Big Brother is here : COVID-Tracker App

 

Wahagen Khabayan at The National Pulse reports on a disturbing and invasive App emerging in Massachusetts, and probably already migrating westward:

COVID-Tracker App Installs Itself Without User Consent, 
Including On Parental-Locked Devices.

Massachusetts state officials recently announced the launch of the “voluntary” MassNotify app, which monitors the spread of COVID-19 in the state. The only problem is the app appears to be installing itself on residents’ and their kids’ smartphones, unbeknownst to users, and without their consent.

. . .

The MassNotify app was developed in cooperation with both Apple and Google, and claims to work anonymously and “not track” users’ private information. This claim was made by Republican Governor Charlie Baker, who said this week: “As we embrace our new normal, MassNotify is a voluntary, free tool to provide additional peace of mind to residents as they return to doing the things they love.”

The app notifies users who have been near a person that tested COVID positive, and the tracking is conducted using the Bluetooth. The app claims that the tracking will be “completely anonymous, with no location tracking or exchange of personal information”. Furthermore, it promises to not share any location data or personal information with Google, Apple, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts or other users.

The news creates a disturbing new dimension to privacy laws and even private property concerns as hundreds of users have reported their Android phones have had the app surreptitiously installed, without their prior knowledge.

. . .

The implementation process of the app clearly contradicts the notion of voluntary participation, as well as raising concerns as to what else might be installed remotely without users’ knowledge.

Many in the state had no idea the app had been pushed to their devices until they got a notification. The app also appears to be reinstalling itself once forcibly removed by users.

“Ghost installed without my permission, and keeps sending me push notifications. I removed it and it reinstall itself. This isn’t something I want in my phone, it’s not something that has permission to be on my phone nor should the commonwealth or any other place/company be allowed to put something on my phone without my permission,” said user Beth Silvaggio.

Read the entire report here.

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Starve the Big Tech Beast

 

Jim Daws has lots of DIY advice on switching from Big Tech services to alternatives offering more privacy and less bias.  His plan, posted at American Thinker, can be implemented incrementally, to make the transitions as painless as possible.

. . . Big Tech is wholly owned by the Left and they’re using that power -- unprecedented in human history -- to muzzle any effective opposition.

The sad part is that Big Tech’s control over the free flow information is almost entirely illusory and based wholly on our submission to it. Much in the same manner that consumers become zealously brand-conscious, we have come to accept that Microsoft, Apple, Google, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube have some innate value that makes them indispensable. We forget that Big Tech’s dominance has come about in just one generation and we can track a direct trajectory between the rise of Big Tech and the radical Left’s ascendancy. 

To have any chance of reversing this ruinous tide, traditional Americans must awake from their stupor and stop feeding the beast that’s devouring them. Thankfully, that’s much more easily done than say, defeating the British Empire, a bloody civil war to end slavery, or storming the beaches at Normandy. All it takes is a few afternoons at your desk to break the Big Tech habit and transition to emerging Alt-Tech options. But if we’re unwilling to do even that, we’ll prove unworthy of our legacy of freedom and prosperity and will get exactly what we deserve.

Here are some suggestions for escaping Big Tech’s death-grip. A quick disclaimer: while improved privacy and security is an excellent side effect of these suggestions, nothing on the internet is completely secure or private. My main goal here is to provide alternatives that will starve the Big Tech beast.

Ditch Windows and Mac operating systems in favor of Linux. This may seem the most difficult and disruptive action required of your Big Tech jailbreak but it’s far less so than you may think and absolutely essential. By allowing Microsoft and Apple control of your computing ecosystem you allow them to track your activities and collect private information. Once the government has labeled dissent as “domestic terrorism,” you can bet that the lefties in Redmond and Cupertino will be there to help monitor your political beliefs. 

Linux is a free, stable, secure, open-source operating system not controlled by Big Tech. . . .

On the web browser front, if you're using Google Chrome or Apple Safari, you should know that your online activity is being tracked, recorded, and sold to thousands of data brokers. Most of that data is used for marketing, but the sites you visit are a good indicator of your political leanings and activities and the collection of that data is ripe for abuse. 

