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Mobile carriers can get your GPS location

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Re: Mobile carriers can get your GPS location

#421

Post by NoiseBert69 »

subscribed wrote: post #337
jonmon6691 wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree, there's way too much going on in the firmware, just make a dumb Lora-bluetooth bridge. Hell, just integrate a Lora radio in a phone.

The base software is open, you could potentially do it! :)

Honestly: MC and MT are classical bloated Arduino projects with a giant single big-loop and an interrupt coming from the LoRa modem.

Both projects are hitting their limits because of this. Every new feature and every bug fix causes endless amount of pain and breakage.

I was involved in both - and gave up because of this.

IMHO both projects need some kind of thin-client which delegates most of the functionality into the client. Only keep some basic LoRa/Message Buffer/Routing/Battery Saving functionality in the hardware itself.

Re: Mobile carriers can get your GPS location

#422

Post by retsl »

spwa4 wrote: post #117
nichos wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would ask for your source

How that works is simple: there are regulations that force that the microphone used for calling is directly connected to the "baseband", which is under control of the carrier. It has to be, because of AT&T's argument: ONE misbehaving baseband can make cell phones inoperable in an area that's up to a kilometer in diameter. So AT&T's cell towers "need" to be able to send out a signal that permanently disables a phone's…

> A lot of phone manufacturers "save on memory" and use the same memory chips for the baseband processor and the central cpu. Which means that it's a little bit cheaper ... and the baseband has access to all the phone memory and all peripherals connected through the memory bus (which is all of them in any recent phone).

This can be mitigated e.g. via an IOMMU: https://grapheneos.org/faq#baseband-isolation

> It may even be the case that these chips are integrated in the cpu (which I believe is the case for recent Apple chips).

I don't know whether it's true or not that they use the same RAM chips. But either way it doesn't change the fact that they can still be properly segregated via the IOMMU.

Re: Mobile carriers can get your GPS location

#423

Post by microtonal »

lrvick wrote: post #382
hpdigidrifter wrote: post #376

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pardon my skepticism but I find it hard to believe you can actually participate in western society without choosing to have a government mandated tracking device? Maybe you live somewhere this is possible but it's definitely not in the developed world

I am a security engineer and I live and work in Silicon Valley with an active social life. None of these things require a phone.

I can understand that in some social contexts it is possible. For me personally it would be very hard. E.g. most school-related stuff of our daughter is coordinated through WhatsApp, same with birthday parties, playdates, etc.

Re: Mobile carriers can get your GPS location

#424

Post by nullbyte808 »

lrvick wrote: post #368
jmward01 wrote: post #90

"and notify the user when such attempts are made to their device." We aren't going to remove the security state. We should make all attempts to, but it won't happen. What needs to happen is accountability. I should be able to turn off sharing personal information and if someone tries I should be notified and have recourse. This should also be retroactive. If I have turned off sharing and someone finds a technical loo…

I turned off all cell carrier tracking 5 years ago. 100% of it. By canceling my cell phone subscription. I know I know, I must be amish, I have heard it all. But I run two tech companies, travel, have a family, and do most of the things most around here probably do other than doom scrolling. So much more time in my own head to think.

I have a hybrid approach with GrapheneOS. 99% of the time I only use WiFi on my phone via a Tor router. I have an anonymous KeepGo ESIM with global data that does not expire and use it when I have to when Im away from home.

Re: Mobile carriers can get your GPS location

#425

Post by [deleted] »

taurath wrote: post #380
hpdigidrifter wrote: post #376

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pardon my skepticism but I find it hard to believe you can actually participate in western society without choosing to have a government mandated tracking device? Maybe you live somewhere this is possible but it's definitely not in the developed world

Runs 2 tech companies - the basic promise of the US is when you're rich you can do whatever the hell you want because you can pay people to handle stuff for you. But also, one doesn't always need a phone - phones can die, signal is not gauranteed. What are your "must have" things that require one to have a smart phone to participate? Assume the poster has a home phone, laptop, and credit card.

[deleted]

Re: Mobile carriers can get your GPS location

#426

Post by lugu »

lugu wrote: post #399
vlovich123 wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The can ask but your phone maybe doesn’t have to tell them by default / you can opt out

Yes but phone carriers are required by the FCC to achieve specific deployment goals. Also it isn't just about GPS data, it also include barometric data. https://www.theindustrycouncil.org/post/911-location-accurac...

Sorry, looking deeper, it doesn't look optional.

Re: Mobile carriers can get your GPS location

#428

Post by jll29 »

lrvick wrote: post #368
jmward01 wrote: post #90

"and notify the user when such attempts are made to their device." We aren't going to remove the security state. We should make all attempts to, but it won't happen. What needs to happen is accountability. I should be able to turn off sharing personal information and if someone tries I should be notified and have recourse. This should also be retroactive. If I have turned off sharing and someone finds a technical loo…

I turned off all cell carrier tracking 5 years ago. 100% of it. By canceling my cell phone subscription. I know I know, I must be amish, I have heard it all. But I run two tech companies, travel, have a family, and do most of the things most around here probably do other than doom scrolling. So much more time in my own head to think.

Ever travelled by rental car or used WiFi on the move?

Re: Mobile carriers can get your GPS location

#429

Post by jll29 »

dotancohen wrote: post #409
lrvick wrote: post #382

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am a security engineer and I live and work in Silicon Valley with an active social life. None of these things require a phone.

Though I do have a phone, I do not use WhatsApp. I get the same responses you are getting - people absolutely can not believe that we function in society.

I do not use WhatsApp, Instagram, or FB.

You pay a price (we miss many party invitations, only one friend consistently emails us and FB everyone else), but it's worth it.

Recently spoke to a colleague in Italy that told me he hates WhatsApp, but is forced to use it because the school of his kids in Rome use it as sole means to communicate, despite this being a legal violation (public organizations in Europe must use GDRR-compliant tools).

Re: Mobile carriers can get your GPS location

#430

Post by jll29 »

lazide wrote: post #391
lrvick wrote: post #389

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Traveling internationally or domestically, booking flights, hotels, going to concerts, theme parks, the movies, organizing hangouts with friends, exploring new locations... all of these things I do just fine by using a web browser on a desktop computer before I leave home, and sometimes printing a couple things. I live a typical middle class lifestyle just without the doom scrolling. All the ways of living an active…

So what - printed maps? No ‘where are you?’ texts or the like? No looking up nearby anything you’re curious about but didn’t know about before hand? Certainly possible, I guess, if everyone in your circle does the same, and has a ton of patience, and you spend a ton of extra time doing all the prep in advance. And don’t need to deal with things like traffic jams right now, or the like.

When you agree to meet someone somewhere at some time, all further communication is redundant (I expect you to be reasonably punctual and I don't need your SMS updates "Hi, leaving the house now." followed by "hi, I'm running 5 min late", I will wait, and if you are not coming, you can call me to apologize if you care one bit).

For people who don't know their way, you can use in-car navigation systems rather than smartphone map apps.

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