01-08-2021, 07:59 PM
Phones also determine your location via wifi. Most people leave their phone GPS and WIFI on and as they drive roads etc their phone pairs the wifi signals it detects with GPS coordinates and sends the data to whatever corporation is providing the operating system (for example, an android phone sends this data to Google). Some people turn this "location assisting feature" off but so long as one person leaves it on the mothership is going to get the data from wherever they go.
Unless you physically move your wifi router to a different address, or turn off the SSID broadcast signal (which most people don't) whenever another phone picks up your router's Service set identifier (SSID) and Media Access Control (MAC) data it can establish it's location even if their GPS is turned off because the approximate coordinates for that signal are already known in the cloud. There is a similar feature for bluetooth signals but those are used differently because they are usually used by mobile devices. Third-party apps often times have access to that information as well. Turning off your GPS doesn't hide your location from them. Even if you turn off your phone's GPS, wifi, and bluetooth, your approximate location is still known because the phone triangulates it via the cell phone towers.
Apple has a feature in it's latest OS release where you can dumb down some of these features to protect your privacy. But it doesn't hide it, it only dumbs it down. For example if an app wants to know your location the phone will only report a generalized location. So like if you're in Hilo and lookup restaurants to eat it will know you're in Hilo and the app can recommend locations in Hilo, but it won't report specific information like what street you are on.
Law enforcement agencies have Stringray trackers. The layman's description is that they simulate a cell phone tower so a phone connects briefly and they can obtain your ID and location information. When your phone realizes it can't communicate beyond that it goes back to the nearest tower but your information has already been taken. This is how they recently located Ghislaine Maxwell. I believe they can be used without a warrant for mass surveillance similar to how license plate readers are used, though in some instances a warrant may be required before acting on the information gathered by the device.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stingray_phone_tracker
Adjust your tin hats accordingly.
Unless you physically move your wifi router to a different address, or turn off the SSID broadcast signal (which most people don't) whenever another phone picks up your router's Service set identifier (SSID) and Media Access Control (MAC) data it can establish it's location even if their GPS is turned off because the approximate coordinates for that signal are already known in the cloud. There is a similar feature for bluetooth signals but those are used differently because they are usually used by mobile devices. Third-party apps often times have access to that information as well. Turning off your GPS doesn't hide your location from them. Even if you turn off your phone's GPS, wifi, and bluetooth, your approximate location is still known because the phone triangulates it via the cell phone towers.
Apple has a feature in it's latest OS release where you can dumb down some of these features to protect your privacy. But it doesn't hide it, it only dumbs it down. For example if an app wants to know your location the phone will only report a generalized location. So like if you're in Hilo and lookup restaurants to eat it will know you're in Hilo and the app can recommend locations in Hilo, but it won't report specific information like what street you are on.
Law enforcement agencies have Stringray trackers. The layman's description is that they simulate a cell phone tower so a phone connects briefly and they can obtain your ID and location information. When your phone realizes it can't communicate beyond that it goes back to the nearest tower but your information has already been taken. This is how they recently located Ghislaine Maxwell. I believe they can be used without a warrant for mass surveillance similar to how license plate readers are used, though in some instances a warrant may be required before acting on the information gathered by the device.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stingray_phone_tracker
Adjust your tin hats accordingly.