Your iPhone is secretly tracking you all the time

reply to post by centurion1211


If this was the case, someone would be able to file a lawsuit against apple for breach of privacy. I'd love to see that in the small print anyway.

Technology/evidence? That would be great OP - I'll wait for you to deliver.

The iphone tracks, the blackberry tracks...anything with the capability of GPS positioning can track.

I turn the GPS feature off on my phone but am certain it can be turned on without my consent. Do I really care? No.

Your ip can track you as well but we all use our computers to come here and say what we have to say. Do I worry about that? No.

I use the aforementioned by choice knowing full well the potential ramifications of using them. If someone is so interested to know where I am physically and where I am online, my guess is they have the means to do so without me assisting them.

At the same time, if they've been paying attention, they know what to expect upon showing up.

reply to post by Dreine


In theory i guess they could determine the location of the phone based on tower/cell handshakes. But surely you would need to know the physical address of the phone. And you'd need to troll through the endless logs where phones connect to nearest cell/tower. And think how hard it would be to pin point a phone to a certain location.

There's a lot of paranoia going on in this thread.

reply to post by Dreine


"Let me clarify.

By 'wake up' I was speaking about the need for people to become a bit more tech-saavy and realize that many of their modern day conveniences can be used for a myriad of purposes they probably aren't aware of.

Not lame rhetoric."

I know what you meant, my point is this: I happen to live with an 'awake' person. He 'woke up' about a year ago, when he watched some Alex Jones film, now he thinks that death lurks around every corner, in every sip of water, in every bite of food, ie. he's a paranoid wreck. Our quiet little rural part of the world is now a 'police state' and every whisp of cloud is a toxic chemtrail. He would love this iPhone thread, and he would email it to everybody on his mailing list, he would stop complete strangers in the street and tell them they are being tracked by a government agency that wants to kill them etc. Wow, it must be great to be 'awake'.

reply to post by awake_and_aware


www.pcworld.com...

reply to post by awake_and_aware


Awake,

It is not hard at all to pin a phone to within 3 meters of it's physical location, depending on local tower saturation. I used to be in a line of work that specialized in such things, and that's as far as I'm willing to go into detail about that.

Personally, I have an old 2g phone which lets me call my wife and what-not which is basically all I need. If someone is targeting me they must be very, very bored.

reply to post by seabhac-rua


Understood.

I'm not for paranoia, but having been doing my previous line of work there are some things that do make me look a bit more closely.
I don't believe death is around every corner or that everything is part of a plan to subjegate humanity, but I also know that those with power crave more power and it's human nature, to a degree, to want to rule over others.

I try to remain sensible.

reply to post by seabhac-rua


I agree - The potential is there to use technology to achieve some sinister agendas but that's not to say that people or organisations are - Although in many cases, there is proof of it (conspiracy FACT). I think a part of being "awake" is keeping an open-mind and doing the necessary research if a claim is made.

Although it seems your spouse is going a bit OTT there is some truth to some outlandish theories - Aspartame, for example, is an extremly dangerous substance that is still being added to our food and drink (diet Coke) Allbeit, it may not be some sinister agenda (or conspiracy) but a mis-communication or error in researching the substance. I think your partner is wise to be vigilant.

reply to post by Dreine


So do they triangulate the position using the cell towers? Similar to GPS triangulation?

What about signal interence from electrical devices, does that not have an influence in how the phone is pin-pointed?

Short of GPS tracking, i can't see an efficient means to track phones down, especially considering how much information would have to be sifted through (unless of course they can filter by MAC address or something similar)

Forgive my ignorance, i work in I.T but i'm by no means a telecommunication wizz kid!

Haha, yeah i don't think they'd have much to write home about regarding my phone activities! But still... I don't buy the old "if you havn't done anything wrong, you've got nothing to hide" argument.

reply to post by awake_and_aware


GPS triangulation, bingo. Of course the more towers you have in the area, the better the results, usually. Also depends on how many call events are taking place in that particular area. Many providers also use satellites to increase coverage areas and confirm location for roaming charges.

Other than phone numbers, cell phones can be tracked by Individual Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI, your personal account listing), Individual Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI, the actual physical tracking label attached to the phone), among many, many other discriminating selectors.

