Targeting Christians who go to Church through geofencing

News
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It has been reported that Israel is targeting Evangelicals who attend certain Churches in California, Nevada, Arizona and Colorado with pro-Israel ads using geofencing. They are spending upwards of $4.1 million starting out.

What is geofencing? Imagine that there is a digital circle drawn around your Church and if you have your locations turned on on your smart phone device and step within that circle, someone knows that you have been there. With this data that you attend Church (and what time you attend Church), they can advertise whatever message they want, to influence you and shape you opinions on particular issues.

They do not need the permission from your Church to do this. And geofencing can be done to target individuals who visit certain stores, restaurants, and clubs.

I turn off my locations and rarely do I take my Phone to Church with me. More so I don’t forget to turn it off and have it go off during Mass.

In 2021, Catholic Journalists discovered that Monsignor Jeffrey Burrill, the general secretary of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), had used a same-sęx dating app! I believe one of the ways they discovered this was by using geofencing around the USCCB-owned residence/office. This data showed a device associated with the high-ranking cleric emitted signals from the app on a nearly daily basis from 2018 to 2020.

There is a debate if geofencing is ethical, but since Politicians would love to be able to target campaign ads to potential voters, I don’t see them making any laws against it. Think about what a powerful tool this could be. They could put up a geofence around the board of elections. They could essentially collect data on voters. It may not tell them who’s device was within the permeator at any given time, but they could collect other information like what apps voters use. They could perhaps set up multiple geofences and see how many voters go to Church on Sundays and target ads to a Christian base. Or what stores voters shop at. Not sure how that could be used to campaign, but if you know a certain demographic frequents certain stores, maybe they could target ads towards them (say a gun shop, Planned Parenthood, or dispensary).

Thoughts?

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I don’t go to Church, so I really don’t care lol.

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How do you do this on your phone?

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Go onto YouTube and search for “turn these settings off on [your make & model of phone].”

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Thanks. I didn’t need a video. I found the location settings. However, I need the location settings on sometimes, such as yesterday when riding the subway (I had the transit authority’s security app on) or Sunday, when for the first time I called Uber, or last year when walking to church and I called 911 to report an out-of-control car. But now I know how to turn the location settings off without switching to airplane mode or just turning off the phone.

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Understandable. If you can set it to allow locations “while using the app only” that is best. You’re right. sometimes you need locations turned on (for certain uses). Just know that if you go on any cheating apps that you could get found out like that Bishop did. Plus God knows ; )

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Cheating apps! I know you’re joking. I won’t even look up answers to help me with a crossword puzzle. But there are undoubtedly computers watching over my shoulder, and I’ll be happy to blind them most of the time. However, I always get the weather for Quezon City, and though I have been to the Philippines five times, I have never been to Quezon City. I also get information about towns, even states, I don’t live in. I don’t correct them. I figure that somebody is selling the information, and if it’s wrong, I have maybe less to worry about. (Would you like to know the weather in Quezon City? It’s 80 F there, and it’s midnight, while it’s noon here in Pennsylvania.)

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