To warn all Iphone users!

[Notsoyummymummy1]

Apple is watching you!

You just go to your iPhone Settings, then Privacy, then Location Services, then System Services where you'll see a very curious option to see your Favorite Locations. It is exactly what it sounds like: a map of the places you've visited most frequently, down to the (thankfully slightly inaccurate) street address.

Thankfully you can turn it off!!! Creepy!

Suzanne you get what I'm talking about.

Yes I do Lamb
suspect mumsnet members are a little more trusting than average?

I thought most of the population had now moved beyond the 'nothing to hide nothing to fear' stance?

I'm amazed that people are so accepting of the creeping erosion of our personal privacy!!! Their motive is irrelevant here. In principle why on earth should a private company be allowed access to all your movements?!!

I don't think people are missing the point lamb suzanne I do agree when using technology you should be aware of how your data can be used, which is why I make an informed decision on what I put on Facebook, on what websites I will buy from and what information I am willing to provide. My location information I am willing to give as the benefits out way the negatives.

Would you let them put a camera in your front room Slightlysnippy, what would they need to give you for you to feel that the benefits outweighed the negatives?

Might sound ridiculous, but not so long ago the idea of letting a private company track your location would have seemed similarly ludicrous.
Start small then it's mission creep, where will we draw the line, how much personal sovereignty will we give in return for free toys? ?

Targeted advertising? I never respond to any ads I see on the web, targeted or otherwise. I find my own products that I like via my own searches. I have never, ever responded to ads. They're irritating and something to be ignored.

would I let them put a camera I'm my front room what?? Did I not agree with you that you should be aware how your data can be used, I work in IT so I, as I said, make informed decisions on what information I am willing to provide online.

I'll be honest i do not understand why my location information is the same as Apple putting a camera in my house

it isnt the same but clearly my point went over your head Slightlysnippy

Just turn your location settings off.

suspect mumsnet members are a little more trusting than average

I doubt it. I'm surprised loads of posters aren't using it to track their partner's every move.

suzanne do you have an Apple devise? Do you have an apple account, if yes the amount of data they have on you is a lot , age, Phone number, credit card details' photos the list is long. So I don't think we're disagreeing, just on my gps data it dosen't bother me.

Apple devise?
is that something to do with their long term plan for the human race

Oh you mean an apple device as in 'gadget'?

I echo the comments of those who are saying this is really important and this does affect you on a personal level.

Tech companies and big business want to get to a world where they have individual prices for everything. Through 'big data' they will be able to cross reference every single purchase you have made, every location you visit, who you visit, what you watch, who you are friends with.

Your whole home will be monitored. There are already cameras in the new internet enabled tvs. They want cameras and data collection in everything. Your electricity and energy use, your lights. They want to know how you move around your house and how you use it. Your friend's Facebook page will be manipulated to sell you stuff.

They will create individual advertisements for you and will create an individual price. They will give you an individual price for your electricity and gas, which will be formulated through an analysis of the maximum you can afford. They will encourage you to spend as much as possible.

The technology already exists for advanced facial recognition, so any camera fitted will be able to know exactly who you are.

This is already being discussed in the advertising industry. For example, computers have collated from a range of cameras that you are looking unwell, they know you have PMT. So you will market chocolate to you, at an individual price.

Are you ok with paying a higher price than your next door neighbour, because you shared your data with these companies thinking your life is not that interesting?

This is not the stuff of fiction, the technology is already there.

The real power is no longer with governments, but with Google/ Facebook/ Alibaba etc. In 10 years time they will rule the world.

Thank you Boats, I was gettin' weary of pissing into the wind:o

Well for what it's worth, I'm bothered by this constant tracking and spying. DH works alongside companies that do very specialist computer geekery (an actual technical term I'll have you know ) and he is constantly wobbling on about big data and the like.
I have an apple phone and will probably get an apple computer for work (better for us arty types). Soon enough my life will be entirely in the hands of Apple, with their built in destruct programmes that force us to upgrade (there is a sharp spike in people googling "slow iPhone" shortly before new models are released) and their remotely accessible "back door" so they, or the authorities or indeed anyone who pays enough can access our lives. What is to stop all this spying and manipulation from evolving into an Orwellian society in a decade or two?

