Apps to Track Location of Love ones in Times of EJK

Ways to share your exact location with family, using Android

Peace of mind these days is the most precious state of being for most parents. Given the current situation where people are instantaneously killed, well, several thousands of them, at the height of this current administration's war on drugs, it is paramount for parents to keep track of their children whenever possible.

Photo not mine,, credits to https://www.hrw.org

There are actually Android applications downloadble at Playstore, which can can be used as child-tracking system. But let me point out that installing these applications on your child's phone must have prior permission, especially if he or she is at her/his legal age. 

Generally, these apps have the capacity of keeping an eye on your family members' whereabouts.

These are locator apps which can actually pinpoint a love one's location using GPS technology. 

So let's start rounding them off; 

Writer's note:

While we are interested with your peace of mind at this point, we believe that privacy of your child is also a paramount consideration.  

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Glympse

Glympse work around the "notion of at-a-glance-tracking system".

This app lets the user decide on who we want to see his/her GPS location, sort of now-you-see-now-you-dont style. Adding to this feature is the option to assign a particular number of hours or days that you wanted to track a speficic person. 

A classic example here is you wanted your children and wife aware of location, say, after an anti-EJK meeting, you would your love ones to have a realtime location feed on your whereabouts. The only lapside of the app however is that it cannot trace the name of the policeman, should you be picked up for a "napagkamalan" sort of police apprehension. 

It can however provide the user with data on your time of arrival thru email, text or social network. Definitely, if you are working in something against the percieved wrongdoings of the State, this app is a must have! 

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Life360 Family Locator

One of the best features of this app is it lets family members know a child's expected arrival at a pre-defined place, say a school or meeting place. 

                            

The app also includes a full location history, which is nice for an overview of recent activity. The built-in "panic" option sends out an emergency beacon to designated emails, text and phones with your exact location of your GPS coordinates. The app can also be used to message family members.

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Find My Friends

This app may be considered a realtime bulletim-board for a group of friends sharing location information plus a component of real-time messaging system.

Headed for a rally for a few days in Liwasang Binifacio? Plan and coordinate with your comrades with this app before getting in to your respective vehicles. No worries, this app can broadcast your location should authorities intercepted your course and plan to pull you down for several counts of drug peddling or any other out of this world warrants. 

Like other apps of its kind, this one uses Google Maps at its heart, so it's a breeze to learn and understand. Along these lines, the map automatically lists places such as police stations......NO! not the police stations!, fire departments and hospitals, among other.

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Again, let me state that during these unusual times of fervor. we need to innovate to protect ourselves and our love ones. 

The Philippine Congress just recently set a P1000.00 budget for the Commission on Human Rights.

The figures on EJK victims is rising, and it seems that it will progress in the next five years! 

The Marcoses are still clinging in to their powers and seemingly being cuddled by the present administration. 

So, what is left to do when the State structures seemed to turn their backs from us, citizens? 

Find ways to be safe. Innovate tactics to resist! ....the Android way.

Android-Based Survey and Enumeration

Efficient and Cost-Effective Survey Alternative for Data Gathering

This kind of data gathering is an emerging method for data collection and realtime data analysis.

Employing various android applications, we facilitate political surveys and socio-demographic surveys, among others, using readily available android phones. This method saves us from major survey expenses and administrative expenses. 

Much more, such method can be accomplished in a very minimal number of days, as compared to the month-long survey period of the traditional pen-and-paper surveys, thus drastically minimizing our overhead expense. 

Part of our service is a 24-hour technical staff that will guide our "Android enumerators" while in the field.

Likewise, we will also be providing a pr0cessed data in a PPT format, free of charge, as part of the android survey package. 

Please give us a call at: +639065175504
or email us juan.sumulat@gmail.com

Artificial Intelligence and our Sense of Humanity

"People of the future may suffer not from an absence of choice but from a paralysing surfeit of it. They may turn out to be victims of that peculiarly super-industrial dilemma....."- Toffler

In his book, Future Shock, American futurist and writer Alvin Toffler  once said the statement in our heading. Nakakalungkot mang aminin, bes, we are the people of the future, and we will be carrying this curse as long as we breath.

