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"Our minds can be hijacked" - Living in a smartphone dystopia. [The Guardian]

We are paying to carry location tracking devices (smart phones), and placing listening devices (smart speakers) and surveillance cameras (doorbell cameras) in our homes.

What is FANGSTORM?

FANGSTORM is an acronym of the key companies of the surveillance economy.

• [F]acebook
• [A]mazon
• [N]etwork Providers
• [G]oogle
• [S]nap
• [T]witter
• [O]ath
• [R]etail Point-of-Sale Systems
• [M]icrosoft

What do these companies do that I should be concerned about?

• [F]acebook
  • Owner of Instagram, WhatsApp
  • Described by a founder as designing intentionally-addictive software to exploit human vulnerability^{[The Guardian]}
  • Statement by another founder: 'You Don’t Realize It But You Are Being Programmed'^[Gizmodo]
  • Known researcher of manipulating human emotion^{[The Guardian]}
  • Told advertisers they can identify and target teens feeling 'insecure' and 'worthless'^{[The Guardian]}
  • Uses data it collects about you from other people to build a "shadow profile" of you, even if you never use Facebook or its other apps/sites^[Wikipedia]
  • Collects information about other devices on your network, or in your vicinity^{[INC Magazine]}
  • Collects your SMS messages and phone call logs^{[INC Magazine]}
  • Has sought to obtain your bank balances and transaction history^{[Wall Street Journal]}
  • Has a patent called "Techniques for emotion detection and content delivery" that involves scanning your face while using their software.^[Forbes]
• [A]mazon
  • Provides facial recognition technology to police, military, and private entities. They may also be providing facial recognition software to immigration enforcement agencies^{[NYTimes, The Intercept, The Verge]}
  • Deploying the Ring surveillance system in cooperation with police^{[NYMag, The Verge]}.
  • Markets the Echo: an always-on listening device, and has provided recordings of conversations to law enforcement agencies^[Gizmodo]
• [N]etwork Providers - AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, etc.
  • All cell carriers track your location via cell tower triangulation, regardless of what privacy settings you use on your phone.^[FCC.gov]
  • Share your location information with third party data aggregators^[EFF]
  • They have been known to provide location data to law enforcement and bounty hunters.^{[NYTimes, EFF]}
  • They can monitor all web sites you visit by DNS Logging^{[Fast Company]}
  • AT&T grants the NSA access to all data that passes over their network^[EFF]
• [G]oogle
  • Tracks your location in real-time using Google Maps and Android^[NDTV]
  • Extracts your location from EXIF tags in Google Photos^{[NYTimes, Wikipedia]}
  • Stores your location history in their Sensorvault database which is made available to police and law enforcement agencies upon demand^{[Wikipedia, NYTimes]}
  • Scans the content of all messages sent to/from Gmail accounts to build and update complex psychological profiles of the account owner and the people they correspond with, even if those people do not use Gmail.^[Pando]
  • Databases information about your purchases and financial transactions from emails sent to your Gmail account^{[The Verge]}
  • Data-mines your contacts and Gmail to track who you know (your social graph)
  • Monitors what you type in Google Docs^{[Washington Post]}
  • Tracks which web sites you visit via embedded Google Analytics code, Google Fonts, and Youtube videos embedded on web pages
  • Chrome browser logs all of your web browsing and sends it to Google
  • Maps location of all WiFi routers (via Street View cars and GPS-enabled Android phones in the vicinity) to enable them to know the physical location of any WiFi-enabled device
  • Was caught in audit by German government to have used Street View cars to sniff user data on unprotected WiFi networks as the Street View cars drove all over cities and neighborhoods^{[Neowin, ZDNet, ComputerWorld]}
  • Has played with the concept of using their tools and data to reshape human behavior and alter society^{[The Verge]}
• [S]nap
  • Keeps copies of your Snapchat videos and messages after they disappear^{[Information Week]}
  • Enables employees to access and monitor your Snapchat activity via internal tools like SnapLion.^[Vice]
  • Accesses your contacts and location without permission^{[Information Week]}
  • As may be the case with any app which accesses your contacts. Snap might use that information to build "shadow profiles" (and probably is)
  • Tracks your location and sends it to Oath^[Wired]
• [T]witter
  • Tracks which web sites you visit via embedded tweets and Twitter buttons displayed on those sites^[Lifehacker]
  • Tracks your location and sends it to Oath^{[Wired, FastCompany]}
  • As may be the case with any app which accesses your contacts, Twitter might use that information to build "shadow profiles" (and probably is)^{[Wikipedia, ResearchGate]}
  • It has been demonstrated that the content of your tweets can be used to create a psychological profile. It is not proven that Twitter is doing this, but others can consume your public Tweets and run them through an algorithm that will create a psychological profile, like the tool mentioned in the article.^{[Psychology Today]}
  • Studies have also shown that behaviour of individuals is predictable using only the information provided by their friends on Twitter.^[Nature]
• [O]ath
  • Merger of Verizon, Yahoo, AOL (Now rebranded as "Verizon Media Group")^{[NYTimes, NBC News]}
  • Largest location tracking database, and reseller of location data^{[Fast Company]}
  • Monitors your location from Apple Maps, Tinder, Yelp, Uber, Lyft, weather apps, and more^[Wired]
  • Scans all messages and attachments sent to/from Yahoo Mail and AOL mail, extracts data, sells to third parties^{[Kim Komando, Wall Street Journal]}
  • Extracts location information from EXIF tags in photos sent as attachments ^{[The Verge]}
  • Runs facial recognition software on photos sent as attachments ^[GHacks]
• [R]etail Point-of-Purchase Systems & Payment Processors
  • These are middle-men processing financial transactions when you make a purchase, usually in the form of a credit card terminal.
  • They capture and sell information about your credit/debit card purchases (including location and types of goods in the transaction) to third parties ^{[Sage Publishing, Fast Company]}
  • Use reward-systems (loyalty programs, etc) to de-anonymize cash transactions
  • Reward systems provide better tracking of what items you purchase than what is usually captured in a credit/debit card transactions
  • Provides transaction data (including location) to government agencies, including the NSA. ^[EFF]
  • Paypal, Square, and Stripe are payment processors that also handle online transactions. (Venmo is owned by Paypal. Cashapp is owned by Square). Paypal gives your data to over 600 third party companies. ^{[Scheier on Security, Paypal]}
• [M]icrosoft
  • Windows 10 sends a history of your app usage to Microsoft's servers ^[TechRadar]
  • Circumvented encryption to grant NSA access to users' Hotmail/Outlook.com email, Skydrive files, and Skype communications. ^{[The Guardian]}
  • Scans Skype and Xbox Live conversations ^{[CSO Online]}
  • Facilitates employer monitoring employee activity inside Microsoft office products ^[TechRadar]
  • Maps the physical location of WiFi networks, so they know the location of any device connected to that network
  ^[ZDNet]
  • The Edge browser sends your browsing history, along with a persistent hardware identifier,, to Microsoft's servers. ^[ZDNet]

