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Originally posted by burdman30ott6
Originally posted by Lil Drummerboy
Wanna not be tracked?
Buy yourself a MIAMobi sleeve for your Phone.
I don't believe that blocks GPS signals. But worry not! These little babies will turn your personal space into a tank of privacy. They're a bit spendy and they will obviously render any Garmin or onstar system in your vehicle useless... but you have to break some eggs to make an omelette. As to cell signals, WiFi, EMF, etc These rock! Again, its a bit spendy, but well worth it.
Can police access the GPS data on your phone? According to a recent court ruling, they can not only access it, but activate GPS location tracking if it's disabled. That's one takeaway from last week's U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ruling in a case involving Melvin Skinner, who was convicted of drug trafficking--and sentenced to 20 years in jail. Skinner argued that the GPS data tracking, which DEA agents used to track a motor home he was driving that was filled with 1,100 pounds of marijuana, violated his Fourth Amendment right against unreasonable search. In addition, according to a close reading of the court ruling, it turns out that police may not have merely tracked Skinner, but actually instructed his prepaid phone provider to activate the GPS functionality. The court, however, ruled that the DEA had acted lawfully.
About 100 million Americans carry smartphones capable of emitting location data almost continuously. Even some less-sophisticated devices have such capacity, as do the navigation systems in automobiles and some laptop computers. Worldwide, 154 million smartphones were shipped to consumers in just the past three months, according to International Data, a market analysis firm. (The Global Positioning System functions often can be switched off, but that deactivates some phone features.) Changing technology has long strained the legal strictures of the Fourth Amendment, whose prohibition on "unreasonable" searches and seizures was born of 18th-century law and guides the legal standards for when police can tap phones, use tracking devices and monitor a suspect's Internet activity. Cellphones always have been trackable to some degree, as users moved among towers that carried the signals necessary to make the devices work, creating an electronic record in the process. But GPS technology is far more sophisticated, narrowing locations typically to within a few feet. Many smartphones relay location data to central servers throughout the day, as users check traffic, search for nearby restaurants or scan weather maps. Combined with information from toll booths, credit card machines and security cameras, people in highly wired nations often move within a web of data that can allow governments to pinpoint individual movements down to the second.
Originally posted by nottelling
Just about every communications channel, whether it be your ISP, twitter/facebook, cell phone and tablet manufacturers and cellphone carriers (not to mention Microsoft and Apple) have agreements with law enforcement agencies so that backdoors or surveillance functionality is built right into the device
As for the Feds tracking you via the GPS in your phone, a lot of people disagree that this is even possible, that police CAN triangulate your location using celltowers, but how can they track GPS? It's a passive, receive-only system isn't it? Nah, that's just pillowtalk to make you feel like your privacy is all safe and snug.
Originally posted by Bedlam
Originally posted by nottelling
Just about every communications channel, whether it be your ISP, twitter/facebook, cell phone and tablet manufacturers and cellphone carriers (not to mention Microsoft and Apple) have agreements with law enforcement agencies so that backdoors or surveillance functionality is built right into the device
See also: CALEA.
As for the Feds tracking you via the GPS in your phone, a lot of people disagree that this is even possible, that police CAN triangulate your location using celltowers, but how can they track GPS? It's a passive, receive-only system isn't it? Nah, that's just pillowtalk to make you feel like your privacy is all safe and snug.
You misread the article, apparently. The article IS about the Feds tracking someone by the GPS data on his phone. GPS is, in fact, receive only. However, your phone does two or three things to establish a location. One, it locates itself by the cell towers. Two, it uses GPS data to enhance that location, and three, it uses local wi-fi data to further increase the resolution. And then the cops can lift that data from the phone. What they do NOT do, because it doesn't work that way, is get anything from the GPS satellite system.
But yes, even if your cellphone's GPS is "turned off" from the setup screen by the user, the phone company can turn it right back on from their end. That's one of those mandates in the 'enhanced 911' law.
Originally posted by nottelling
So what you're trying to say is that the Feds can track you via the Enhanced GPS built into your Android or IOS phone?
No one gives a sh!t about the little technical doodads and processes which determine HOW the GPS in your phone can phone home, only that it can indeed give up your physical location. Can we pretty please carry on with the thread now? Is that OK?