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Mobile carriers can get your GPS location

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Re: Mobile carriers can get your GPS location

#611

Post by akimbostrawman »

lrvick wrote: post #584
alt227 wrote: post #577

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am not trying to push conspiracy theories here. But IF its possible for law enforcement to ping your phone when its on standby, dont you think its possible that it can be pinged whilst on airplane mode too? If you are using it on wifi its game over anyway, hard internet connections are easy to track by law enforcement via ip and ISP. Even if you use a VPN your device is still connected to the wifi and can be pinged…

> But IF its possible for law enforcement to ping your phone when its on standby, dont you think its possible that it can be pinged whilst on airplane mode too? We do not need to wonder, because this is a physics problem and we have science. Radio waves are easy to measure. There have been plenty of experiments with putting phones in faraday chambers with SDRs proving a phone in airplane mode does not emit any cellul…

>so physical switches for the baseband are always best, though few devices support them.

If someone has the motivation to backdoor devices they can do the same with physical switches (that will still talk to software regardless). If anything adding a switch that does nothing is easier.

Re: Mobile carriers can get your GPS location

#612

Post by lrvick »

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.

> printed maps?

For complex routes. Otherwise I just jot down a couple exits and an intersection and call it good.

> No ‘where are you?’ texts or the like?

No one expects this from me day to day because I am rarely away from home for more than a few hours at a time without a friend or family member, but when air traveling I have my tiny pocket laptop and check in at travel hubs from wifi. Everyone in your life will get used to it, especially if they see the results in it allowing you to be a more present person.

> No looking up nearby anything you’re curious about but didn’t know about before hand?

I tend to discover a lot of authentic hidden gems the travel guides don't mention, by just walking around a new area. Generally if I am traveling somewhere new, I go early to get a lay of the land.

Re: Mobile carriers can get your GPS location

#613

Post by lrvick »

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.

Still 30s, but also I make new friends all the time from 20s to 70s by just trying to say yes to go new places and hang out with new people. Board game nights, concerts, bars, video game nights, hackerspace events, movie nights, puzzle parties, and hosting events myself.

All sorts of places to make friends at any age once one is willing to put a phone down long enough to say hi to someone new!

Re: Mobile carriers can get your GPS location

#614

Post by zecg »

jmward01 wrote: post #572
lrvick wrote: post #547

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you put them in airplane mode they are no longer permitted to contact cell phone towers by law and it is easy to form confidence the baseband modem is actually off because your battery life is so much better. Or pull out an SDR and prove it if you are extra paranoid. This turns them into wifi tablets. I started out doing this for a couple years before abandoning mine.

I've been doing this the last year (ish) and my battery lasts so much longer. I suspect my data usage has been slashed as well. I recommend everyone starts using airplane mode. I just wish I could put individual apps in airplane mode so that they wouldn't be able to communicate, even when I was on wifi, unless I specifically allowed it.

You can on Android, using this: https://f-droid.org/it/packages/com.celzero.bravedns/ (it's also on Google's store: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.celzero.br... )

Set it as a local proxy to channel all network access through it and you can selectively block any app from accessing any network, or isolate it.

Re: Mobile carriers can get your GPS location

#615

Post by lrvick »

akimbostrawman wrote: post #611
lrvick wrote: post #584

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> But IF its possible for law enforcement to ping your phone when its on standby, dont you think its possible that it can be pinged whilst on airplane mode too? We do not need to wonder, because this is a physics problem and we have science. Radio waves are easy to measure. There have been plenty of experiments with putting phones in faraday chambers with SDRs proving a phone in airplane mode does not emit any cellul…

>so physical switches for the baseband are always best, though few devices support them. If someone has the motivation to backdoor devices they can do the same with physical switches (that will still talk to software regardless). If anything adding a switch that does nothing is easier.

Easily verified with a multimeter and the most basic of electronics skills. Electronics are not magic.

Re: Mobile carriers can get your GPS location

#616

Post by lrvick »

ItsBob wrote: post #472
lrvick wrote: post #386

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All 2FA options that require a phone like TOTP can be done just as easily on a laptop with a yubikey or nitrokey. I have several business and personal bank accounts with two major banks. No Android or iOS needed. Sure they push you hard to use them, but just say it is against your unspecified religion. They cannot make you use Android or iOS.

I can tell you with almost 100% certainty: no banks in the UK use any 2FA other than SMS-based. I spent December last year looking for a new bank to move to. One of my criteria (not the most important but it was on the list) was better-than-SMS 2FA. No one offers it. There may be some niche, loosely-based finance org that does but none of the banks or Building Societies do. So, unfortunately, you need it in the UK.

Most VoIP services support SMS. Still no cell phone hardware required.

Re: Mobile carriers can get your GPS location

#617

Post by lrvick »

ISL wrote: post #393
lrvick wrote: post #386

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All 2FA options that require a phone like TOTP can be done just as easily on a laptop with a yubikey or nitrokey. I have several business and personal bank accounts with two major banks. No Android or iOS needed. Sure they push you hard to use them, but just say it is against your unspecified religion. They cannot make you use Android or iOS.

And your medical provider who will only allow you to see your online medical records after an SMS 2FA challenge?

SMS-over-VoIP

Re: Mobile carriers can get your GPS location

#618

Post by lrvick »

lazide wrote: post #396
taurath wrote: post #381

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most 2FA can be done without a phone, and you can also use offline 2FA keys, not necessarily a text message. You can also set up a phone number to accept texts from a laptop. I can do whatever on my bank by just calling. It would be a bit weird to never be able to pitch in on meals with a $ transfer app, but I suppose when you run 2 tech companies you're probably paying most of the time, or you just take a note and t…

Do you call via landline? I don’t know anyone who even still has one.

You can take any landline phone and plug it into a VoIP ATA box which in turn plugs into your router, and you have a "landline" now.

Re: Mobile carriers can get your GPS location

#619

Post by akimbostrawman »

lrvick wrote: post #615
akimbostrawman wrote: post #611

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>so physical switches for the baseband are always best, though few devices support them. If someone has the motivation to backdoor devices they can do the same with physical switches (that will still talk to software regardless). If anything adding a switch that does nothing is easier.

Easily verified with a multimeter and the most basic of electronics skills. Electronics are not magic.

The same applies to software tho so there really isn't any advantage outside of marketing

Re: Mobile carriers can get your GPS location

#620

Post by lazide »

lrvick wrote: post #618
lazide wrote: post #396

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you call via landline? I don’t know anyone who even still has one.

You can take any landline phone and plug it into a VoIP ATA box which in turn plugs into your router, and you have a "landline" now.

Sure, I’ve just literally never seen anyone use one.
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