Tama ka, hindi natin ito pinili. Unti-unti, nare-realize natin na nagiging alipin na tayo ng gadgets, ng Android. It is as if, we could no longer breath, and talk. and think without them....

Tingin ko, hindi sinabi ni Toffler un nang wala lang. Its almost an accepted norm that we human beings of the 21st century are exposed and most of the times hooked into Android gadgets. From the year 1940, where the first Artificial Intelligence machine proto-type was developed ng imperyalistang US, until this very moment, obvious naman na talagang inherent na sa ating mga tao ang pag-rely sa Android and artificial intelligence, in its strict sense, for whatever reason.

Mayroon tayong inner attachment sa mga bagay na may kakayahang gawin ang mga ginagawa ng tao. Sino ba namang hindi mahuhumaling na makapag-ari ng isang bagong Android gadget! 

Inadvertently, naa-akit tayo sa social status na dala ng gadget na ito. Most of the times, we fell victim (being helpless consumers) to various models and modification ng isang gadget, be it a phone, a laptap, or a piece of self-learning devices. At sa sobrang bilis ng pagpapalit ng mga modelo at features ng mga gadget na ito, madalas hindi na tayo makasabay.

From the year 1940, where the first Artificial Intelligence machine proto-type was developed ng imperyalistang US, until this very moment, obvious naman na talagang inherent na sa ating mga tao ang pag-rely sa Android and artificial intelligence, in its strict sense, for whatever reason. Mayroon tayong inner attachment sa mga bagay na may kakayahang gawin ang mga ginagawa ng tao.

Sino ba namang hindi mahuhumaling na makapag-ari ng isang bagong Android gadget! Inadvertently, naa-akit tayo sa social status na dala ng gadget na ito. Most of the times, we fell victim (being helpless consumers) to various models and modification ng isang gadget, be it a phone, a laptap, or a piece of self-learning devices. At sa sobrang bil9is ng pagpapalit ng mga modelo at features ng mga gadget na ito, madalas hindi na tayo makasabay.

"Future shock is the shattering stress and disorientation that we induce in individuals by subjecting them to too much change in too short a time." - Toffler 

Let's face it, gradually, we are being forced to learn and re-learn technology; be it by choice or by necessity.

The Internet of All Things

Ed Oswold of DIGITAL TRENDS explained the "internet" of all things in households. Simply put, we are now in the age were almost all of the stuff in our own homes are automated by the internet, sort of A.I. engines that will make our doors locked automatically through a pre-defined command. Then you have a face-detection technology that opens or unlocked a particular device should it recognize an attempting familiar face.

AI in house or public places revolves around the idea of "smart hub", or simply put, a galaxy of wireless router that has its own language system which performs a pre-defined task when triggered.

Sounds spooky bes, parang haunted house lang. Imagine light bulbs opens by itself when it detects infrared heat?

Pero nangyayari talaga ito bes. Hindi lang ito nakikita sa pelikula nila James Bond or Mission Impossible.

Sa katunayan, a multitude of wireless technologies now exist for smart home wanabe owners. We have — Zigbee, Z-Wave, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and more. And there’s more smart home platforms to consider than ever before too. Isa-isahin natin ung mga nakita ko

Wink

SmartThings

Iris by Lowe’s

ADT

Comcast

Lahat ng mga na highlight sa taas ay may kakayahang sumunod sa ating gusto basta bigyan natin ng pre-defined commands, sa isang pinsot lang. Well, thanks to better AI and chatbots that understand context a whole lot better than ever before.

Aside from making our lives more convinient, and our tasks more productive, more jobs will also be automated. In factories, mass production will see much increase in prosuction rate, surpassing Ford's computation.  Even journalist’s work on writing the news (don’t worry, we aren’t going anywhere).

At dahil nga intelligent, AI machines and gadgets are also capable of "learning" our life patterns and preferences, thus increasing antipation in our decision-making process. Imagine, gadgets and machines may well decide for us.

