Tracking my cell phone's location?

[Ted Striker]

Anyone know anything about how the phone cops track cell phones? Obviously, the gps info is sent to the towers, but if the phone is off, is there still power to the chip? How about pulling the battery or sim card? And if you're out of range of a tower, is lat/long info stored for later transmittal? Enquiring minds want to know.

[BmillsSkier]

Ex girlfriend?

[Tye 1on]

you want the answer the phone company will give you or the one the NSA won't?

[hawkgt]

if your gps or location services is on, they will find you. If it is off but cell phone on, they can triangulate to an area via cell towers. It will highlight to last known tower.

turn it off, no location.

[milton]

Some phones can be tracked while powered off.

[hawkgt]

Some phones can be tracked while powered off.

please elaborate.... another power source?

[Harry]

please elaborate.... another power source?

Remove battery.

OP is obviously dumping a dead hooker in the woods.

[Ted Striker]

Some phones can be tracked while powered off.

This is what I'm wondering. Is off off? Or is it a 'soft' off?


As for the dead hookers, I pay Jer a small fee to nuke them from orbit, and behead the remains (if any).

[iceman]

Some phones can be tracked while powered off.

I kinda doubt that one, more info please.

[liv2ski]

When I go out on a snuff job, I leave my cell phone at home and take the prepaid one. Just sayin.

[Hugh Conway]

Faraday cage.

[userA]

I kinda doubt that one, more info please.

radiowave sent thru phone lodging €@£ chip into derma layer of user, easy stuff really.
hope that helped
b

[milton]

I kinda doubt that one, more info please.

EFF, legit?

https://ssd.eff.org/wire/protect/cell-tracking

[iceman]

EFF, legit?

https://ssd.eff.org/wire/protect/cell-tracking

Show me where on that site it says a cell phone can be tracked when it's powered down.

It's theoretically possible that the NSA, or somebody, could essentially program your phone to not turn off when you power it down, and for it to "play dead" so that you don't know it's on (although your battery would still get used up, which would be a tipoff), but nobody can point to an example of this happening yet, to my knowledge. People think you get tracked by GPS but that's wrong, GPS is a receive-only technology, it receives signals from satellitels and calculates your position, it doesn't communicate with satellites. The way people get tracked is by the phone pinging the nearest cell tower every few seconds to establish location, which is how you get your calls, the network needs to know where you are to work. This requires power.

[milton]

Show me where on that site it says a cell phone can be tracked when it's powered down.

"Unfortunately, if you want to use your cell phone at all, avoiding the threat of this kind of real-time tracking is nearly impossible. That's because the government can track your cell phone whenever it's on, even if you aren't making a call. The government can even track some cell phones when they are powered down, unless you have also removed the battery. So, once again, there is a security trade-off: the only way to eliminate the risk of location tracking is to leave the cell phone at home, or remove the battery."


yes, probably would require some sort of malware on the phone. Ever try to take the battery out of an iphone? Shit's probably baked in.

[Tippster]

Anyone know anything about how the phone cops track cell phones? Obviously, the gps info is sent to the towers, but if the phone is off, is there still power to the chip? How about pulling the battery or sim card? And if you're out of range of a tower, is lat/long info stored for later transmittal? Enquiring minds want to know.

GPS is different than a radio contact with cell towers. GPS is Satellite based and can be passive, cells are always active and local. Your phone is hooked into multiple cells at the same time, and once one cell drops due to distance another gets added to the queue. Otherwise you would never be able to hold a conversation while driving since the range and power of the radio wouldn't be able to maintain connection with one tower long enough.

please elaborate.... another power source?

I kinda doubt that one, more info please.

"Unfortunately, if you want to use your cell phone at all, avoiding the threat of this kind of real-time tracking is nearly impossible. That's because the government can track your cell phone whenever it's on, even if you aren't making a call. The government can even track some cell phones when they are powered down, unless you have also removed the battery. So, once again, there is a security trade-off: the only way to eliminate the risk of location tracking is to leave the cell phone at home, or remove the battery."


yes, probably would require some sort of malware on the phone. Ever try to take the battery out of an iphone? Shit's probably baked in.

It's actually not that nefarious. Many newer cellphones have their radios sip a little power even when turned off to ping the closest tower(s) so that when you do turn it on you have a connection asap. Conversely that means your provider knows where you are within 100ft or so at any given time - or the interval at which it pings

Removing the battery doesn't always help either. Most modern phones have capacitors (or a tiny rechargeable back-up battery) built in so you don't lose all your stored info if the main battery goes south and needs replacing or just fucking goes dead... and supposedly that backup also pings the tower just in case. If you're worried about being tracked (by the Government or your provider or Google or one of the other 3rd party apps that you never bother to read all the disclaimer shit on) then leave your phone at home.

