Apple tracks you, even if you don't have Apple devices

We investigate what data iOS on an iPhone shares with Apple and what data Google Android on a Pixel phone shares with Google. 

We find that even when minimally configured and the handset is idle both iOS and Google Android share data with Apple/Google on average every 4.5 mins. 

The phone IMEI, hardware serial number, SIM serial number and IMSI, handset phone number etc are shared with Apple and Google. 

Both iOS and Google Android transmit telemetry, despite the user explicitly opting out of this. 

When a SIM is inserted both iOS and Google Android send details to Apple/Google. 

iOS sends the MAC addresses of nearby devices, e.g. other handsets and the home gateway, to Apple together with their GPS location. 

Users have no opt out from this and currently there are few, if any, realistic options for preventing this data sharing.

See paper from the School of Computer Science & Statistics, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland, from the 2th of March 2021 of the title:

Mobile Handset Privacy: Measuring The Data iOS and Android Send to Apple and Google

All part of the global 'Nanny State' agenda.

Note: We do not recommend the purchase or use of Apple products.

Police failure to activate body-cams is putting evidence at risk

Victoria Police has been warned it risks weakening evidence unless officers comply with this simple measure.

A failure from police to activate their body-worn cameras in some cases may have reduced transparency and risked weaker evidence, a new report has found.

The Victorian Auditor General on Wednesday released its report into body-worn cameras (BWCs) which found Victoria Police officers didn’t activate body-worn cameras in situations they were required to in 16.4 per cent of instances, based on data from March last year.

The Auditor General’s report found this posed a risk that footage may not be available for key incidents.

It added this could result in weaker evidence for investigations and prosecutions, reduced transparency in complaint investigations and reputational damage to Victoria Police.

Because the force does not systematically assess police officers’ compliance with its activation framework, it does not understand why the cameras were not activated in some instances, the report stated.

Victoria Police rolled out its body-worn cameras in 2018.

“Therefore, it cannot be assured that police officers are consistently activating BWCs when needed,” it added.

“Victoria Police is likely to miss opportunities to continuously improve its use of BWCs unless it actively monitors police officers’ compliant BWC use and drives best practice.

“Victoria Police also needs to monitor use and compliance and have controls to protect footage.”

Most Australian police forces now use the technology, with Victoria Police implementing the cameras in 2018.

The Auditor-General said while BWCs present many opportunities for police to improve how they interact with the public and gather evidence, they also carry risks.

“Unmanaged, these risks can undermine a police force’s integrity and accountability to the public,” it said.

A Victoria Police spokeswoman said the noncompliance figure may also include incidents where there would be no requirement to activate a body camera.

“While there are likely instances where BWC has not been activated, this figure of noncompliance needs to be treated with caution,” she said.

“For example, this figure may include incidents where CAD data shows officers were dispatched to an incident, only to find upon attendance, the incident has de-escalated or they do not have an active role due to the attendance of other emergency service units, including other police. As a result, there would be no requirement to activate a BWC.

“Victoria Police is committed to providing ongoing support and guidance to our officers to ensure this technology is being used in the correct manner.

Mounted police with body-worn cameras. Picture: Sarah Matray

“Victoria Police will continue to make officers aware of the expectations surrounding the use of the body-worn camera monitoring dashboard, while BWC refresher training will be provided to officers when relevant.”

The spokeswoman said the force has clear guidelines and expectations as to when body worn cameras should be activated and mandatory reporting requirements if a camera is muted or stopped prematurely.

Of the eight recommendations from the VAGO report, three have been accepted, a further three have been accepted in principle, and two have been rejected.

Victoria Police rejected a recommendation to establish a policy for regularly reviewing audit logs to reduce the risk of mishandling BWC footage because VAGOs audit did not find any instances of footage being mishandled.

They also rejected a monitoring and reporting process that measures the prevalence and efficiency of BWC footage in legal proceedings and complaints against police.

Premier Daniel Andrews said the technology was provided to instil confidence and safety.

“The video footage serves everybody’s purposes. It can demonstrate that there was only appropriate behaviour, it can mean less people need to go to court, less victims have to testify,” he said.

“For every good reason, we’ve funded the technology. It only makes sense.

“I’m not here today to be critical of Victoria Police members. It’s a big transition and a big change to go from no body worn cameras, we then had a trial and now we’re rolling them out progressively.

“I’m sure that we’ll see that performance improve over time.”

