional rights as a condition of service is debatable

“Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.” I agree with Ben Franklin. You may not, at the peril of losing our rights as citizens.