Applying the Law of Nature

Sabi ni Newton, every action has a corresponding counter reaction, or something like that. While we see the promising prospects of artificial intelligence and android in our lifestyle, we also have to anticipate its counter-development effects.

Mass Lay-off and Employment Insecurity

Minsan nang napag-usapan sa android forums ang pag-remove sa human component from food service. Imagine bots taking our orders and humanoid serving our foods which are systematically cooked in time-calculated cooking ranges. On top of that, delivery services may be done by drones. Well, thats a humongous retrenchment and mass lay-off of human workers. Kung buhay pa si Karl Marx, Vladimir Lenin at Mao Tsetung malamang isumpa nila ang 20th- century proletarians!

The Death of "Tongue" Communication

While artificial intelligence and android tech in theory should make things easier, we also have to take into consideration the cons of automizing our lifestyle, lalo na sa konteksto ng pamilya.

We may hear complaints for a long time about the lack of interpersonal communication these days. In the context of this essay, I would call this synthetic relationships. Mga pekeng relasyon, as proliferated by AI bots and android applications.

Sincerity has been the least aspect of non-personal comms. Much that have to worry for communicating with unknown conversants. Talking with an unknown person and building trust is the worst thing that we could do. Diyos ko, ilan na ang nagahasa at naloko ng mga halang na kaluluwa na nagkukubli sa built persona ng isang android app i.e. FB, messenger, taptalk.

To give you a precise example: these days, mas gusto pang titigan ng mrs ko ang Vivo Y51  niya kesa lumingon sa pagmumukha ko!

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To sum things up, artificial intelligence was initially meant to ease our toil, to build relationships and to further enhance our sense of humanity. Android only screws us up kapag we do things outrightly na kabaligtaran ng tunay na dahilan kung bakit ito inimbento.

Mga Nakakatakot na Kakayahan ng Sarahah App sa Google Play?

Handa na ba nating isuko ang ating privacy para sa app na ito? 

Anong gagawin mo kung ang pinaka-iingatan mong mga contact, email man yan o phone number ay mahihigop at mako-kopya na lang bigla ng isang application nang hindi mo namamalayan. Ang mas masaklap pa, paano kung ang mga nahigop na impormasyong ito ay i-share sa internet? 

Narinig nyo na ba ang Sarahah app? Ang sarahah ay salitang Arabic na ang ibig sabihin ay "honesty". Sa Android, ito ay isang bagong application sa google market na may kakayahang makatanggap ng "honest feedback" mula sa mga kaibigan at mga kakilala sa social media. May kakayahang itong mai-link sa Snapchat account ng isang tao.

Kaya din ng Sarahah na makapagpadala ng anonymous messages sa iba pang tao.  Sa configuration din ng app, pupuwede ang user ng Sarahah na mag-screenshot ng mga comments mo sa FB at iba pang social media accounts na puwede namang mai-share sa ibang tao, nang walang pahintulot o paalam sa account owner ng isang social media site, halimbawa ay Facebook.

Sa unang gamit, siyempre, exciting ang Sarahah lalo na kung gusto nating malaman kung ano ang mga messages at posts ng isang tao sa social media gaya ng Snapchat. Sino ba namang hindi matutuwa kapag puwede mong paglaruan at ikalat sa buong social media ang isang nakakatuwang post?

Minsan, at ito ang mas nakakalungkot, puwede ring maabuso ang naturang app para gamitin sa hindi tamang paraan. Puwede itong gamitin sa pang-aabuso sa kapwa, gaya ng pangbu-bully o pang-asar sa mga taong may nai-post na kakatuwa o detrimental o nakakasira sa kanyang pagkatao! At ang biktima ay walang kaalam-alam dito. Halimbawa, anonymously ay puwedeng ikalat ng Sarahah ang isang post ko tungkol sa pangongopya ko sa exam. Na originally, ang layunin ng post ko halimbawa sa pangongopya ay magpatawa lang. Pero pwedeng lagyan ng malisyosong Sarahah user ng maling konteksto sa meesage kong iyon. Puwedeng sabihin na gawain ko talaga ito at pwuedeng sabihin ng uploader na matagal ko na itong ginagawa kaya nakakapasa ako sa college. At dito na nagkakaroon ng problema. Kapag kumalat na sa social media ang maling paratang sa iyo, nang hindi mo namamalayan. Sa kaso ko halimbawa, puwedeng isang araw ay ipatawag na lang ako ng Dean namin at suspindihin ako ng isang linggo sa klase!