8Jun2022, HS

Prominent anti-lockdown ringleader, Solihin Millin, contests incitement charges over protests

Solihin Millin is contesting incitement charges for his alleged involvement in a “Freedom” rally, arguing stay-at-home-orders in place were based on invalid advice.

Hundreds of people converged on central Melbourne to protest against the COVID-19 vaccine rollout and called for the resignation of Premier Daniel Andrews.

A notorious anti-vaxxer accused of inciting others to protest during Victoria’s second lockdown has continued to challenge the legality of the allegations against him.

Prominent anti-lockdown ringleader, Solihin Millin, 78, is contesting incitement charges for his alleged involvement in organising a “Freedom” rally in 2020, arguing the stay-at-home-orders in place at the time were based on invalid health advice.

At Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday, Millin’s defence barrister, Suabe Nayel, questioned whether Covid-19 posed a “serious risk” to public health. 

Solihin Millin is the founder of anti-vax group ‘Make Australia Healthy Again’.

In documents tendered to the court, Mr Nayel argued Covid was akin to a mild flu, comorbidities artificially inflated deaths and case numbers that triggered lockdowns were likely asymptomatic false positives.

He argued the health advice on which the stay-at-home-orders were made was invalid, which in turn, called into question the legality of allegations against his client.

“The directions must be lawfully made, they must be valid before the accused can answer them before the court,” he said.

But Magistrate Kieran Gilligan disagreed and said he didn’t have jurisdiction to rule on the validity of lockdown orders, just whether the charges against Mr Millin were proven.

“That’s political, I’m not dealing with political issues,” Magistrate Gilligan said.

“The question of the legality of these directions … it’s not for the purpose of these proceedings.”

Mr Nayel sought a court order requiring prosecutors to hand over the health advice as evidence to substantiate the legality of the stay-at-home orders.

Protesters marching down Bourke Street Mall. Picture: David Crosling

Police at the Freedom Rally as protesters march at Parliament House. Picture: Brendan Beckett

But prosecutors argued they weren’t in possession of the requested material nor was it needed to prove the allegations against Mr Millin.

Magistrate Gilligan noted the defence submitted news reports including articles written in foreign languages.

“The Manila Times you’ve referred to, what am I to make of that?” he said.

“The Italy 24 Hour news, I don’t think that would be reliable.”

But Mr Nayel argued the sources were reputable and supported his case.

Mr Millin, who is a retired pensioner, is the founder of anti-vax group ‘Make Australia Healthy Again’ and posted online that Covid-19 was “not a scientifically defined disease”.

He previously sought to have the matter heard in the High Court, arguing he had a “constitutional” defence but his application was rejected.

Magistrate Gilligan said he would wait until a ruling was made at the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal relating to a similar case before he made any rulings.

The matter will return to court on July 15.

8Jun2022, HS

One charger for Europe 20 years too late

IF the authorities truly cared about the environment as they allege they do, then it would be reflected in their actions.

The customer is usually punished with higher prices for some sort of alleged environmental project or some 'carbon' tax whatever that means, but corporations that are the world's largest polluters are exempt from hip pocket blows.

In many cases law is put into action in a matter of months or even weeks if it's for the benefit of government or to punish the plebs, yet it takes 20 years to reign in a common standard.

How pathetic!

Apple's claim that it will slow innovation and create more pollution is just plain and simple lies from the world's greatest rip-off corporation.

Apple has one goal and that it to extrude as much cash from their 'fan' base as possible from their mediocre technology that they sell.

Apple is the corporation that actually stifles their users.

When did the copy and paste 'feature' arrive on the iPhone?

Just disable a hardware level feature and enable it in the next model phone is Apple's mantra, where what's worse is that people just accept this.

No Apple you are the one that is truly slowing down innovation in order to maximise the ROI (Return On Investment) from your 'investors'.

We do not recommend the use or purchase or Apple products.

Victorian Government lies on data collection anonymity

Victorians are ruled by the Dan Andrews secretive police state style of government where there is no accountability of government actions or even transparency.

It's latest initiative is to monitor and control public movement, under whatever excuse, the flavour of the past few years has been for 'health' reasons, where the government is doing a blanket data hoovering exercise, for 'business' purposes?

The belief that the data is 'anonymised' is farcical, as the collection method in its raw format does factually identify each person's data.

The government will never release the steps involved to reassure that the citizen's data is factually anonymised nor does it have to prove it to anyone.

This dictatorial style of government is not too different from that of China or Nth Korea.

That's life in a (penal) colony.