-Submitted by David Drumm (Nal), Guest Blogger
iPhones and Android smartphones regularly transmit their locations back to Apple and Google. The location information is used for the estimated $2.9 billion location-based services market. Location-based advertising targets consumers with location-specific advertising on their mobile devices.
According to research, the HTC Android phone collects location information every few seconds and transmits the data back to Google several times an hour.
Privacy experts are concerned with this new form of tracking. The Obama administration has petitioned SCOTUS for cert in a case in which a lower court reversed a criminal conviction because the police did not obtain a warrant for the GPS device they secreted on the suspect’s car. Other appeals courts have ruled that search warrants aren’t required for GPS tracking.
If the Obama administration gets its way, the government will have access to warrantless GPS tracking data. The information received by Apple and Google could be simultaneously sent to government agencies without your knowledge. The National Surveillance State may just get a new toy.
Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) has fired off a letter to Apple CEO Steve Jobs demanding the company explain why it’s collecting the tracking data. My guess: money.
According to Apple, GPS and cell tower data collected by the device and transmitted to Apple is assigned a random identification number that cannot be associated with a particular customer or device. Although, Apple could easily and secretly change this as part of a software “upgrade.” iPhone customers also have the option of disabling location-based service capabilities under the “General” menu under “Settings.” If this option is disabled, no location information will be collected. The more iPhone users that opt-out, the less location-based service revenue for Apple.
Is there a reasonable expectation of privacy regarding the tracking data? If you’re out in public, other people can see where you are. What about accessing the tracking information that includes your position on private property?
Michigan State Police may be using forensic cellphone analyzers during routine traffic stops. The CelleBrite UFED can completely extract existing, hidden, and deleted phone data, including call history, text messages, contacts, images, and tracking data. If police have warrantless access to your cellphone’s tracking data, the tagline will become “let me see your driver’s license, registration, proof of insurance, and cellphone.”
H/T: Reuters, cnet, WSJ, FourthAmendment.com, Techland.
people please
a cell phone by it’s very workings is a gps unit. how do you think it knows which cell tower to use?
did you think that it was just luck that it could tell what restaurants were nearby and how to get there. did you not think businesses weren’t paying to make sure their company came up first on a search?
and if your idea of your fellow humans are as sheeple, there are some really nice conversations at http://www.redstate.com or http://www.foxnation.com
now i’m going to get this stick out of my butt
This is all very frightening especially in the hands of the government. Isn’t it just a hop skip and a jump to their claiming you were somewhere you weren’t based on phony (no pun intended) GPS info?
I’ve mentioned this earlier with regard to the wireless GPS device attached to the car but it bears repeating. One of the implicit checks-and-balances in our system is the resources required for a police state. The resources required to have somebody tailed are resources that aren’t available for other purposes so the public safety officials will seek a reasonable balance. The average person doesn’t have to worry about a cop looking over his shoulder to catch him on some trivial offense.
GPS tracking devices change that entirely. You don’t need to equip a fleet of officers to trail people, you just attach a relatively cheap device and you’ll have a good idea where and when they are at all times. Suddenly you don’t have to limit yourself to the guys you’re building murder and rape charges against, you can follow people you just think are acquaintces or defense attorneys or the guy who’s been critical of the mayor.
N.B., I’m not opposed to GPS tracking per se. Just require meaningful judicial review. This is a tool that can far too easily abused by somebody who originally had good intentions.
The same logic applies to the cameras mounted at intersections that capture the license plate of all passing vehicles. Not just the ones that run red lights – all vehicles. It’s not as detailed as GPS trackers but would apply to ALL vehicles.
Again there are plenty of good intentions to go around. Quickly find stolen vehicles. Look for cars mentioned in amber alerts. Check cars registered to people who have had their drivers license revoked to see if the person is back on the road. (This could go a long way to keeping repeat drunk drivers off the roads.) But it’s also easy to see how it would be abused, e.g., the police looking at all vehicles within a quarter-mile of a crime scene and using it as the sole basis for further investigation of innocent citizens.
Phone tracking is far worse than this because it tracks you when you take public transit or ride in another person’s car.
BTW it should be pointed out that GPS tracking is the least of your worries if you have serious concerns. All somebody would need to do is turn on the microphone at all times.
Your website is excellent , i have been looking for this information everywhere.
Thanks!!!
@puzzling, what company sends small packages into 20 million American Homes every week where they are eagerly opened, and the contents placed in proximity to the living room, and then repackaged and shipped back to the company!?
That’s right, Netflix came out of CIA/NSA laboratories and each CD, with appropriate nanotech devices can be used in your home for audio surveillance. The CDs themselves are coated with chemical that evaporate slowly over a 72 hour period once exposed to air. Most of these chemicals are used to tranquilize the masses, but some, sent to known addresses, are actually used to excite, and inflame, known troublemakers.
I never had all the pieces in one place until you clued me in to the actual nature of our fleet of mail trucks, and so I thank you, and I will list you as co-creator on the wiki page I am creating to describe this plot.
rcampbell, when did you buy your non-smart cellphone? There is an almost certain chance your phone, if it’s only a few years old, has a GPS chip in it. Surprise! It’s there to make E911 useful for you.
http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/gps-phone2.htm
See also: wiki e911
@puzzling: great conspiracy theory link, thank you.
I already know I’m not smart enough for any of the smart phones. Mine makes and receives calls–the end. No internet, no texting, no GPS.
I think you missed the part where you noted the difference between the Apple and Google systems.
Apple’s system keeps the information stored on the phone itself as well as sending it to Apple’s own data storage.
Google’s system only sends the info to the storage system. (At least, that’s the latest information on Google’s system… perhaps no one’s found the local storage yet?)
This makes a difference in the need for a search warrant.
Buddha,
I’m guessing that, even if one chooses not to use a cell, the infinitely authoritarian among us will find another way to track the sheeple…
I’ve said this before but it bears repeating: Big Brother doesn’t have to set up microphones and cameras to know where you are and what you are doing because they’ve tricked you into thinking that you need a cellphone. They are conveniences, not necessities.
Is 1984 really just Fiction?
Is the Viral Virtual Armageddon upon….
Are we “there” yet??? Yes, we are… but, hey, “if I’m not doing anything wrong, then I have nothing to hide or fear”… Let the games continue… (Insert sarcasm emoticon here.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_VAgP2-ST1w
(Complete with video annotations…)
aw…and here I thought the aluminum suit would stop the triangulation aspect…damn, you sure know how to ruin a professional paranoid’s day.
Culheath,
Even with GPS off, these devices can still track you using two methods:
1. Cell phone tower triangulation
2. Knowing the names/ID’s of area Wifi points, and associating those with a location
The second point is what Google did when they were going around recording for their street view camera. It has also been thought that USPS mail trucks may become outfitted to do similar telematics.
First thing I do with any gadget I buy is check whether or not it has GPS and then turn it off. Only then will I feel comfortable placing into a pocket of my aluminum foil suit.
I think it’s likely that these firms are being required to design phones easily accessed by government. These cell phone hacking devices appear to have been around for 3 years or longer, with a next-generation device launching now:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgLlsHuYclk
It’s only a matter of time before this is added to TSA and customs checkpoints, and scaled up for widespread police use.