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Technology as double-edged sword: Area ad exec figures out how to beam anti-abortion ads to the phones of women sitting in clinics
By adamg on Thu, 05/26/2016 - 3:04pm
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I have questions.
Beyond the basic loathesomeness of this particular use of technology (and John Flynn's eagerness to entwine his own beliefs with his spamming operation), I'm having some trouble figuring out how exactly they're making this work. Yes, your phone can report its latitude and longitude... to an accuracy of perhaps 25 feet, depending on how much battery it wants to drain. So you're potentially picking up anyone walking down Comm Ave near the Planned Parenthood, unless the software is constantly reporting geo-location, which would kill the battery. And GPS data is a separate permission, which means that whatever app wants to gather this has to explicitly ask the user for permission the first time. It doesn't work via browser ads, unless you specifically opt in to sharing your location with a particular site; if boston.com serves you an ad from scummyadnetwork.com, scummyadnetwork.com has to ask your permission for it too. Which means he's either bundling this software with something else that sounds innocuous (in which case let's figure out what scumbags are bundling malware with their app, and get our pitchforks), or he's relying on a security exploit to get around the permission problem (in which case we'll skip the pitchforks and skip straight to burning down the Copley Advertising building).
to 25 feet? Have you ever
to 25 feet? Have you ever used Uber, tech companies use more than just gps to figure out where you are, and are much more exact than 25 feet now.
multipath L1
GPS can be better, but it can also be quite a bit off. Mainly due to multipath effects.
I should have phrased that better
Yes, you can get much closer than 25 feet, by requiring a fourth satellite ping and by using local wifi sources to help triangulate. If you're doing that for 10 seconds, a few times a day (e.g. the Uber app), it's fine. If you do that constantly, your phone battery drains in two hours, and you get angry users.
Geofencing ads, and bidding up a small subset of locations for a known demographic, makes a lot more sense. It's vicious and amoral, but I at least understand how it's being done. Now to see how we can set up countermeasures...
He exaggerates is my guess
I too wondered the same thing. My guess he is profiling woman and then just bombarding them with browser ads via the normal means when data suggests they may be nearing an abortion decision. (People start searching for the words "Abortion Clinic Boston" etc.)
There are a whole lot of apps which "phone home" with cell/wifi (not GPS) location data and this will get fairly close to the correct location. So if a woman was searching for abortions in Natick and then comes to Boston there is a chance she's headed for a clinic.
My GF got targeted for being pregnant from some unknown a while ago. We started getting sample formula delivered in the mail, etc. It was fairly creepy and intense for a few weeks. We have no idea what trigged it. (No, she wasn't pregnant and just not telling me.)
Once boston.com knows your
Once boston.com knows your location, what's to stop it from passing it along to advertisers' servers?
Platform...
My understanding is that he's selling a platform that allows app developers to geofence ads. Most of the ads you see in a browser or in a mobile app, like a game, are there as the result of a very fast auction in which several advertisers or ad channels bid on placing an ad in the available spot in the app or page. It's likely that this d-bag's ad network bids high when it sees that the mobile device is near a women's health facility.
Maybe the same way...
Maybe the same way an Android phone pops up the menu of a restaurant I just arrived at. I have no idea what the details are and GPS off by default in my phone - but it figures it out.
Still creepy....
Google Street View
The Google Street View cars serve a 2nd purpose -- to record the exact location of Wifi routers at any given spot. So if your phone detects five adjacent Wifi spots (even if not connected to any of them) PLUS the data obtained from your cell phone (non-GPS) signal you can often get within 50-100ft of the actual location.
The cell phone triangulation is how E911 works.
GPS is good for an exact spot but often within a block or so is good enough to send you targeted information.
Yes
This is a huge part of the reason that particular set of protesters is viewed to be so loathesome. Aside from annoying women who are accessing health services, they are frequently blocking pedestrian and vehicle traffic along a very busy stretch of Commonwealth Avenue with their protests.
Most of the people who are forced to deal with their crap are just going between Allston, the grocery store, the T, and BU, on weekends and during rush hour. They are not only impeding people's access to healthcare, they are impeding the average resident of the area from going about their daily business, on a regular and daily basis.
