Send me my ($0.30) fucking class action money now!
They don’t care. They don’t have to. They’re the phone company.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
“AT&T has taken additional cybersecurity measures in response to this incident including closing off the point of unlawful access,” it added.
The company wrote that it first learned of the incident in April, but the U.S. Justice Department determined in May and again in June that “a delay in providing public disclosure was warranted” until now.
AT&T says the data does not include the substance or time stamps of those calls and texts, nor birthdays, social security numbers or other “personally identifiable information.” Though there is a catch.
The company says it will notify impacted users by text, email or U.S. mail, and has also set up a webpage where current and former customers can check to see if their information was involved.
And for those concerned about potential phishing and online fraud, it offers some evergreen advice, including not replying to a text from an unknown sender with personal details and making sure websites are secure by looking for the “s” after “http” in the address.
Verizon, Ticketmaster, Dell and Bank of America are among the other companies that have reported major data breaches this year, affecting millions of people altogether.
The original article contains 558 words, the summary contains 192 words. Saved 66%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
Dont. Use. Cell. Towers.
So, what’s the alternative if I’m not at home?
WiFi.
And if I’m not near a WiFi network that I have creds for?
Go to a public WiFi network? They’re everywhere. Drop the SIM and try it for a month, you’ll see.
90℅ of my calls and texts are on WiFi, either at work or home. But I do also get important calls when out and about, like on a road trip, between stores, etc. For purely outgoing calls and texts, sure, but WiFi only is really limiting.
I have a minimal plan with 1GB data and a few hundred min for $8/month or so, and I tend to use most of that. I intentionally limit it though so I don’t get used to always being on data.
But if your main concern is tracking your phone company tracking who you call, that’ll happen regardless of it behind on WiFi or on the towers. If you don’t use a phone number, that’s what end-to-end encryption is for. If you’re worked about location tracking, public WiFi has plenty of info, even if you disable location services. I don’t think cell towers add all that much risk.
My phone definitely doesn’t have anyone tracking my calls and location besides me. But you do need to remove google spyware, yes.
Man I was just planning on taking up stalking as a challenging new hobby but now they had to go and ruin it by making it too easy.
