CDC Tracked Millions of Phones to See If Americans Followed COVID Lockdown Orders

[TheProle]

Source: Vice

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 documents also show that although the CDC used COVID-19 as a reason to buy access to the data more quickly, it intended to use it for more general CDC purposes.

Location data is information on a device’s location sourced from the phone, which can then show where a person lives, works, and where they went. 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, the company the CDC paid $420,000 for access to one year of data to, includes Peter Thiel and the former head of Saudi intelligence among its investors. Google banned the company from the Play Store in June.

Read more: https://www.vice.com/en/article/m7vymn/cdc-tracked-phones-location-data-curfews

[hueymahl]

1. Feels a little creepy to have the CDC do that

Or any government agency for that matter, but it is publicly available information available from a private vendor.

We need better privacy laws.

[NullTuples]

32. Roe v Wade was based on the assumption of a pregnant person's right to privacy

[hueymahl]

33. You are stating facts

True facts. But they have nothing to do with this post. Why?

[NullTuples]

36. Our highest court has thrown out the most basic right to privacy, bodily autonomy

Why would they care about the CDC, cell companies and data that can be triangulated to specific individuals?

[hueymahl]

42. They court wouldn't care about this privacy issue

I would advocate for a privacy law. Not trying to compare the two.

[NullTuples]

45. I don't disagree with you.

[durablend]

2. That should help rebuild trust for the agency!

[groundloop]

6. Yeah, that was kind of a questionable thing to do.

I can certainly see why the CDC would want to know to what extent Americans were following social distancing guidelines, but this sure throws a bad light on the agency.

In my most humble opinion they have made quite a few PR missteps recently. I somewhat wonder if CDC Director Welensky is in over her head.

[OneCrazyDiamond]

3. Oh Nooo!

The CDC trying to track the pandemic using tools available.

If this was the Slob Father I would be more concerned, but President Biden has governed from a place of caring, not hate.

[oldsoftie]

4. Doesnt matter how "good" it seems, the CDC has no right to track me or you.

Not without permission. I don't care who the President is. THATS what has gotten us into the crap we're in; the other side thinking anything goes as long as THEIR guy ends up on top.
NO

[asiliveandbreathe]

7. Seriously..you buyin' into this shit??? If I can't feel it, I can't smell it, I can't see it,

I can't touch it..what has gotten us into this shit, is buyin' into the propaganda..

[sarisataka]

13. I am willing to bet you gave them permission

When you purchased your cell phone did you read all of the terms, conditions, privacy notices and "how we may use data we collect"?

Such things are often spread across multiple documents that you may only have been given links to read on your own. Simply opening the packaging is considered acceptance of all of their terms, unless you complete all of the opt-out forms, found on links within the other links or on the company's website- somewhere.

I am amused by people who turn down auto insurance discounts because they don't want a company to track them. However they are willingly carrying the greatest tracker ever invented and pay for the privilege to do so.

[oldsoftie]

15. The government is supposed to follow a different set of rules. Like censorship.

DU can stop you from speaking on their site but the government is not supposed to. Apple can follow me but the govt isn't supposed to

[sarisataka]

16. The government cannot use it

To track you specifically (witout a warrant) but if the phone company sells the location information to a third party who then sells a portion to the government at that point it is data.

Should there be more restrictions? Sure, it should really be an opt-in system but there is more profit in relying on consumer apathy.

[pnwmom]

18. All kinds of places track your phones if you don't fix your settings. The CDC has the same

right as anyone else.

Fix your settings.

[hueymahl]

34. Eh, no settings will protect that kind of tracking

They are probably using cell tower data, which should NOT be publicly available, but is. We need laws to restrict use of that data.

[NH Ethylene]

30. You're absolutely right!

Big Brother activities are not okay no matter who the president is. Whatever we let happen under an administration that we like is also giving free rein to one that we don't like in the future.

[oldsoftie]

31. Exactly. But apparently a lot of folks here think its normal.

I don't. And no, the govt doesnt have the same "rights" as we do

[asiliveandbreathe]

8. Here, here..loud and proud..++++++10000

[TheProle]

9. I don't know that it's wise

to tie one's principles to a 4 or 8 year rotation of politicians.

[OneCrazyDiamond]

20. The CDC bought the information from Private companies. n/t

[TheProle]

22. I understand that

You are the one who suggested it was a-okay since Biden and not Trump is in the White House.

