Warning: What you are about to see is concerning on a number of fronts, primarily the geographic spread of people who were on the beach in Ft. Lauderdale and the fact that this data is accessible.
As states like Washington, New York, and California began implementing social distancing orders in early to mid-March in an effort to stop the novel coronavirus from spreading, Florida remained open for business. Crowds of people were seen at popular beaches in Clearwater and Ft. Lauderdale, where spring breakers went about their holidays despite the deadly danger lurking all around. For these vacationers, it was apparently out of sight, out of mind.
When young spring breakers were interviewed, one callously said: "If I get corona, I get corona. At the end of the day, it's not going to stop me from partying." Those comments from a young Ohio man went viral. Only days later he apologized, saying his comments were "insensitive.” He also warned others to “listen to your communities and do as health officials say. Life is precious. Don’t be arrogant and think you’re invincible like myself.”
So we know that particular young man returned home to Ohio, but what about the others who were soaking up the sun and partying on the beach? Data visualization company Tectonix, in partnership with X-Mode Social, can tell you where they ended up. How? By using personally identifiable information (PII) that is apparently being sold by third party apps installed on your phone and/or sold by the mobile phone companies themselves.
Let’s see how Tectonix used this data to show the way these spring break party-goers spread out across the east coast, the midwest, and the southern states. Watch:
I warned you that data would be terrifying. Not only can we see that these folks, some of whom very likely carried the disease with them, traveled along our interstates and through our airports to return home—you can see just how much of your location data is being tracked and sold worldwide.
While Tectonix and X-Mode Social claim in their tweet that the data is anonymized, Brian McClendon, a former Google VP who is an expert in geospatial data visualization applications, says no way: “There is no such thing as anonymized location data that includes timestamps and histories, so this PII was shared with multiple companies.”
If you are concerned about your data being sold (and you should be), there are a few steps you can take to protect yourself. The New York Times published an article in December 2019 on how to protect your phone. The most important first step is to stop sharing your location with apps.
In the meantime, wash your hands, stay home, and avoid making any unnecessary trips.
[Daily Kos community member AKALib wrote about this yesterday. See their post here for more discussion.]