Asteria,

I think we are already in Orwellian territory.

What's going to get worse in the next 10 years is:

• the merging of major tech companies - imagine google merged with Facebook and Twitter and how much data they would have
• the improvement in big data cross-referencing
• improvement in facial recognition scares the beejesus out of me

Even emigration doesn't solve this problem, although you are safer in less developed economies (for a while, Facebook is trying to stop that!)

www.newstatesman.com/sci-tech/sci-tech/2013/03/digital-elite-bleak-vision-future

spectrum.ieee.org/podcast/computing/networks/jaron-lanier-were-being-enslaved-by-free-information

Love those links Suzanne.

Nice to chat with someone who knows about this stuff, as most of friends respond with and then comment on how they wouldn't want people to take Angry birds away from them.

I think this whole thing gets even more interesting around 2040/2050 when we are running out of oil and gas, the world is hugely overpopulated, rainforests gone and glaciers melted. Then the apocalypse. It's crazy to think how many people will die.

Anyone I know who is really into this stuff is trying to make enough money so their kids/ grand kids are able to literally buy a ticket 'off the island'. I just don't know what kind of wealth will be required to ensure your offspring can move to the moon/ Mars when humans have completely fucked up the earth, but we can guarantee Mark Zuckerberg's children and grandchildren will have that ticket.

Humans. Hopefully the ultimate cautionary tale to other species somewhere in the universe.

I am a little more hopeful about the future of humanity Boats, I dont think the worst case scenarios are inevitable, and Lanier seems to think there is a positive way forward.
I think there is some awareness of the possible implications for us if big tech companies have too much power.
The idea that too much power ought not to be concentrated in too few hands is not a new one, perhaps once we get over being dazzled by all the free toys we will start objecting?

But all the studies show young people don't vote, and don't care about privacy. But they do like shiny ipads from three years old.

For tech, the boundaries have already been pushed so far. Did you read that article a while ago about Facebook using all the techniques of an abusive relationship. How they constantly push the boundaries of privacy too far to deliberately see what they can do, people complain a little bit, Facebook goes back a bit but then pushes at the boundaries again. I can't find the article, but the gist was Facebook was an abusive arsehole!

We have known about climate change and overpopulation for how long, and have done nothing.

The problem with the human species is we think we're smart, but we procrastinate waiting for the next generation to find the solutions. It might be too late for that now. And governments never seem to listen to scientists properly, but are hand-in-hand with tech companies.

I love this futurist stuff, I'm a proper cynic.

But in real life I'm actually pretty optimistic!

Its almost like Skynet from the Terminator films.

"Do you mean 'they' can make you get on whatever bus 'they' want or make you buy stuff you don't want? "

I don't know about busses, but "they" make you buy stuff you don't want or need all the time! It's called consumerism and it's what our society is based on at the moment (sadly).

If you think marketing doesn't affect you, and you don't buy stuff because of advertising, then all that means is you are not aware of how they are manipulating you. Because trust me they are, right now. And it works. Why do you think companies spend millions on advertising?

Did you read that article a while ago about Facebook using all the techniques of an abusive relationship. How they constantly push the boundaries of privacy too far to deliberately see what they can do, people complain a little bit, Facebook goes back a bit but then pushes at the boundaries again
no I didnt but thanks I'll look for the article, interesting point but then again it's a common technique, the govt/powers that be do it all the time...dont they?

I know, young people are just mesmerized by their iphones and dont seem to get the implications of it all, population will likely decline birth rates are already dropping.
Hopefully an older population will be harder to fool & manipulate

"But all the studies show young people don't vote, and don't care about privacy."

Nearly 85% of the Scottish electorate just voted in the referendum, including 16 & 17 years olds.

Young people were engaged and they voted in droves.

Just saying.