It can take as little as 20 seconds to weed out a particular selector from a list of thousands of entries.

reply to post by awake_and_aware


I hear you, and I agree with you on being vigilant.
What annoys me is the alarmist attitude taken by some people(my housemate is an old friend, not my spouse BTW). There seems to be a duality going on with some of these self professed awake people, I know more than one person like this, and I see it here everyday, their 'rhetoric' I speak of is this awake/asleep duality, you either see the world their way(Alex Jones's way in many cases I know) or you are asleep, and haven't a clue about what a big bad dangerous world it is out there.

reply to post by Dreine


Jeeese, thanks for that info, I'm sure i remember messing around with IMEI numbers when i had my old Nokia 3210.

Do you know of any cases where by authories have tracked down a "criminal" using any unique ID you mentioned?

reply to post by seabhac-rua


I can relate to what you're saying. it's not a polarisation i tend to agree with (despite my name) And it seems very condecending and quite smug.

I've seen the expression "Sheeple" being used too

Myself, i'd rather focus on sharing fact, rather than telling everyone they are "asleep". I'm just skeptical and cautious by nature; possibly because of my interest in history and human affairs.

reply to post by awake_and_aware


Any specific cases? Negative, I was not associated with the FBI. But I would be rather surprised if that was not the case... It has been used for drug smuggling cases most certainly.
Also, if by criminal you mean arms smugglers, then yes, I know quite a few examples, but I cannot divulge any further. I'm pretty sure you can understand why.

reply to post by Dreine


Interesting - I'm sure you could spare us a few details - We are somewhat anonymous here

In drug smuggling cases you say? Suprised FBI would intervene considering they've knowingly being caught shipping large quanties of drugs into America.

God makes money (Gold, Oil and Drugs)

Reply to post by centurion1211

Thats common among all new mobile phones. Why you ask ?.. its there so it can auto update your geo location to social network posts.


Posted Via ATS Mobile: m.abovetopsecret.com

reply to post by awake_and_aware


Actually, the drug smuggling was in the Coast Guard or Navy's court, the FBI took over when it came to the actual legal findings... trials, etc.

As far as details... I'll just say that if cell phone tracking bothers/worries you, then you should not own nor carry one. Or a laptop for that matter. Basically anything with a transmitter, heh.

I know for a fact that Israeli's have 'cold called' terrorists trying to get arms into Gaza before and told them "Stop and go home, or that F-16 above you is going to drop a bomb directly on your head." Not verbatim, but true!

reply to post by centurion1211


www.thenewspaper.com...

Michigan: Police Search Cell Phones During Traffic Stops
ACLU seeks information on Michigan program that allows cops to download information from smart phones belonging to stopped motorists.

The Michigan State Police have a high-tech mobile forensics device that can be used to extract information from cell phones belonging to motorists stopped for minor traffic violations. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Michigan last Wednesday demanded that state officials stop stonewalling freedom of information requests for information on the program.

ACLU learned that the police had acquired the cell phone scanning devices and in August 2008 filed an official request for records on the program, including logs of how the devices were used. The state police responded by saying they would provide the information only in return for a payment of $544,680. The ACLU found the charge outrageous.

"Law enforcement officers are known, on occasion, to encourage citizens to cooperate if they have nothing to hide," ACLU staff attorney Mark P. Fancher wrote. "No less should be expected of law enforcement, and the Michigan State Police should be willing to assuage concerns that these powerful extraction devices are being used illegally by honoring our requests for cooperation and disclosure."

A US Department of Justice test of the CelleBrite UFED used by Michigan police found the device could grab all of the photos and video off of an iPhone within one-and-a-half minutes. The device works with 3000 different phone models and can even defeat password protections.

"Complete extraction of existing, hidden, and deleted phone data, including call history, text messages, contacts, images, and geotags," a CelleBrite brochure explains regarding the device's capabilities. "The Physical Analyzer allows visualization of both existing and deleted locations on Google Earth. In addition, location information from GPS devices and image geotags can be mapped on Google Maps."

The ACLU is concerned that these powerful capabilities are being quietly used to bypass Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable searches.

"With certain exceptions that do not apply here, a search cannot occur without a warrant in which a judicial officer determines that there is probable cause to believe that the search will yield evidence of criminal activity," Fancher wrote. "A device that allows immediate, surreptitious intrusion into private data creates enormous risks that troopers will ignore these requirements to the detriment of the constitutional rights of persons whose cell phones are searched."

The national ACLU is currently suing the Department of Homeland Security for its policy of warrantless electronic searches of laptops and cell phones belonging to people entering the country who are not suspected of committing any crime.

reply to post by centurion1211


It's a good thing I own a Blackberry then But I do have an iPod Touch instead

The moral of this story is: Leave your phone at home when you hide the bodies.