[Deebased]

Show me where on that site it says a cell phone can be tracked when it's powered down.

It's theoretically possible that the NSA, or somebody, could essentially program your phone to not turn off when you power it down, and for it to "play dead" so that you don't know it's on (although your battery would still get used up, which would be a tipoff), but nobody can point to an example of this happening yet, to my knowledge. People think you get tracked by GPS but that's wrong, GPS is a receive-only technology, it receives signals from satellitels and calculates your position, it doesn't communicate with satellites. The way people get tracked is by the phone pinging the nearest cell tower every few seconds to establish location, which is how you get your calls, the network needs to know where you are to work. This requires power.

Its much worse then this. Your phone can actually be turned on remotely even after being powered off

[TBS]

Its much worse then this. Your phone can actually be turned on remotely even after being powered off

Really? All phones? I'm pretty sure you can't do it with an iPhone...

[sb]

This is what I'm wondering. Is off off? Or is it a 'soft' off?


As for the dead hookers, I pay Jer a small fee to nuke them from orbit, and behead the remains (if any).

Jer, PM sent.



Cough cough, I leave my cell phone at home and take the prepaid one. Just sayin.

[Alaskan Rover]

After 9-11, I think many things have changed on cell phones. You used to be able to turn the "Location" feature on or off. Now it only gives you the option for 911-only or location On. 911-only still means all your location features are STILL totally on, but only accessible to emergency services (but also law enforcement if needed...but I think they need a court order still). I have no doubt the NSA wouldnt even bother with a court order at first. Even cheap flip-phones seem to have built-in gps...as they all have options now for "virtual navigator street navigation" ....at an extra daily cost...even on a $19 prepay phone. And ALL those gps units are default ON (and can't be turned off) for 911 use.

And yes...there are apps that can "wake up" your phone even when its off. Although I am pretty sure the codex for such an app has to be sent to your phone via a worm of some sort for it to work. But that is totally do-able ....just a "trojan horse " little attachment would do the trick and you wouldnt even know you picked it up.

Taking battery out when not using it would hinder that...but is a PITA. But do this: take your battery out, take a sharp knife and cut off those little nubs on the corner of the battery that disallow you from putting the battery in backwards...then at least when you DO take your battery out, you can put it back in your phone upside down and still be able to shut the back cover. Works like a charm.

You just can't receive calls...and isnt that what you have that phone for in the first place???

Oh.....BTW....you can be fairly certain that the new Utah NSA trunk center and data-processing center have already auto-flagged this thread just for its asssociative multi-keyword matches. Tsk tsk.

[grrrr]

Wrap it in tinfoil. Duh.

[Hugh Conway]

Faraday cage.

Wrap it in tinfoil. Duh.

duh, indeed

[Ted Striker]

Many newer cellphones have their radios sip a little power even when turned off to ping the closest tower(s) so that when you do turn it on you have a connection asap. Conversely that means your provider knows where you are within 100ft or so at any given time - or the interval at which it pings

Removing the battery doesn't always help either. Most modern phones have capacitors (or a tiny rechargeable back-up battery) built in so you don't lose all your stored info if the main battery goes south and needs replacing or just fucking goes dead... and supposedly that backup also pings the tower just in case. If you're worried about being tracked (by the Government or your provider or Google or one of the other 3rd party apps that you never bother to read all the disclaimer shit on) then leave your phone at home.

That is exactly what I was wondering. As you said, most computers have tiny batteries/caps that keep things like the clock running when the power cord and/or main battery are disconnected. Other devices, like car stereos for instance, don't power down 100% when you turn them off, i.e. the music stops, but the clock runs, and if you get a phone call, the bluetooth comes alive.

My current phone is on the older side at this point, and I'm fairly certain that when it's off, it's really off because it takes forever to boot and acquire a signal, but it's time for a new phone, so I'm curious. I wouldn't say I'm actually worried about big brother, but I would like to know.

Its much worse then this. Your phone can actually be turned on remotely even after being powered off

Tell us more. Source?

But do this: take your battery out, take a sharp knife and cut off those little nubs on the corner of the battery that disallow you from putting the battery in backwards...then at least when you DO take your battery out, you can put it back in your phone upside down and still be able to shut the back cover.

That's a good trick.

You just can't receive calls...and isnt that what you have that phone for in the first place???

The primary purpose of my phone is data/email/apps. The second is texts - about half of which are over data instead of tower pings. Receiving calls is way down the list, mostly due to my job taking me to foreign countries where the phone companies will charge usurious rates for voice.

[Kied]

In addition to ditching the phone, make sure you take an old(er) car too...

http://www.datelinecarolina.org/stor...ked-wirelessly

[grrrr]

duh, indeed

Sorry, but "farady cage hat" doesn't have the same ring.