Why do they do this?

The FANGSTORM companies are the Exxon and Chevron of data extraction. Their software and services are designed to extract as much information from you as possible.

Spyware is defined as "software that surreptitiously monitors and reports the actions of a computer user". By this definition, most of the products offered by these companies are spyware!

About the "third parties" (data brokers) that obtain data about you from FANGSTORM

Like refiners in the oil industry, who turn raw petroleum into refined products like gasoline, plastics, etc, an entire economy of companies (called data brokers) exists that combine and refine data from FANGSTORM into products that they can sell. ^{[CBS News]}

• The data brokers collecting and selling your personal information ^{[CBS News]}
• Geofedia acquired location data on BLM protestors from Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and sold it to the police. ^{[The Guardian]}
• Meet the shadowy tech brokers that deliver your data to the NSA ^[ZDNet]

Some names of a few of these data brokers, and some of the products that they sell:

• Exact Data [link] - Database of people with STDs, people who subscribe to porn sites, and people who have purchased sex toys
• Response Solutions [link] - Maintains a database of people they believe have bipolar disorder
• Statlistics [link] - Maintains a database of people that they believe are probably homosexual
• Paramount Lists [link] - Sells lists of people who have problems with alcohol, drugs, gambling, or who are struggling with debt

How much do they know about me?

• The Guardian: “I asked Tinder for my data. It sent me 800 pages of my deepest, darkest secrets” ^{[The Guardian]}
• Google knows if you’re standing up, or if you’ve just lifted your phone off a desk, or if you’ve started walking. ^{[The Independent]}

How can Facebook and other consumers of my activity on FANGSTORM sites/apps use that data to manipulate me?

