BC LOCATIONTRACKING
Saved by @m4rc0v0nh4g3n

New: we've obtained a large dataset of the precise movements of people using a Muslim prayer app. People near mosques. Source was concerned this data could be abused. Company selling this data linked to supply chain to U.S. contractor which works with ICE

 We previously reported how Muslim Pro sold data to X-Mode which sold to U.S. military contractors. Now, through a leaked dataset and independent analysis, we've found another highly popular Muslim app called Salaat First also sold granular location data https://t.co/y9iJHoDuQe
This leaked dataset of precise locations of Muslims shows not only the continued use of religious apps to harvest and sell location data without informed consent, but also just how easily this data is being traded in the location industry. https://t.co/y9iJHoDuQe
The leaked location data we got from a source isn't just for the Muslim prayer app Salaat First, but also for other apps selling data to Predicio. Because it had their advertising ID, let me filter down and follow specific Muslim app users https://t.co/y9iJHoDuQe
As for how we know the prayer app Salaat First with 10 million users was selling location data:
- leaked data of actual GPS coords included data marked as Salaat First
- my own analysis of apps that use Predicio SDK includes Salaat
- the dev confirmed it https://t.co/y9iJHoDuQe
I spoke to a Salaat First user and told them about the location data selling. Unsurprisingly, because the app is not clear about the issue, this user had no idea the app was selling their granular location data https://t.co/y9iJHoDuQe
Before receiving the leaked data, we were already making a list of apps that contained the Predicio SDK. We did this by searching them for the string sdk[.]predic[.]io, and then verifying one by one. This helped confirm leaked data https://t.co/y9iJHolTYG
Another app included in both the leaked location data and our own analysis of apps is Weawow, a weather app. App was selling some location data to Predicio (this was off by default, however) https://t.co/y9iJHoDuQe
Through the app analysis and by finding some (now deleted) documentation online, Predicio's SDK is called Telescope. The doc claimed it could also harvest hashed emails. https://t.co/y9iJHoDuQe
After Motherboard and NRK reported how app data gets sent to ICE contractor Venntel, and Motherboard reported how X-Mode sells Muslim location data to military, Predicio added this to their website. Failed to say they were collecting info from a Muslim app https://t.co/y9iJHoDuQe
Council on American-Islamic Relations said "In light of these latest revelations, the owners of all major Muslim applications should thoroughly investigate how their companies handle user data" https://t.co/y9iJHoDuQe
Activist group Foxglove, which previously threatened legal action against prayer app Muslim Pro, says that companies who do this could end up facing a lawsuit https://t.co/y9iJHoDuQe
Google said apps selling personal/sensitive data (including location data) is against Google's terms. That's quite big—Google confirming publicly that a lot of these location data companies shouldn't be on the Play Store at all. But they haven't enforced https://t.co/y9iJHoDuQe
Multiple app devs wouldn't tell us how much Predicio paid them for users' location data. But regardless, we've confirmed Predicio pays the devs for the data. That is against Google's policies. If Google does enforce, it could remove all Predicio apps, like it did with X-Mode
And with that in mind, Senator Wyden says Apple and Google need to take action on the location data industry as a whole, not bit by bit https://t.co/y9iJHoDuQe

You May Also Like

Kieran Snyder
Kieran Snyder
@KieranSnyder
1 There's a chasm between an NLP technology that works well in the research lab and something that works for applications that real people use. This was eye-opening when I started my career, and every time I talk to an NLP engineer at @textio, it continues to strike me even now.

2 Research conditions are theoretical and/or idealized. A huge problem for so-called NLP or AI startups with highly credentialed academic founders is that they bring limited knowledge of what it takes to build real products outside the lab.

3 A product is ultimately a thing that people pay for - not just cool technology or user experience. But I’m not even talking about knowledge gaps in go-to-market work. I'm talking purely technical gaps: how you go from science project to performant + delightful user experience.

4 Most commoditized NLP packages solve well-understood problems in standard ways that sacrifice either precision or performance. In a research lab, this is not usually a hard trade-off; in general, no one is using what you make, so performance is less important than precision.