Paano ba gumagana ang Sarahah?

Kung tutuusin, mayroon namang privacy settings ang application na ito. Pupuwede namang hindi na mapakita ang personal na account ng isang user, at puwede rin namang hindi na siya makatanggap ng mga messages sa mga anonymous users.

May kakayahang makatanggap ng "honest feedback" mula sa mga kaibigan at mga kakilala a social media. Yun nga lang, kapag nag-download ka na ng app, kukunin ng Sarahah ang iyong full contact list na puwedeng ibenta naman ng mga developer ng app na ito Basahin ang privacy policy ng app kung anu-anong imporasyon ang puwedeng makuha sa user.

Ang Dark Side ng Sarahah
 

Once na ma-download na ang Sarahah, automatic nitong hihigupin ang lahat ng uploads sa cellphone mo, kasama dito ang lahat ng contact numbers sa phone mo, pati ang email address ng mga contacts mo.  Sa simula, magpapa-alam naman ang app sa iyo kung papayag kang ma-access niya ng iyong phone book, pero hindi niya sinasabi kun ganu-ano pa ang maaari niyang makuha at magamit. Kaya kung mayroon kang scandal video sa phone mo, o kung may mga kahindik-hindik kang messages sa sent items mo, sigurado, nasa bingit ka ng kahihiyan!

Sinubukan ni Zachary Julian ang nasabing application. Si Zachary ay isang senior security analyst ng Bishop Fox, isang IT security consulting firm na nag-aaral sa assessment at penetration testing ng ilang mga application sa internet. Nadiskubra at napatunayan ni Zachary Julian na nag-a-upload nga ang Sarahah ng mga impormasyon ng user once na na-download at nag-run ang nasabing application. 

“As soon as you log into the application, it transmits all of your email and phone contacts stored on the Android operating system,” -Julian.

Sabihin na nating kaya namang pagkatiwalaan ang app na Sarahah at maniwala sa sinasabi nilang "privacy" ng mga kinukuha nilang impormasyon mula sa user. Ang kaso, hindi natin mapagkakatiwalaan ang ilang internet servers na pupuwedeng pagdalahan ng mga impormasyong nakukuha ng Sarahah sa atin.

Huwag titigan ang app, subukang tingnan din ang nagagawa nito sa server 

Tama din naman na sabihin na ang kaya lang nating makita, being users ng application ay ang behaviour ng app sa cellphoes natin. Pero madalas, lalo na yung mga hindi techie, hindi natin nakikita ang mga ginagawa ng app kapag nasa server na. (Ang server ay computer program na nagbibigay ng impormasyon o commands sa iba pang computer o netework ng mga computers)

Tandaan, na kahit gaano pa kagaling ang privacy settings ng isang application, kung hindi naman natin ito na-configure ng maayos, pupuwede pa ring magkaroon ng server-breach at makapasok ang ilang taong may maiitim na puso para paglaruan ang anumang datos na makukuha sa atin. Bibihira ang mga apps na magsasabi kung ligtas nga ang isang application o hindi. Minsan pa nga, karamihan sa mga Android users ay walang app integrity checker! 

Sa kasalukuyan, mayroon nang 5million hanggang 10 million na taong nag-install ng app na ito sa Android pa lang. So kung ang mga nagdownload na ito ay tamaan ng sumpong at subukang kumuha ng mga private information ng kanya-kanya nilang contacts, then mayroon tayong mga daang-daang milyong contact numbers and emails na nakuha at openly ay puwedeng magamit sa masama.  Ang tanong, isa ka kaya sa mga nag-download ng app? O isa kaya sa mga nasa phonebook ng isang kaibigan o kakilala n nag-download na ng app. Ang masasabi ko na lang siguro dito, well, goodluck sa ating lahat!

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