So, wrapping a car in copper window screening might not be practical (earlier thread).
What is I simply don’t want my phone blabbing my position to the world.
Yes, Settings => Location => GPS + ‘OFF’.
Maybe I don’t believe it really disables all ‘geo-tracking’ - I especially don’t like the idea of having lat/long/date/time/moon phase/tide level tacked onto every damned pic I snap.
If I line my case with Al foil, would that kill the GPS engine?
Maybe a padded mailing pouch wrapped in copper window screen?
Never thought I’d be seated in the “Luddite” section of the culture.
If your cellphone can receive a wireless signal, it can also receive GPS signal. Wrapping it completely in conductive material will work, but how would you use it?
Dump your smartphone for a cellphone. My work cellphone can text, make/receive phone calls and take pictures. Nothing else. No apps capability. No GPS.
That is not true. GPS signals are very much weaker than cell signals – you could probably make a screen that introduces enough noise to confound GPS without completely blocking cell service.
Of course, GPS is not the be all and end all of location tracking. Even just using cell service you are allowing people to infer that you are closer to one cell tower than you are to any other, which gives your location to some degree of accuracy.
The mere fact that a cell phone has to check in with nearby cell towers allows its location to be triangulated to within a square kilometer or so, if you’re in communication with three or more towers (typical urban coverage). And that location pretty much updates in real-time as the phone hands off from cell to cell.
And a landline isn’t much better, since it’s at a fixed end-of-wire. If you’re talking on a landline, “they” know where you are. (Unless you’ve cleverly scaled a phone pole and clipped in with a lineman’s handset.)
Any cell phone has to blab your location to the world if you want to actually use it. It has to check in with cell towers, which gives your location - not as accurately as GPS, but accurate enough to map your movements (Gnoitall’s 1 sq km sounds about right). You need to turn the phone off if you don’t want location information revealed.
If you don’t want your photos geotagged then just disable location services for the Camera app (assuming an iPhone, I believe Android phones have similar options).
Settings -> Privacy -> Location Services -> Camera -> Never.
Your cell phone’s position can be tracked many ways besides GPS. The accuracy varies based on carrier and cell tower density but in some cases it can be within a 250 meter radius:
This includes not only location of your phone but any cellular-enabled device such as an iPad. Cellular devices can also be located by using a “StingRay” IMSI-catcher, which can also intercept, decrypt and record cellular data:
Your location data can be accessed by law enforcement without a warrant. This includes not only your current location but anywhere you have been over months of time:
According to some sources, your phone can be accessed and the microphone activated for eavesdropping – even when it is turned off:
It’s not just your phone - your car may well be checking in too.
So no phone and a car old enough to have no communications or logging device. If you want to give someone a message then whisper it in their ear so no one can lip read or hear with a remote microphone.
And if you think that the NSA is interested enough in you to hack your phone, pushing the off button isn’t enough to be sure it’s off (it’s not that hard to update the software so it only pretends to turn off…)
If a totalitarian government had insisted its subjects carry a device able to pinpoint its accuracy to within 2 feet and carry a device in their cars to enable real-time tracking and recording of all routes taken, there would be a huge stink about privacy.
But: Oh, that means I can call people and look at the internet? Cool!
And the car can tell me where to turn and how to get home, no matter how lost I am? Sign me up!
As the above-referenced articles indicate, the FBI or even local law enforcement can obtain your cell phone location history without a warrant. IOW it doesn’t matter if you turn off your phone and remove the battery. Up to that point they can find everywhere you have been in the last six months. Even a local county detective can obtain this.
If the phone is turned on, either federal or local law enforcement can use StingRay and Hailstorm devices to find your exact location within a few meters. Now that this has been pioneered by law enforcement, similar technology is increasingly affordable to 3rd parties. As the below Bloomberg article says, “there are lots of people who want to spy on their neighbors or their spouses or their girlfriends.”
The operative words are “government” and “insisted”. Most privacy activism is based around the idea of being allowed privacy. The fact that, given that allowance, most people choose not not be private (by carrying the electronic leash) is immaterial.