[OneCrazyDiamond]

24. Kinda.

I said it was A-O-K because:

The CDC trying to track the pandemic using tools available.

Then followed up with where I personally would be more concerned. Everyone should be concerned about him though.

[TheProle]

25. You're right that everything is worse with Trump involved

Thanks for the clarification.

[asiliveandbreathe]

5. More BS..there.. I am pissed..like everyone else here, well, almost everyone..

I am so sick of the propaganda..yep..propaganda BS...Russia..are you listening..hack article..of course..

GOTV..we deserve who we vote for...GOTV...

[CountAllVotes]

10. Particularly the Navajo Nation!

!!!!!

[IronLionZion]

11. Qonspiracy nuts need to take a sledgehammer to their phones

[TheProle]

12. And maybe women seeking healthcare?

Should they also "take a sledgehammer to their phones"?

https://www.democraticunderground.com/10142911412

[IronLionZion]

14. If they overturn Roe v Wade

then they might want to avoid being tracked through their phones when they go to underground clinics

[HighFired49]

17. and take a bus,

have a friend drive you, etc., but don't take your own car. Don't use Uber or any other individual driving service, because they can all be tracked, also. We now live in the United States of Surveillance.

[IronLionZion]

21. Many of the Jan 6 terrorists were caught through their phones

Even for other crimes. They caught some stupid kids spray painting swastikas on their own school through their phones connecting to the wifi network and pinging nearby cell towers at night.

[TheProle]

26. Shooting everyone in a given city in the back of the neck

would invariably reduce the number of criminals in that city.

Ends don't necessarily justify any means.

[pnwmom]

19. Everyone should fix their settings. n/t

[hamsterjill]

23. Okay, I didn't get much sleep last night and I must be dense today.

I don’t see anything in this article that specifically gives the dates the tracking was done. They have very carefully couched it as “the documents were signed in April, 2021”, but that doesn’t absolutely mean that is when the tracking started.

Can smarter minds than me find the dates within the article when the tracking was actually done? Was it Biden or was it Trump?

[wishstar]

27. My reading indicates CDC began data contract in March 2020 and renewed in March 2021

Article says CDC issued a report in 2020 based on data they had reviewed. The company they were using had Peter Thiel and head of Saudi intelligence as 2 of their investors. Article indicates data was provided at no cost for one year beginning March 2020 until contract ran out a year later in March 31 2021 at which point CDC purchased new contract for $420,000.

[hamsterjill]

28. Thank you.

So Trump tossing money to his Saudi friends. Probably Jared’s idea.

[stopdiggin]

41. the post plainly states that the contract

was cost free until well into the Biden administration.

[twodogsbarking]

29. Big Brother but with the twist that people pay to be watched.

[brooklynite]

35. A friend of mine moved to Korea in the early days of COVID...

They put an app on his phone when he was in isolation. If the phone indicated that he left the isolation hotel, the authorities would be notified. If the phone indicated that he didn't move, the authorities would be notified and assume he had left the phone behind.

[Martin68]

37. Look. If the CDC used the data to track movement, compliance, and establish trends rather than

prosecute individuals, it is entirely within the best interests of the public health and no danger to individuals. We had (have?) a public health emergency and extreme measures are called for in light of conservative pushback against any measures to reduce the spread of a dangerous contagion.

[stopdiggin]

40. And I really can't even label this 'extreme measures'

This is simply just data crunching - and for purposes much more beneficial and altruistic than the vast majority of the same.

[Igel]

38. Short-term memories. This shouldn't be a surprise.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2020/03/25/coronavirus-social-distancing-smartphone-data/5078106002/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34026940/

https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2020/04/23/cellphone-data-social-distancing-coronavirus

It's not CDC, but I'm not sure why the CDC's use of public data is any worse than a foreign organization's or a domestic research group's.

It's not like the research stopped in summer 2020, either.

Do I like that such data are so easily available? No. But if it's "out there" then it's out there for anybody to use, whether we trust them or not.

[stopdiggin]

39. seems pretty plain that a lot of posts here really don't understand

either what was being done here - or the reason and intent behind it. This was not an NSA operation, or really anything approaching that.

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 ..

[marie999]

43. Does the CDC have the names of individuals, or their cell phone numbers?

[Sgent]

44. Neither

its aggregate data using pseudoanonymous identifiers.

They are probably using it to see which lockdown items actually worked.