Shawn Ryan Built an App to Stop Data Brokers Tracking You 😳
Shawn Ryan discusses his new app Glacier, which addresses data privacy concerns by combining VPN, secure DNS, and temporary phone numbers to prevent data brokers from tracking users and selling their information to unknown parties.
Summary
Shawn Ryan introduces his latest business venture called Glacier, a privacy-focused application designed to combat data broker tracking. The conversation begins with a reference to an incident where Iranian actors allegedly gained access to soldiers' phones by purchasing data from data brokers through standard marketing channels. Ryan explains that Glacier addresses this vulnerability through three core features: a VPN, secure DNS, and temporary phone numbers. He describes how everyday smartphone users have their information continuously extracted by apps and sold to data brokers without consent or knowledge of the ultimate purchasers. The secure DNS component blocks this data extraction at the network level. The temporary number feature allows users to share a phone number for contact purposes, but if they feel the number is being misused or want to sever contact, they can delete it instantly and generate a new one, completely severing any potential for the previous number to be used against them. Ryan presents this as both a practical privacy solution and an innovative product concept.
Key Insights
- Byron Towne believes Iranian attackers gained access to soldiers' phones by purchasing data from data brokers using standard data broker marketing channels
- Apps continuously extract information from users' phones and hand it over to data brokers, with the end purchasers of this data being unknown
- Secure DNS technology blocks apps from extracting data out of phones at the network level
- Glacier's temporary number feature allows users to instantly delete contact numbers and prevent previous contacts from reaching them again
- Glacier combines three privacy technologies—VPN, secure DNS, and temporary numbers—into a single application to address multiple data privacy vulnerabilities
Topics
Transcript
[0:00] I just had Byron Towne, he believes the Iranians attacked the base by buying data from a data broker, gaining access to the soldiers' phones through the usual marketing of data brokers. My newest business, Glacier. What is he doing? It has a VPN, secure DNS, and temporary numbers. You walk around every day, you have all these apps, and they suck information out of your phone, handing it over to data brokers. And it's being sold to God knows who. So a secure DNS blocks all that sucking out of your phone. And as for temporary numbers, well, yes, you can contact [0:30] me at this number. If you feel like this number is being used against you,…
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