A good alternative is the Brave browser. .  .

For the love of God, stop using Google search and Gmail. These two services provide the bulk of Google's ad and tracking revenue, which they then use to censor Google search results to block content their woke and H1B visa workforce find objectionable. Google search is the most powerful gatekeeper of information ever created and Google unapologetically uses algorithms to promote politicians and ideas they agree with and crush those they oppose.

Good alternatives are DuckDuckGo and ProtonMail . . .

If Jeff Zuckerberg’s and Jack Dorsey’s promotion and protection of leftist politicians and dogma during the 2020 election hasn’t convinced you to get off Facebook and Twitter, allow me to remind you that, among many outrages, Zuckerberg spent nearly a half-billion dollars subverting the 2020 election and both Zuckerberg and Dorsey censored stories of the Biden crime family’s blatant graft and corruption. Then, after the election, both banned the 45th President of the United States from their platforms for objecting.

More than any other tech service, users seem slavishly devoted to Facebook and Twitter and willing to sacrifice the nation and their freedoms to them. This effect is what empowered Zuckerberg and Dorsey to offend about half their customers… er, products, without fear of reprisal. 

. . .

Your transition need not be done all at once but make a list and begin your migration away from Big Tech. Choose tasks that are most easily accomplished and check it off. You will be surprised at how quick and painless the process is and how good responsible citizenship and freedom feels. 

Read the full article here.

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Consumer Watchdog Website

Most conservatives have modified their social media preferences and buying habits to reduce support of Marxist and Never-Trump businesses. Our household makes every effort to NOT buy through Amazon and is no longer on Facebook, Watt’s App, etc.  Below is a link to a list of products and services that conservatives might want to avoid.  It’s a long list, and some of the company names will undoubtedly surprise you.  Some sure surprised this household.  We use Bing or other search engines to avoid using Google, and yet both Bing and DuckDuckGo are on the list – just not in the “WORST” category.  Anyway, you might want to bookmark the list for reference.

Consumer Watchdog Website: click here.

Link: https://investingadvicewatchdog.com/Liberal-Companies-Boycott.html

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Steve Wozniak’s advice for Facebook users

image credit: wsj.com

David Solway at American Thinker asks the question:

Should First Amendment rights be extended to Big Tech corporations to publish and censor as they please?  This is a question that has agitated the discussion on whether antitrust legislation should be applied to infogiants such as Google, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, Amazon, Pinterest and many others that have cornered the market on a public resource, information, and an essential human activity, the consumption of information. A solution to the problem of data sequestration and restricted access practiced by these companies is to rebadge them either as publishers or, alternatively, as public utilities.

Meanwhile, TMZ via Fox News reports:

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak has some advice for most Facebook users: Delete your account.

The millionaire, who co-founded Apple with Steve Jobs, recently said that a lack of privacy is his main concern regarding the Menlo Park, Calif. company and Big Tech in general.

“There are many different kinds of people, and some [of] the benefits of Facebook are worth the loss of privacy,” Wozniak told TMZ, which spoke with the tech mogul at Reagan National Airport in D.C. “But to many like myself, my recommendation is – to most people – you should figure out a way to get off Facebook.”

Wozniak deleted his Facebook account back in March 2018, shortly after news broke about the Cambridge Analytica data scandal, which revealed that the private data of millions of Facebook users was being harnessed by the firm that worked for Donald Trump's presidential campaign. The United Kingdom's top data watchdog group concluded that Cambridge Analytica's use of Facebook's data was illegal under British law.

Full report is here. Some related info from Business Insider:

Deactivating your Facebook account does not delete your information from Facebook's servers. It's hidden from other users, unavailable to the public, but it continues to live on in Facebook's vast digital-storage vaults. If you're ever interested in revisiting the photos you posted to Facebook way back when, or getting back in touch with that long-lost friend, you may want to deactivate your Facebook page instead of outright deleting it.

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