Dear LPG

I was doing a bit of browsing not so long ago and found myself learning about how much information is stored about each of us on the internet. If you listen to the news there is so much said about just how much information our virtual world has on each of us.  It worries me in one way because it means that the powers that be know more about us than we think, but I had no idea about this aspect of their knowledge.

I planned a trip to see a relative in Birmingham and decided to make the journey by train, and to make sure that I did not make any mistakes I did a little preparation.   I remembered reading your news post which was entitled ‘Getting there’ and dated 20 Jan 2018 (►►►), and it inspired me to talk my  granddaughter into taking the time to show me the magic of Google and exactly what you can do with the Google Maps app.  She was even able to print the instructions out for me and find me a picture of the building of my planned rendezvous. 

Nothing was left to chance and, although I know that lots of people can already do this by themselves, I was truly amazed with the detail that was available on a piece of paper that I could actually take with me.

While we were talking about the wonders of what she had done for me, my granddaughter told me that she has set her phone up so that she gets a monthly email from Google Maps which contains a list of all the places that she and her phone have been, which includes the dates of her visits.  It was then that she explained something quite worrying to me.   I know that if you have a smart or iPhone the internet can track your movements (or should I say your phone’s movements).  But it did not occur to me that your oyster card (or freedom pass) also can do this.  If you buy a ticket using anything but cash (your debit or credit card or, these days your phone), she tells me that it is possible for some government agencies to join the dots between that ticket, your bank account and you, so that they know where you have been; it is even easier if you are traveling with your freedom pass or an oyster card which is registered to you.   She told me that there is nothing new about it and that when they introduced the cards about 16 years ago there were lots of questions asked but now we all take it for granted.

It is not that I have anything to hide, and I know that if I was really lost this means the police would know at least where to start looking, even though I do not have a mobile phone, but it is just another example of the privacy that we are all losing.

IB, Dulwich

LPG found some quite old information to support IB’s granddaughter’s theory…

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