Mobile carriers can get your GPS location • Hacker News Board

Re: Mobile carriers can get your GPS location

#451

Post by PlatoIsADisease » Sun, Feb 01, 2026, 12:24 PM UTC

jll29 wrote: post #429

dotancohen wrote: post #409

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

I bought into something like this, removed all social media for 2-3 years.

I lost so many connections to people and it seemed to set me back multiple years on my goals. I thought it would make me more productive, instead my userbase got cut in half.

I'm never doing that again. Huge mistake.

Re: Mobile carriers can get your GPS location

#452

Post by _heimdall » Sun, Feb 01, 2026, 12:25 PM UTC

jll29 wrote: post #431

Zetaphor wrote: post #366

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm curious to hear someone explain why you're being downvoted

Out of all places on the Web, this one should be where solutions to (get rid of/limit the surveillance state) are devised. If the HN community doesn't have the will or skill, who else has?

Well that's very interesting. Why do you expect HN is the most likely place on the internet for people with the will or skill to take down the security state?

I would have guessed it was more likely this is where you'd find the people who built the security state, not want to destroy it.

Re: Mobile carriers can get your GPS location

#453

Post by PlatoIsADisease » Sun, Feb 01, 2026, 12:26 PM UTC

littlecranky67 wrote: post #447

lazide wrote: post #439

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ah, so I’m guessing 40+ and with a very select group of friends with a long term history. While I agree, that isn’t something 99.9% of the population is going to do successfully.

99.9%? I am old enough to remember time before mobile phones, and being at a place at a prearranged time is possible. Also, if you are late, you can actually do a phone call to inform the other party - all you need is a feature phone, not smart phone. I personally respect other peoples time and I expect the same for me. That is, I have cut out people from my life in the past that repeatedly would text "hey I'm 20mins…

If you want to know why these are different today, the word is called Norms.

At the international relations level, this idea falls under Constructivism.

Maybe these are a bit obvious, but knowing the word that describes this may help further research.

Re: Mobile carriers can get your GPS location

#454

Post by PlatoIsADisease » Sun, Feb 01, 2026, 12:28 PM UTC

Zetaphor wrote: post #366

voidfunc wrote: post #349

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Idealist views like this get us nowhere either tho. The reality is somewhat more murky. On a long enough time horizon your point makes sense, we might be able to get rid of the security state by slowly chipping away at ig over hundreds or thousands of years. Most of us are going to be dead in about 40 years tho. Security state isn't going anywhere in that timeframe.

I'm curious to hear someone explain why you're being downvoted

Its the demagogue problem in democracy.

People love idealism. It never works, but it sounds amazing.

Reddit, HN, and every democracy has the same problem... at least for a few years.

I think after this bout of Trumpism, the republicans will not be able to elect another populist demagogue for a generation. I think democrats need to do a round as well.

Re: Mobile carriers can get your GPS location

#455

Post by littlecranky67 » Sun, Feb 01, 2026, 12:38 PM UTC

PlatoIsADisease wrote: post #453

littlecranky67 wrote: post #447

Earlier quoted context omitted.

99.9%? I am old enough to remember time before mobile phones, and being at a place at a prearranged time is possible. Also, if you are late, you can actually do a phone call to inform the other party - all you need is a feature phone, not smart phone. I personally respect other peoples time and I expect the same for me. That is, I have cut out people from my life in the past that repeatedly would text "hey I'm 20mins…

If you want to know why these are different today, the word is called Norms. At the international relations level, this idea falls under Constructivism. Maybe these are a bit obvious, but knowing the word that describes this may help further research.

Norms describe averages, I do not necessarily have to follow them as an individual. Eating meat is a social norm, yet in my social group there is far-than average vegetarians and vegans. This is fine, and I don't see a need to change. I as an individual can decide with what other individuals I want to surround myself. And I chose not to surround myself with people that are always late and unreliable.

Re: Mobile carriers can get your GPS location

#456

Post by wisplike » Sun, Feb 01, 2026, 1:00 PM UTC

gregoryw3 wrote: post #449

I’m not super sure about the specifics but having taken a 5G class, the professor made it quite clear that due to the latency and bandwidth requirements of 5G, precise tracking is required to allow towers to correctly do beam forming. If anyone wants to look at the future of 5G (well ORAN) here it is: https://gitlab.eurecom.fr/oai/openairinterface5g When talking about the 5G system, cell towers can request a users es…

My knowledge on this is the tower should be able to optimise beams without location information. Channel information can be relayed back to the tower for beam optimisation. The tower needs to know the signal path characteristics but not explicitly the location.

Not disputing that location data is used for beam optimisation just that I dont believe it is required.

Re: Mobile carriers can get your GPS location

#457

Post by assimpleaspossi » Sun, Feb 01, 2026, 1:09 PM UTC

I know a guy who delivers for Amazon. They can track him with his phone to within 50 feet of any address he goes to. He says it's more accurate than that in most cases because, when he stands at their front door, the dot on his phone is right there.

Re: Mobile carriers can get your GPS location

#458

Post by PlatoIsADisease » Sun, Feb 01, 2026, 1:21 PM UTC

littlecranky67 wrote: post #455

PlatoIsADisease wrote: post #453

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you want to know why these are different today, the word is called Norms. At the international relations level, this idea falls under Constructivism. Maybe these are a bit obvious, but knowing the word that describes this may help further research.

Norms describe averages, I do not necessarily have to follow them as an individual. Eating meat is a social norm, yet in my social group there is far-than average vegetarians and vegans. This is fine, and I don't see a need to change. I as an individual can decide with what other individuals I want to surround myself. And I chose not to surround myself with people that are always late and unreliable.

Norms are not an average.

Let us use Constructivism. Countries do not drop nukes on each other. However, if one starts, everyone will follow. Or you may have an arms race situation, one country gets colonies and unless you want to be dominated by other countries, they also get colonies.

No phone number? Spend more time getting services. Unable to get services from some companies. Miscommunication/frustration. Less connections/acquaintances.

Maybe this ends up working for you, but it lowers your 'power', the ability to get what you want. I do have concerns that it works in the short term, not long term.

Re: Mobile carriers can get your GPS location

#459

Post by mattmaroon » Sun, Feb 01, 2026, 1:22 PM UTC

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’m old enough to remember when nobody had a cell phone and we all worked and had social lives. I love it when people think you cant possibly live without something that didn’t exist a short time ago.

That said I’d be lost in five minutes if I tried to drive somewhere without gps

Re: Mobile carriers can get your GPS location

#460

Post by intended » Sun, Feb 01, 2026, 1:23 PM UTC

lazide wrote: post #439

jll29 wrote: post #430

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 sma…

Ah, so I’m guessing 40+ and with a very select group of friends with a long term history. While I agree, that isn’t something 99.9% of the population is going to do successfully.

It’s a learned thing, and not that difficult. One of those categories where it seems harder than it is.