Clean Up Your Phone App Permissions #digitalprivacy #ai #onlinesafety #aiethics
The short version: Mading Thok's quick iPhone permissions tutorial is solid personal hygiene, but it's a reminder that the biggest trackers of your movements aren't apps—they're cameras on the street.
Our Take
Creator Mading Thok offers a clean, practical walkthrough of locking down location, camera, microphone, and photo access on your phone. It's good advice — most people grant apps far more access than they need, and trimming that down is a real, if modest, win for personal privacy.
But here's the catch: you can set every toggle to 'Ask Next Time' and still get your daily movements logged by a government-funded network of automated license plate readers you never consented to and can't opt out of. Flock Safety cameras photograph your plate, time, and location every time you drive past one, often feeding that data to local police and beyond. No app permission screen governs that.
Phone hygiene matters, but it's not a substitute for knowing what's watching you in physical space. Check our camera map to see what's tracking your routes, and head to take-action if you want to push back on ALPR surveillance in your own town.
This is DeFlock The USA’s original commentary. The video above is the work of Mading Thok, published on YouTube — full credit to the creator.