Wireless companies 'track your every move'

From http://news.yahoo.com/s/digitaltrends/20110326/tc_digitaltrends/wirelesscompaniestrackyoureverymove:

 

This is probably the single biggest privacy invasion in the history of this forum. And it occurs every day to a large percentage of the population of the developed world. And you almost here nothing about it, not even on this forum.

I find it completely unacceptable. I guess the only option if you don't want to be tracked is to turn off your phone.

I remember some speculation a while back that tracking could occur even if the phone was off, but I don't put much stock in those claims.

 

The phones have to be tracked...otherwise, how do you plan on making and taking calls? They locate you by the strength/weakness of the signal relative to a set number of towers. And, by all accounts, you can be tracked with the phone off..but not if the battery is taken out. Also, no, this is far from the biggest privacy threat in the history of this forum. Though to be honest, some of the "threats" mentioned in this place have been pretty far out there.

You can disable GPS on most phones, but it differs by manufacturer and, to turn it completely off, you're crippling the phones capabilities and apps pretty harshly. Folks are going to have to learn that if they want to play with the newest toys in our security and marketing-obsessed world, there will be some ugly realities to deal with.

 

I was referring more to the logging of this data rather than the tracking itself. The story mentioned they kept a log of 35,000 data points on this one individual over a period of 6 months. That means over those 6 months, they have a record of every place he's been when he's had his phone with him.

That's a pretty egregious privacy violation in my book. I doubt the situation is different anywhere else in the developed world.

Yes, I've heard that. I don't put any stock into it though. My understanding is that it takes a lot of power to make contact with the cell towers. The batteries would run down quickly if they were putting out that much power when the phone's off.

There are rumors of a "roving bug" but I believe they have to download something to your phone when it's on that will then cause the phone to not fully shut off (i.e. the microphone might keep recording). But this should cause the battery to run down much faster. A normal "unbugged" phone shouldn't be trackable when it's off.

But if you have any links to credible sources that claim tracking of an unmodified phone can occur with the phone off, I'd be happy to change my mind.

Nothing I've seen is bigger than a company keeping logs of every place you go for years at a time.

I don't think that disables their ability to track you. As you said, they can triangulate you based on strength of signal to a cell tower.

And, does disabling the GPS on a phone prevent the phone company itself from tracking you through GPS?

 

It is possible for a phones GPS to be self powered, no battery needed, by the energy available from the environment. The technology was demonstrated in a cell phone that could charge it's own battery from the ambient energy in the environment. A GPS chip requires less energy than charging a battery. Isn't Nikola Tesla cool or what?

Cell phones are another tool that helps "them" to pinpoint who or where you are, if you are "their" target. Being able to open a cell phone account with a false name has a few advantages, like preventing someone with access to a companies DB of customers targeting you.

 

Or better yet DONT OWN 1 OF THESE SPYING DEVICES!!!!

Start caring about your privacy and be aware of whats going on!!

I have known all along they do this which is the main reason I DONT HAVE ANY OF IT!!

 

Don't use a cell any more myself. I used to use an old 2002 era phone (no gps) on pay-as-you-go, with the battery removed until I needed to use it, until the phone company blocked it from the network (no it wasn't stolen)

 

James Burke, the science and technology historian, said about 25 years ago that in gridding the world we have gridded ourselves, there's no place to run and hide anymore. But then again, who would want to?