Pixabay
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/08/210812135929.htm
I recently saw the new political documentary “2000 Mules”. Politics aside, it was fascinating to see how individuals were tracked using their cell phone data that was purchased. Our lack of privacy, even when tracking software and GPS is turned off manually, is something we have grown to accept. New technology may enable us to have more privacy and still keep our data service.
Cell phones constantly transmit information. Cell phones transmit information based upon the cell towers we are in proximity, or personal account information and personal information. The individual cell towers authenticate us on their platform. The result is a loss of privacy, and the reason for this has always been that the cell tower needs to ensure the user is current on their cell phone bill, and is an authorized user. A phone’s SIM card is unique, and is usually given to users by the network provider they chose. It is therefore difficult to mask the user of a cell service, and the presence of apps that track user activity as well cell phone customers are heavily tracked and monitored.
We give up privacy for service with cell phones. The technology to encrypt the information we send exists, and can be used. A new technology called Pretty Good Phone Privacy (PGPP) exists, and was developed by employees at USC and Princeton University. The technology generates an authentication token to prove the user is current on their payment to the service provider, and the result is that the user of the service remains anonymous. Users are decoupled from their identity using PGPP and cell towers are provided with a token indicating they are eligible to use the network itself. The more users of PGPP, the more secure and anonymous the system becomes.
We depend on cell phones, and have collectively decided to give up or cede some of our privacy to the network. Using PGPP to mask our identity and keep it separate from our authentication as users is an innovation that will make a huge difference in the future.
Posted on Hive and Steemit