What gun owners may not realize is just how easily federal law enforcement organizations can collect data on your interest in firearms.
Whether you’re a Democrat, Republican, or politically nonaffiliated person, if you’re also a gun owner and use Apple products (I’m both), you should be deeply concerned about the ability of federal law enforcement agencies to get a lot of data on you — without ever having to get a warrant.
On January 25, the technology publication 9to5 Mac published an alarming piece about ads and push notifications being used as surveillance tools against iPhone users.
Reporter Ben Lovejoy provided details about a new report from 404 Media on ad spyware known as Patternz.
“Patternz strikes deals with smaller ad networks, willing to engage in shady practices, to gather the device fingerprints, and to use them to trigger surveillance,” Lovejoy wrote.
Your device type, operating system, places visited (through GPS data), and other digital data is gathered by Patternz & made available for sale through a process known as real‐time bidding.
By Patrick G. Eddington