Good Story
Each year around New Years I send Adam a donation for this website. I do this so I won't feel bad about being aggressive with adblockers and other way of eliminating data used to track me on the web.
Things like Facebook can quickly be used against you so people should be careful what they disclose and what apps they run. This story is about abortion but it could just as easily be used to target anyone for anything. Tracking and mass data collection by private entities should be outlawed yet the government is now encouraging it as the NSA continues to take heat for their internal data collection. (Who do you trust more with your information: The NSA or Verizon?)
One thing Planned Parenthood could do is offer free wifi in their facilities which blocks ads on the router level. Not perfect but at least it could give patients some relief.
What Other Businesses Employ This Advertising Agency?
Which ones don't?
.
Can't Find Any Specifics
Although the "CEO" says he has multiple clients I don't see any specific mentions. According to Linked In he has been CEO only since last summer. I'm also wondering if the agency has a physical location, since I don't see a specific address anywhere, despite the photos of Copley Square on the website and Facebook page, as well as appropriating the Copley portrait of Paul Revere as the icon for his Facebook posts.
FWIW-I also found an article from last summer, with a much more positive spin on the practice, posted in "Pregnancy Help News" a clearly anti-choice publication.
https://pregnancyhelpnews.com/target-marketing-to-reach-clients-in-a-pla...
Another creepy old man
Another creepy old man obsessed with controlling the bodies of young women. Gross.
After the terrorist attack at
After the terrorist attack at the Colorado Planned Parenthood you would think extremists like Flynn would stop harassing women and enabling others to do the same.
Nah. Select pro-lifers in my
Nah. Select pro-lifers in my circle of acquaintance thought those injured in CO were definitely reaping what they'd sown and were of the opinion a few repeats of that incident wouldn't be amiss.
If he is an extremist I doubt
If he is an extremist I doubt he'd be disavowing stuff like that. If he doesn't actually wish violence on pro-choice folks and is just a zealot or backer of people with bigger mouths, then yeah, he and his other clients deserve to be educated.
Pro-choice people click
Pro-choice people click all the ads. Pro-life people lose all their moneys.
It would be really cool if we
It would be really cool if we could live in a world where people mind their own god damn business.
Fascinating
I generally support the idea of targeted marketing. If I'm shopping online for a bike, what's the harm in showing me ads about bikes?
This crosses the line partly because of the very personal nature of the topic, but also because it is targeting someone at a given specific location. It's weird, I think it's OK that Herb Chambers has a giant billboard across from Boch Honda, but if Herb was beaming me Toyota ads on my phone while I waited for Ernie Boch to give me a quote on an Accord, I would think that's an invasion of privacy.
I don't think location is the issue
I think the fact that it is medical is the issue.
It seems to me that targeting ads because you've deduced someone has a specific (or somewhat broader) medical condition and is seeking advice or treatment is a gross violation of privacy. I don't care if it's abortion or bunions. Methinks there's plenty of room for legislation that treats this sort of thing more like HIPPA -- even if you as an entity or individual are able to deduce someone's medical condition, you may not share it with other persons or organizations.
P.S. We can argue if pregnancy is or isn't a medical condition till the cows come home -- but seeking care from an OB/GYN is related to medical care.
Transcript released. Boston City Council.
Transcript released... Captions from Webcast of Public Meeting of Boston City Council. Not yet in an actual easily readable format for hard of hearing folks, for the Deaf Community, for ESL English as Second Language folks, for LEP Limited English Proficiency folks, for all folks
https://www.reddit.com/r/boston/comments/4l7j7j/transcript_webcast_capti...
Yahoo!
How did you get this?
Transcripts available...
Transcripts available, request at
http://www.cityofboston.gov/contact/?id=12
I personally think using abortion
as a form of birth control sends a bad message. I don't think a human fetus is just some innocuous piece of meat. I think late term abortion as a form of birth control and convenience is odious. Aside from these two examples, abortions are acceptable to me. What Mr. Flynn is doing sounds like, at best, stalking and is certainly unacceptable harassment.
Yes, I'm a male, and no, I'm not religious, unless you think Atheism is a religion. These are just my own, personal opinions on abortion, and Mr. Flynn's actions.