Does anyone know of a way you can request consent status from your service provider?
US cell carriers are selling access to real-time phone location data
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Re: US cell carriers are selling access to real-time phone location data
#72> the Electronic Communications Privacy Act only restricts telecom companies from disclosing data to the government. It doesn't restrict disclosure to other companies Clearly the US has their priorities completely the wrong way.
Part of the American mythology is that government involvement is always bad. It's hard for me to know if this developed because of the myths of the America Revolution, that a small colony won it alone and not because of external factors, and how much is due to people preaching small government politics. Regardless a distrust of the government seems to be ingrained in the American psyche IMO.
Small government just means localized government.
At a more local level, people have much more influence and ability to change problems that they see. At a more federal level, policy is imposed without localities having much/any influence.
That centralization and imposition of policy that half the country opposes is the reason for the political divide that we see today. If the same policies that we argue about so much were implemented at a state level, people would have the ability vote with their feet.
That doesn’t mean some legislation shouldn’t be federal, but there is a reason that the intention was for federal policy to be overwhelmingly agreed upon rather than forced in along party lines.
Re: US cell carriers are selling access to real-time phone location data
#73Has anyone suggested a practical way that people can avoid being tracked? (Aside from Airplane Mode or keeping your phone in a Faraday Cage)
If it's happening at the carrier level (triangulation via towers) there's zero you can do at the client (your phone) besides stop transmission by turning it off or placing it in a faraday cage.
Re: US cell carriers are selling access to real-time phone location data
#74> Kevin Bankston, director of New America's Open Technology Institute, explained in a phone call that the Electronic Communications Privacy Act only restricts telecom companies from disclosing data to the government. It doesn't restrict disclosure to other companies, who then may disclose that same data to the government. It seems like intelligence services spend a lot of their time dreaming up ways to do an end-run…
I'd rather them try to do end-runs around the law than run it up the gut... (If I had to choose)
Just think of how amazing the museum will be for your great grandkids when we completely dismantle them when, inevitably, their stated mission goals supersede common sense and a responsible relationship to the American public.
Re: US cell carriers are selling access to real-time phone location data
#75Throwaway account. I work in location / mapping / geo. Some of us have been waiting for this to blow (which it hasn't yet). The public has zero idea how much personal location data is available. It's not just your cell carrier. Your cell phone chip manufacturer, GPS chip manufacturer, phone manufacturer and then pretty much anyone on the installed OS (android crapware) is getting a copy of your location data. Usually…
This is a problem with the GSM/UMTS standards themselves. Carriers always know where you are, but one could create a standard where they wouldn't have to know unless you make a call. With enough encryption and effort, I'm pretty sure one could even create a standard where carriers would never know where you are, even while you are using services.
Re: US cell carriers are selling access to real-time phone location data
#76Earlier quoted context omitted.
How can one prevent this and still carry a cell phone? Would keeping one's phone in a faraday bag defeat this constant tracking?
Yes. But switching off location will probably do it too.
No switching off location would not do it - why would it? Cell tower data is sold at the carrier as per the article.
Re: US cell carriers are selling access to real-time phone location data
#77Throwaway account. I work in location / mapping / geo. Some of us have been waiting for this to blow (which it hasn't yet). The public has zero idea how much personal location data is available. It's not just your cell carrier. Your cell phone chip manufacturer, GPS chip manufacturer, phone manufacturer and then pretty much anyone on the installed OS (android crapware) is getting a copy of your location data. Usually…
>It's not just your cell carrier. Your cell phone chip manufacturer, GPS chip manufacturer, phone manufacturer and then pretty much anyone on the installed OS (android crapware) is getting a copy of your location data. Usually not in software but by contract, one gives gps data to all the others as part of the bill of materials. so what's the flow here? is it something like this?: phone gps -> manufacturer installed…
some of crapware can be avoided by using custom ROMs, but not all of it. For example: Qualcomm IZat location services and other location-based trustzone applets remain running even on custom ROMs.
Re: US cell carriers are selling access to real-time phone location data
#78Earlier quoted context omitted.
How can one prevent this and still carry a cell phone? Would keeping one's phone in a faraday bag defeat this constant tracking?
Yes. But switching off location will probably do it too.
Carriers will still be able to track you via the cell towers you're connected to. I'm sure they can triangulate based upon signal strength, and that's strictly using your cellphone as a dumb phone.
Re: US cell carriers are selling access to real-time phone location data
#79Earlier quoted context omitted.
>It's not just your cell carrier. Your cell phone chip manufacturer, GPS chip manufacturer, phone manufacturer and then pretty much anyone on the installed OS (android crapware) is getting a copy of your location data. Usually not in software but by contract, one gives gps data to all the others as part of the bill of materials. so what's the flow here? is it something like this?: phone gps -> manufacturer installed…
some of crapware can be avoided by using custom ROMs, but not all of it. For example: Qualcomm IZat location services and other location-based trustzone applets remain running even on custom ROMs.
Hopefully this shows people how deep it is.
Re: US cell carriers are selling access to real-time phone location data
#80Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes. But switching off location will probably do it too.
No switching off location would not do it - why would it? Cell tower data is sold at the carrier as per the article.
I'm focused on GPS data which is a free for all. Sure, cell towers have location too just not quite as accurate.