Posted on by Californiacontrarian

Mocking !


By now I am used to it … used to the mocking that occurs whenever I pull out my flip-phone. Actually, I just got upgraded to 5G and have a new phone, albeit still a flip-phone. Nonetheless, the mocking continues.

Granted my flip-phone does not have Google maps, but if I need to go somewhere that I am not familiar with, I look at Google maps on my home computer before I leave home. I then transfer the directions found on my home computer to that other computer which is above my shoulders. You know that computer that we all have although most of us have stopped using it for many things.

Be that as it may, I read something this morning that may stop, or at least decrease the mocking of my flip-phone.

From the Daily Mail:

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention paid for location data harvested from millions of cell phones to track compliance with COVID-19 lockdown measures, according to a new report.

The CDC paid $420,000 for a year of access to the cell phone location data from the data brokerage SafeGraph, according to documents reported by Vice News on Tuesday.

According to Vice, the documents show that the CDC planned to use the data to analyze compliance with curfews, track patterns of people visiting K-12 schools, and specifically monitor the effectiveness of policy in the Navajo Nation.”

This is Big Brother watching you  … tracking you, using your fancy cell phone!

Still from the Daily Mail:

“The CDC documents describe SafeGraph’s data as ‘critical for ongoing response efforts, such as hourly monitoring of activity in curfew zones or detailed counts of visits to participating pharmacies for vaccine monitoring.’ 

Zach Edwards, a cybersecurity researcher who closely follows the data marketplace, told Vice that it appears the CDC had broader ambitions for the location data, beyond tracking the pandemic response.”

This is truly “1984”-esque. However, what’s nice for some of us … flip phones are not trackable. A flip-phone user could break a Covid curfew, go to church, and even get a hair cut without the CDC knowing!

Realistically this CDC news will not cause a tsunami of those now wanting flip-phones. However, as time goes on and as everyone realizes that their movements are tracked whether their fancy cell phone is on or turned off, perhaps flip-phones will undergo a resurgence, and the mocking of my flip-phone will stop.

5/21/22

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