You know that, at least in America, in addition to the United States National Security Agency (NSA), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the police, there are also some advertising companies that monitor the mobile phone data of unsuspecting users, with the help of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), also known as quadcopters or drones.
Yes, it's true! A Singapore-based advertising company called AdNearhas been using a series of small quadcopters flying over the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles since early February to monitor Wi-Fi and cell phone signals.
Drones have the ability to “sniff” the movement of mobile phone signals or the signals of wireless devices that access the internet (router with wi-fi), and then determine the device ID. Using this information, the quadcopters monitor every movement and behavior of individual users .
In general, the reason behind this spying on wireless networks is the company's interest in providing hyper-targeted advertisements to users, which is not surprising, as these advertising companies make every effort to collect user information.
The advertising company, however, assures people that the wireless data collected by the drone fleet is anonymous, and does not include users' phone numbers, call data, any media files, conversations, or personally identifiable information.
The company says it only uses signals from nearby cell towers or Wi-Fi hotspots, as well as other indicators, to determine the location of users' devices. It then uses each user's location data to match their travel habits.
However, the description on the company's official website regarding this program sounds quite creepy.
“The use of drones to collect location data will dramatically reduce human intervention and facilitate the process of collecting data in hard-to-reach areas. … We’re talking about a new level,” the description reads. “For us, it’s a lot of fun!”
The advertising agency told VentureBeat that this is the first time a company has used unmanned helicopters in an effort to wirelessly collect user data.
This may not sound particularly alarming to some of you, but let us remind you that about a year ago, security researchers at London-based Sensepoint developed a drone they called Snoopy that was able to intercept data from users’ smartphones using fake wireless networks. It spoofed WiFi networks, allowing the Snoopy Drone to connect to targeted smartphones without authentication or interaction.
Read Snoopy Drone an unmanned smartphone hacker
At the moment we have not heard of a similar scenario or program “running” in Greece. There is no doubt, the helicopters of AdNear and every corresponding private company are working on an innovative idea, but it is becoming clear that it is necessary to have some explicit legislative provisions to ensure the protection of the privacy of the average citizen.