5 In software, when you’re making something for real people to use, these tradeoffs are a big deal. Especially if you’re asking those people to pay for what you’ve made (can’t get away from that pesky GTM thinking). They expect quality, which includes precision AND performance.
MACHINE LEARNING
Guillaume Chaslot
Guillaume Chaslot
@gchaslot
The YouTube algorithm that I helped build in 2011 still recommends the flat earth theory by the *hundreds of millions*. This investigation by @RawStory shows some of the real-life consequences of this badly designed AI.


This spring at SxSW, @SusanWojcicki promised "Wikipedia snippets" on debated videos. But they didn't put them on flat earth videos, and instead @YouTube is promoting merchandising such as "NASA lies - Never Trust a Snake". 2/


A few example of flat earth videos that were promoted by YouTube #today:
https://t.co/TumQiX2tlj 3/

https://t.co/uAORIJ5BYX 4/

https://t.co/yOGZ0pLfHG 5/
TECH , FLAT EARTH
Advertisement
Loren Brichter
Loren Brichter
@lorenb
So it turns out that Google Chrome was making everything on my computer slow *even when it wasn’t running*, because it installs something called Keystone which is basically malware.

I made a website because this shouldn’t

Wired first reported on how bad Keystone was 11 years ago when they put it into Google Earth (they seem to put it in all their popular

The fact that Keystone hides itself in Activity Monitor is bizarre. (The only sign of it was excessive CPU usage of WindowServer which is a system process).

I don’t know if Google was doing something nefarious with Keystone, or a third party figured out how to (which Wired warned about). But either way, I’m not inclined to give Google-the-organization the benefit of the doubt (despite the many good people who work on Chrome)...

...since it's been a decade+ and this still hasn't been "fixed".

There is no reason for auto-update software to need to do what Chrome/Keystone was doing. It also has a long history of crashing Macs.
TECH
Seth Abramson
Seth Abramson
@SethAbramson
(MAJOR NOTE) The reason Manafort took over Trump's campaign in just 3 weeks despite being hired as a mere delegate counter is that ROGER STONE initiated a whisper campaign against Corey Lewandowski. That campaign started...days after Manafort returned from meeting with WikiLeaks.

2/ Stone and Manafort are longtime business partners; we'd expect Manafort to tell Stone what Assange told him, and for him to expect Stone to then pressure the campaign not only to hire him but quickly elevate him.

And who was Stone in touch with at the campaign? Trump himself.

3/ I bet you Manafort's late March emails are very interesting and that some of them are to/from his longtime business associate Roger Stone. And I bet Roger Stone's late March phone calls are very interesting and that some of them are to/from his longtime friend Donald Trump.

4/ At the end of March 2016, Trump suddenly convenes a NatSec meeting. At that meeting he directs his NatSec team to change the RNC platform in July to benefit Putin. Who later takes credit for that change?

Paul Manafort's business associate, Kremlin agent Konstantin Kilimnick.

5/ Why did Donald Trump suddenly convene a NatSec meeting 3 days after he finally hired Manafort? Why did he issue a pro-Kremlin directive at that meeting that Manafort's camp would later take credit for? What did Manafort tell Trump in the days leading up to that NatSec meeting?
POLITICS
dan spaceman
dan spaceman
@ohlaika
I'm gonna do my other star wars thread tomorrow, which will primarily be me yelling at a @RowanKaiser-shaped strawman for calling the First Order and The Resistance "cosplayers who the rest of the galaxy has to deal with"

the deal w/the New Republic, the First Order, and the Resistance is very weird and complex and I actually take issue with how Story Group frames the actual conflict.

pre-TFA stuff is presented as a "cold war" between the New Republic and the remnants of the Empire that form the First Order, which 100% makes sense.

But they frame the First Order's attack on the Hosnian system and the subsequent battle that takes place across TFA and TLJ as a full on war when it's very clearly a coup. A war implies at least equal standing, but the First Order completely wrecks shop and takes over the galaxy.

ok never mind I'm fucking doing this now.

The First Order fleet we see in TLJ is *not* the entire fleet of the First Order (I don't even think Starkiller Base was their main base of operations honestly, it couldn't have been considering they were operating out of Wild Space)
CULTURE