• Your social media activity, location history, search history, and web browsing history enable anyone with access to that data to build a psychological profile about you. ^[Slate]
• You can try this out for yourself using this tool.
• Imagine if someone you knew had a detailed psychological profile on you, without your knowledge. How do you think they could use that to manipulate your emotions and actions?
• Now, imagine the most powerful companies in the world building algorithms and AI to do that at a massive scale.
• It isn't just the FANGSTORM companies that can do this, but any data broker, government, or other third party can use the data they obtain about you from social media web sites, search engines, etc, to build psychological profiles about you.

How is this legal?

Federal legislation was passed March 28, 2017 that legalized selling of your internet activity:

• Senate: https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/senate-joint-resolution/34
• House: https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-joint-resolution/86

More information:

• Business Insider: “House Republicans just voted to let your internet provider sell your browsing history without your permission”
• NPR: “As Congress Repeals Internet Privacy Rules, Putting Your Options In Perspective”

How the U.S. government is making use of some of the information it obtains about your from FANGSTORM

• Monitoring all transactions made on credit and debit cards ^[Time]
• Identifying and tracking the location of people who attend protests ^{[The Guardian]}
• Using Ring cameras to monitor and identify protestors ^[EFF]
• Department of Homeland Security monitors the search history, social media accounts, and aliases of all immigrants and adds this information to immigration files ^{[Federal Register, FCW]}

More infomation:

• NY Times: “U.S. to Collect Social Media Data on All Immigrants Entering Country”
• Engadget: "The government is turning Facebook into a new kind of surveillance tool"

What can I do about this?

• Leave your phone at home!
  • When you carry your phone with you, it operates as a tracking device
  • People lived a long time without carrying their phone with them everywhere they went. Their phones were wired into their wall.
  • This gives you the full usage of a smartphone, when you want it, without it tracking your physical movements
• Stop using Gmail, Yahoo Mail, Outlook.com, etc.
  Consider these alternatives:
  • Zoho Mail - one of the email providers that the NSA couldn't break.
  • ProtonMail
  • Mailbox.org
  Also:
  • Educate your friends and family about the dangers of Gmail, etc, and suggest alternatives
  • Even if you switch to a safer email provider, your communications are still compromised if the other people you email are using Gmail etc
• Stop using Google or Microsoft's search engines.
  Consider these alternatives:
  • DuckDuckGo - "Our privacy policy is simple: we don’t collect or share any of your personal information."
  • Qwant - "The search engine that respects your privacy."
  • Startpage - "Zero saving, sharing, or selling your search data."
• Stop using social media, and start your own web site.
  • Learn basic HTML/CSS
  • Build your own web site for free at Neocities
  • Don't add Google Analytics code, Google Fonts, Facebook/Twitter buttons, etc
  • Add this tag to each page to block search engines from mapping your site:
    _{<meta name="robots" content="nofollow,noindex">}
• Stop using insecure messaging platforms (like Snapchat, Facebook Messenger, Skype, or SMS texting).
  Consider these alternatives:
  • Signal - Find/import contacts by phone number.
  • Telegram - Uses usernames instead of phone numbers.
  Both of these will work on a PC/Mac as well as on mobile devices.
• Switch to a browser that isn't spyware.
  • Brave
  • Vivaldi
  • Firefox - Note!! Change the default settings for privacy!
  • Un-Googled Chromium
  • For mobile: Firefox Focus
  Our recommendations:
  • PC/Mac: Brave with the Domain Blocker extension. Open the extension, click options, and copy/paste this into the block list
  • Mobile: Firefox Focus

  Or... If you want to go in the complete opposite direction...

  We have another helpful acronym for you: CLIP

  • [C]ash - Cash is anonymous. Don't participate in any "loyalty program", give a phone number or email, or show ID
  • [L]ocal - Shop at local stores instead of shopping online. Pay cash! Buying will require more effort, so you'll probably spend less.
  • [I]n Person - Talk to people face-to-face. Limit internet/phone conversations to arranging places to meet. Go out! Throw parties. Host game nights. Attend live music events. Invite people over for dinner. Meet in coffee shops, parks, etc. Your social life will be more real.
  • [P]aper - Write letters. Read books. Keep a journal. Publish a zine or newsletter. Send postcards. Subscribe to a local newspaper. Pass secret notes.

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  Opt-out of social media. Learn basic HTML/CSS and build your own web site at Neocities.