BS. Why I do not carry a smartphone. Hope the EFF is made aware of this. More than slightly unconstitutional. Guess 4th Amendment doesn't mean ****.
IANAL. But there is the argument that there's less privacy for stuff in public. And yes, it's iffy to carry a tracking device. Especially while doing stuff that you want kept private.
It used to tick me off, so many people in every restaurant, other places, doing nothing but lavishing their heart n soul onto a portable fone/net combo like it was their oxygen. BUT, it's transitioned again. Count how many times in a given day peeps (especially store clerks etc.) have a smartphone that sticks up halfway out of their back pocket. Hey, at least they feel better about themselves that their lifeline/contribution (and others too) to their open history is just a reach away, all nicely snug. On topic, oh boy, that means sharing all that data/images that they think to keep to themselves. I'm leaving the rest of that alone. Carry a pocket computer around 24/7 and it collects a treasure trove of a lot of somethings
That is quite revealing. This case is one to watch. I don't know that Google has ever publicly admitted their phone apps transmit that kind of personally identifiable information to Google that they can know who you are and where you are at any given time, but obviously law enforcement believes they do. We know Google maps use location information but do they admit the user location is being triangulated even when they are not using maps, and that this user location data is being transmitted to them continuously, as it would have to be if they can identify who was near a crime scene? If Google does have that information it would also have to mean not only is this data being continuously transmitted to Google, but also that they are actively logging it with dates and times and individual user id's. The implications of that are huge, not just for private individuals but for public figures too.
I have no doubt, whatsoever, that they have all that data stuffed to somewhere on their servers. For example, if some google made app on smartphone sends IMSI to their servers continually then they already have MCC and MNC because IMSI is basically MCC+MNC + 9 to 10 digit unique identifier. Then they would only need LAC & CID (which their app could surely send too to their servers) and that would tell them which phones and how many, were around the cell tower X on coordinates YZ during time ABC. Not even triangulation needed. Just one cell tower with LTE giving the best accuracy of the radius. (but of course triangulation would give even better result.) Also, if Im not wrong, everytime your phone enters another LAC (group of cell towers) your phone will automatically send IMSI again. They could easily stored all that info into their database: Your general, or with triangulation, precise position, time of day and also the route that your traveled. If there was some way that I could get MCC+MNC+LAC+CID of some phone X anytime I wanted, then I could too do the tracking of exact phone with my app in realtime (it's about ready, just few more final tests, proof reading of pdf guide and uploading the celltower database).
I carry a Faraday bag/pouch most anywhere I go. Its convenient to quickly remove the phone from the grid. I have found turning it off or removing the battery can be too slow.
