Tracking Cell Phones

Kinda figured this tech would come sooner or later. What I wonder is if you can control this by simply turning off the cell-phone?

www.nytimes.com...
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Lost? Hiding? Your Cellphone Is Keeping Tabs
By AMY HARMON

Published: December 21, 2003

On the train returning to Armonk, N.Y., from a recent shopping trip in Manhattan with her friends, Britney Lutz, 15, had the odd sensation that her father was watching her.

He very well could have been. Ms. Lutz's father, Kerry, recently equipped his daughters with cellular phones that let him see where they are on a computer map at any given moment. Earlier that day, he had tracked Britney as she arrived in Grand Central Terminal. Later, calling up the map on his own cellphone screen, he noticed she was in SoHo.

[Edited on 22-12-2003 by postings]

I watched a 60 minutes (or maybe 20/20) on this, and it's sick. Parents are puting remote cameras all over their house and dialing into their website at work to watch the kids, they are putting bugs in their clothing, etc. and the cell phone thing.

When these kids grow up, either they won't mind a 1984 style world, or they're going to be seriously f***ed in the head...

I have worked in the telecommunication industry for many years as a consultant and this technology is definatly not new. How far they have come along to exactly (as in a couple of metres) pin pointing your posistion im not 100% sure but a mobile phone is quite easy to trace.

I have a Treo 600, it has built in GPS tracking for 911 purposes. Default is that everybody can get your position, but there is a way to turn that off and only allow 911 to get your position.

The 911 part does make sense, but there is all sorts of chance for abuse.

Originally posted by boosai
I have worked in the telecommunication industry for many years as a consultant and this technology is definatly not new. How far they have come along to exactly (as in a couple of metres) pin pointing your posistion im not 100% sure but a mobile phone is quite easy to trace.

Yep. Soon you will walk down the street and you phone will ring and tell you about the lunch special, since you are standing outside the place.

When you think about it, its probably just a way of conditioning our children to accept the presence of these things and to give up on any idea of privacy or trust. Just one more reason off-grid living is looking better and better to me.

Originally posted by postings
What I wonder is if you can control this by simply turning off the cell-phone?

On a regular cell phone..

Yes..

But one that has special device for tracking..

I dont know..

Btw,

Police and your operator have had this opportunity to track you at least since GSM was 'out'..

Actually..

The operator MUST track you in order to your phone work..

(I dont know about NMT..)

Btw,

Theres already at least 3 topics about the subject..

I'm a bit ahead of the curve here, but folks, wait until you see the wonders of UWB (Ultra wide band). It's waaay better than Wi Fi or Blue tooth. And ... there's a patent for finding out location, based upon signal strength. It's more accurate than the trigangulation tricks they use for cell phones and GPS. Whoo hooo!

Originally posted by FULCRUM
Btw,

Police and your operator have had this opportunity to track you at least since GSM was 'out'..

Actually..

The operator MUST track you in order to your phone work..

Not quite. Actually the major companies were mandated to track for 911 (emergency call, not the event). Many could track generally, but not pinpoint. In fact, they did not put it into place as mandated, and just paid the government fines for a couple years until they could. Many are still just getting this going.

GSM in particular. I worked for the company that had the first US GSM market.

As for the tracking for the phone to work...no. It is the constant broadcast by your phone of it's number and esn (electronic serial number) to the towers. Basically telling the phone company "here I am". That was how they could track generally. Knew the towers you were hitting. It was not a GPS accuracy like the goverment has required.

That general tracking that must be done is something like in 200m in accuracy..

Am i right?

Not quite pin point..

But still..

They will know..

(even afterwards where you was at in a certain time..)

But they dont actively track people..

And have other peoples knowing that where are you at..

Machines keep the track of you..

So if your wife gets 'missing'.. and your spotted in woods at the supposed time of disapperence..

Theyll get good general idea from where to look for the grave..

This is right I believe with GSM they can only track you really to the nearest tower. You dont have to be making a phone call for you to be traced they can keep "pinging" your phone every couple of seconds to know approx where you are.

If anyone knows of any incidents where officials are actively tracking folks based on this method? Perhaps this is why they are so afraid of pre-paid cell phones?

-P