🌐📍🛰️📶 Google Will Track Your Location ‘Every 15 Minutes’—‘Even With GPS Disabled’

If you’re worried your phone might be spying on you, sharing your data and location without you realizing, then a new report this week will make alarming reading.

“You can’t say no to Google’s surveillance,” the Cybernews research team warns, describing a secretive stream of data they say continually transmits from a new phone to Google’s servers. Even more “concerning,” they say, “the phone periodically attempts to download and run new code, potentially opening up security risks.”

The Cybernews team took a “brand-new [Pixel 9 pro XL] with a new Google account and default settings” and rooted it to enable a man-in-the-middle data interception. The team “proxied the inbound and outbound traffic and used a custom security certificate to decrypt and examine the communications,” albeit rooting the phone disabled some features and so the intercepted data was not complete.

Because the testing took place with a new, default account, the team did not test to see the effect that user changes to privacy and security settings might have. But just as we’ve seen with browsers and apps—given most users maintain broadly default settings, it’s imperative those offer a good degree of out of the box protection.

“Every 15 minutes,” they say, the “Pixel 9 Pro XL sends a data packet to Google. The device shares location, email address, phone number, network status, and other telemetry.” This data, they found, is sent “to various Google endpoints, including Device Management, Policy Enforcement, and Face Grouping.”

https://www.forbes.com/sites/zakdoffman/2024/10/05/google-new-location-tracking-warning-pixel-9-pro-pixel-9-pro-xl-pixel-9-pro-fold/

@FelipeChannel

🇮🇱❌🇮🇷🛢 — NBC reports that senior US officials believe Israel will target Iranian state facilities and oil infrastructure in its retaliatory strikes

🏦❌🇺🇸 “I was shocked and dismayed to learn that my long-time bank decided to terminate my account and deny my son the opportunity to open a new one,” Melania Trump wrote in her new memoir, “Melania.”

“This decision appeared to be rooted in political discrimination, raising serious concerns about civil rights violations.”

🔗 https://nypost.com/2024/10/09/us-news/barron-trump-was-denied-bank-account-due-to-cancel-mob-mom-melania-claims/

🇬🇧 UK's fertility rate falling faster than any other G7 nation - with austerity thought to be 'principal factor'

As the UK's fertility rate drops, concerns are rising about the economic impact it will have on the population, with more pensioners than working-age people in the future.

Research by thinktank the Centre for Progressive Policy (CPP) has discovered that the figure, which is called the fertility rate, has dropped by 18.8%.

That number represents the biggest proportion fall across the G7 in 12 years, between 2010 and the latest statistics released in 2022.

According to CPP analysis, Italy saw the second-largest fall, followed by the United States, Canada, France and then Japan, while Germany saw a rise.

The proportion fall refers to the change in fertility rate compared to what it was in 2010.

🔗 https://news.sky.com/story/britains-fertility-rate-falling-faster-than-any-other-g7-country-with-austerity-thought-to-be-a-principal-factor-13232314

🇰🇵❌🇰🇷❗️ — North Korean State Media, KCNA, says, via an official military announcement that the Korean People's Army (KPA) placed all its artillery units along the border and the units in Full Fire readiness

➡️ Such an announcement follows an reported incident where supposedly South-based Defector Anti-Communist Groups launched drones into DPRK/North Korea's capital and dropped Anti-Juche leaflets over the city

🇰🇵📝 In Statement, the North Korean Media said:

➡️ Grave touch-and-go military tensions are prevailing on the Korean peninsula due to the ROK's wanton violation of the sovereignty of the DPRK through infiltrations of drones into its capital city of Pyongyang.

➡️ On October 12 the General Staff of the Korean People's Army (KPA), estimating that there is a high possibility of ROK's additional drone infiltration into our airspace above the border and the capital city, conducted relevant undertakings to fully prepare units at all levels for coping with any developments of situation, presupposing the circumstances in which immediate strikes on specific enemy targets are inevitable in confirmation of the recurrence of provocation and it is impossible to rule out the possibility of an ensuing extended armed conflict.

➡️ A spokesman for the Ministry of National Defence of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea made public a statement in this regard on Sunday afternoon.

➡️ The spokesman also made public that the General Staff of the KPA issued a preliminary operation order on October 12 to the combined artillery units along the border and the units taking on an important firepower task to get fully ready to open fire.

➡️ According to the spokesman's statement, the General Staff's preliminary operation order specified an instruction to place eight artillery brigades fully armed at full wartime strength on standby to open fire and complete various operational supply undertakings until 20:00 of October 13.

➡️ The General Staff instructed units and sub-units of all levels to intensify monitoring on full alert.

➡️ Anti-air observation posts have been reinforced in the capital city of Pyongyang.

🔗 Link

🇹🇼🇹🇼❌🇨🇳 — On October 6, 2024 AD, the New President of Republic of China ("Taiwan"), Lai Ching-te, from the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) made a somewhat controversial statement, but openly accepted even among the Chinese Nationalist Opposition based on the self-governing island

➡️ Speaking at a concert ahead of Taiwan’s national day celebrations on 10 October, Lai noted that the People’s Republic had celebrated its 75th anniversary on 1 October and in a few days it would be the Republic of China’s 113th birthday.

“Therefore, in terms of age, it is absolutely impossible for the People’s Republic of China to become the motherland of the Republic of China’s people. On the contrary, the Republic of China may be the motherland of the people of the People’s Republic of China who are over 75 years old,” Lai added, to applause.

➡️ Lai Ching-Te, which is perceived as a Taiwanese Separatist by the current authorities in Beijing, rejects Mainland China’s sovereignty claims, saying the island is a country called the 🇨🇳 Republic of China that traces its origins back to the 1911 Xinhai Revolution, which overthrew Manchu-led 🇨🇳 Qing Dynasty

📝 Historiographically-speaking, Mr. Lai is right as the Chinese de Jure Government led by the Kuomintang fled to Taiwan Island in 1949 after losing a civil war with Soviet-backed Mao Zedong’s communists after the Nationalists faced a brutal war with practically no support (except the American aid) against the Japanese Empire. After seizing power in Mainland, Mao set up the People’s Republic of China, which continues to claim the Island as its territory.

🇹🇼❌🇨🇳 — On ROC/Taiwan National Day, Republic of China ("Taiwan") President Lai will ‘resist annexation or encroachment’ from Mainland China, reports Al-Jazeera

➡️ President William Lai Ching-te has said he will stand against any attempt at annexation or encroachment into the island’s territory.

➡️ China claims the self-ruled democracy as its own and has not ruled out the use of force to achieve its goal of unification.

➡️ It has ratcheted up pressure on Taiwan since Lai, who it portrays as a “separatist”, was elected president in January.

➡️ Addressing the island’s 23 million people, Lai began his first National Day speech by expressing his pride in Taiwan’s democracy.

“Our democracy is growing and thriving,” he said, standing at a podium set up in front of the presidential office. “The People’s Republic of China [China’s official name] has no right to represent the people of Taiwan.”

🔗 Link

🇨🇳❌🇹🇼🇹🇼 — 📰 Mainland Chinese State Media, Global Times on Twitter/X:

The “ROC” Lai Ching-te refers to, however, is fundamentally distinct from the ROC advocated by the Kuomintang, which encompasses the mainland.

These changes are merely tactical adjustments, a mainland scholar said.
Lai’s speech is highly deceptive and misleading, causing many in the international community to mistakenly perceive it as a "softening signal" toward the Chinese mainland.

🔗 Global Times (@globaltimesnews)