Google Tracking Your Movements…..And Other Financial News
Google tracks your movements, like it or not –Associated Press
“Google wants to know where you go so badly that it records your movements even when you explicitly tell it not to. An Associated Press investigation found that many Google services on Android devices and iPhones store your location data even if you’ve used a privacy setting that says it will prevent Google from doing so….Google’s support page on the subject states: ‘You can turn off Location History at any time. With Location History off, the places you go are no longer stored.’ That isn’t true. Even with Location History paused, some Google apps automatically store time-stamped location data without asking….The privacy issue affects some two billion users of devices that run Google’s Android operating software and hundreds of millions of worldwide iPhone users who rely on Google for maps or search. Storing location data in violation of a user’s preferences is wrong, said Jonathan Mayer, a Princeton computer scientist and former chief technologist for the FTC’s enforcement bureau….To stop Google from saving these location markers, the company says, users can turn off another setting, one that does not specifically reference location information. Called ‘Web and App Activity’ and enabled by default, that setting stores a variety of information from Google apps and websites to your Google account.”
Why is Google obsessed with tracking everyone? “Google’s theory of knowledge (‘big data’) assumes that the search for knowledge by human brains can be replaced if all of the data in the world can be compiled in one place and algorithms to analyze them can be developed.” Read more in our book review of Life After Google.
Hackers ‘to steal MILLIONS from cash machines within days’: FBI warns of imminent mass attack on world’s ATMs –Daily Mail
“America’s intelligence chiefs have warned banks of a major hacking threat to cash machines worldwide in the next few days. The FBI sent out a confidential alert on Friday to warn that cyber criminals are planning a global ‘cash-out scheme’ using malware to take over ATMs and steal millions of dollars. Banks were warned that they could fall victim to an ‘unlimited operation’ in which millions of dollars could be withdrawn from cash machines. Smaller banks with less sophisticated security systems are thought to be most vulnerable to an attack using the ‘jackpotting’ technique, the Daily Telegraph reports. The warning said: ‘The FBI has obtained unspecified reporting indicating cyber criminals are planning to conduct a global Automated Teller Machine (ATM) cash-out scheme in the coming days, likely associated with an unknown card issuer breach.’ The FBI warned that ‘at a pre-determined time, the co-conspirators withdraw account funds from ATMs using these cards.’ Attacks could affect banks all over the world with British banks with large overseas interests including Barclays and HSBC thought to have been made aware of the danger from the ‘jackpotting’ technique. Earlier this year it was revealed that a co-ordinated group of hackers had stolen more than $1 million by hijacking cash machines in the U.S. The spate of attacks represented the first widespread jackpotting activity in the United States, officials said in January. The heists, which involved hacking ATMs to rapidly shoot out torrents of cash, were across the United States spanning from the Gulf Coast to New England.”
Get our new 2018 White Paper, THE SECRET WAR, PART II: Weapons of Cash Destruction, which explains how cyberattacks fit into a larger worldwide scheme to stop the private use of cash so every transaction can be controlled, tracked and taxed.
Bitcoin dips below $6,000 amid cryptocurrency sell-off –CNBC
“Bitcoin fell below $6,000 Monday for the first time since June as the majority of cryptocurrencies declined in value. The world’s largest digital currency by market value tumbled as low as $5,900 and was down around 4 percent, according to CoinDesk index data, which tracks prices from several exchanges. The top 100 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization were all lower as of 9:00 a.m. ET, according to data from CoinMarketCap.com, and the total market capitalization of all cryptocurrencies fell by $21 billion in the last 24 hours….According to Charles Hayter, chief executive of digital comparison site CryptoCompare, the downward move in cryptocurrencies was on the back of the postponement of a bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) proposed by VanEck and Solid X. If approved, that ETF would be the first to track cryptocurrency assets.”
Is bitcoin the future of money? Find out today in our 2018 Real Money Perspectives newsletter The Future of Money.
