A WIRED investigation uncovered coordinates collected by a controversial data broker that reveal sensitive information about visitors to an island once owned by Epstein, the notorious sex offender.

Archived version: https://archive.ph/tBv7z

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    99 months ago

    RIP in piece to the edgelords who spoofed their GPS coordinates to Little Saint James Island to post a fake check-in status on Facebook and Twitter.

  • @JamesTBagg
    link
    69 months ago

    It’s odd that much of this traffic to the island happened AFTER Epstein’s conviction and “suicide.” Though, I would be wary of mishandling this data: just like not everyone who attends catholic church is a child molester, maybe not everyone who visited that island had nefarious machinations.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      4
      edit-2
      9 months ago

      odd that much of this traffic to the island happened AFTER Epstein’s conviction and “suicide.”

      There were a lot of people going near there with drones, etc, to get video of the island as well. If nothing else, I’m glad this is doing something to bring the crazy unethical sale of location data to everyone’s attention. The FBI isn’t supposed to track someone to get this information without a warrant, but when it’s on the free market they can just pay for it, and it’s all above board. Plenty of articles about it. Even your local small town PD or the DEA or any interested business can do it. It’s the easiest way to track someone if you have money and they go everywhere with their phone, and there’s never a physical GPS tracker to find.

      maybe not everyone

      I’d be dumbstruck if every rich client who was woo’d by Epstein in his multibillion dollar money management for the obscenely rich was involved in his sex ring. In fact I’d be incredibly surprised if it was even a quarter of them. Sure, people who seek power and wealth are often involved in bad things, but this is on another level, and it’s usually an open secret who the creeps are. Plus even if they were deviants, there has to be a level of self-preservation… “A few of my friends have told me about this ‘service’, too many people know and this has been going on a long time and he’s going to get caught soon, he already has a record as a sex offender, I’m not letting him videotape me and ruin my freedom when I can pay someone’s family in a poor country $10,000 and have my pick of the litter.”

      But knowing and looking the other way? Well, these are people who exploit people for a living. Every billionaire is cutthroat and willing to keep their mouths shut if it will make benefit them.