I’m aware that carrying a phone means that I can be tracked with cell towers and that’s fine.

But is there some sort of tracking that can be done on modern dumb-phones that make relevant ads show up(on spotify/youtube) that are based on where the phone has been?

Thanks I’m a newb

  • Dessalines@lemmy.ml
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    23
    ·
    3 days ago

    Even with a dumb phone, they have

    • Your identity, IE real name and address.
    • Location history
    • Contacts (since you’re forced to use SMS)
    • Message history in plain text

    So I don’t doubt that they’re at least aggregating message history and selling data/trends about certain topics to advertisers and anyone who will buy it.

    Plus if they know that your most contacted person is also texting/searching about certain things, they can safely sell that also and present ads to you based on their interests.

    • Faceman🇦🇺@discuss.tchncs.de
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      8
      ·
      3 days ago

      The data-point that someone is using a dumbphone or actively trying to minimise/restrict profiling is a very important and valuable profiling data-point itself.

  • catloaf@lemm.ee
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    9
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    3 days ago

    Unlikely, but possible. Ad networks might buy location history data from cell providers.

    • Bags@piefed.social
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      5
      ·
      2 days ago

      I would unironically love if there were enough people in my life that also wanted to live that way to make it viable… Also the lack of functioning payphones these days would be challenging.

      The place (at least in the USA) where I’ve found the most functional-looking payphones was actually Hawaii… And even then, so many are decaying and non-functional. I’ve had a silly idea to go back and just roam around and photograph as many as I can.

  • the_q@lemmy.zip
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    6
    ·
    3 days ago

    If a device connects to another device/network then your data can be taken and used.

  • sic_semper_tyrannis@lemmy.today
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    4
    ·
    3 days ago

    I’ve read in the past that Google makes the OS for some flip phones, so yes. You could get a Punkt dumb phone that shouldn’t spy on you

    • Schwim Dandy@lemmy.zip
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      5
      ·
      3 days ago

      You could get a Punkt dumb phone that shouldn’t spy on you

      From Punkt FAQ: Verizon: not supported/not supported

      Sadly, that keeps a ton of people from using the phone. In many rural areas, VZW is the only coverage that they can get.