adrock1976
Established Member
To save clogging up the "Paper Tickets v E-tickets" thread (where the below post was made)
The bit I bolded above:
Could it be explained how someone had made a few transactions at a company called Dunelms (I have never heard of them - it transpired it is a home furnishings store - the nearest two to me being in Lothian Region (either Bathgate or Livingston) and in Renfrewshire (Paisley)) on the exact same day transactions were made when I was at Glasgow Royal Infirmary undergoing cardiac tests being injected with iodine and lying down on a machine that bombarded me with gamma radiation?
Nobody knows my bank details, I do not have my password written down, I do not store or save bank or card details on my computer or phone, and I am the only person who uses the computer and phone. Also, I had my bank card on me that day, and I have never ever lent it to anybody else in my life.
Fortunately, when I went into my local bank branch and shown the appointment I had at The Royal, it was ascertained that it was impossible for me to be in two places at once and had the money refunded, plus a new card issued with the previous one being cancelled.
Even the most basic of mobile phones inherently tracks its movements. It has to regularly report its location to ‘the system’ to enable calls to be routed to it. Similarly, if you are on the internet on any device (and you must be to be posting on here) your activities are being tracked. You are on CCTV in loads of places. Do you ever use a card to pay for anything? All the above can be put together to track you in quite some detail if someone with access to it all really wanted to. The point is for 99.999% of the population, nobody does. Your anonymity comes from that rather than any efforts to avoid tracking.
I understand that people are suspicious of tracking but there really is a lot of misunderstanding about it. Usually originating in the more lurid newspapers and nonsense on social media. The same goes for online banking. Regardless of what the Daily Mail or You and Yours will have you believe, hackers cannot empty your account at the touch of a button. Despite this many people believe they can and treat it with suspicion.
I am a recent convert to Etickets and I love them, purely for the convenience. The last one I bought was a Keighley to Leeds single on Tuesday. I bought it half an hour before departure while still sat on the KWVR train and it was a Northern last minute advance - £3 vs the £5.40 a walk up ticket would have cost. My alternatives would have been to pay by card at the station so trackable, or find a cashpoint locally and withdraw cash to pay so the withdrawal location would be recorded and my subsequent movements almost certainly on CCTV.
If, for whatever reason, you want to avoid being tracked it takes a lot more effort than not having a smartphone, just ask a drug dealer! Avoiding smartphones just denies you the many benefits and gives you minimal extra privacy.
The bit I bolded above:
Could it be explained how someone had made a few transactions at a company called Dunelms (I have never heard of them - it transpired it is a home furnishings store - the nearest two to me being in Lothian Region (either Bathgate or Livingston) and in Renfrewshire (Paisley)) on the exact same day transactions were made when I was at Glasgow Royal Infirmary undergoing cardiac tests being injected with iodine and lying down on a machine that bombarded me with gamma radiation?
Nobody knows my bank details, I do not have my password written down, I do not store or save bank or card details on my computer or phone, and I am the only person who uses the computer and phone. Also, I had my bank card on me that day, and I have never ever lent it to anybody else in my life.
Fortunately, when I went into my local bank branch and shown the appointment I had at The Royal, it was ascertained that it was impossible for me to be in two places at once and had the money refunded, plus a new card issued with the previous one being cancelled.