Is That Cell Phone Tower Watching Me?

An anonymous reader writes "Cell phone networks, FM radio towers and television antennaes could all turn into pieces of cheap and dirty tracking networks that use passive radar, according to this fairly comprehensive article. These new systems are only a couple years away from roll out for uses such as small airport radar coverage but wild possibilities abound including using cell phone networks to track speeders, terrorists or even individuals walking on city streets."

Comments

Um, OF COURSE it's watching you

[Saint Stephen]

Is this news to anyone? If the thing can send you a call it can draw a little blip on a computer screen showing (within 600 feet or so) where you are walking.

I asked an Army Special Ops guy one time: Is Big Brother here? He said: When he wants to be. So I said: but most of the time he's just not interested in looking right? And he said, of course.

They dont' use the Fastlane tags to track speeders

[Tokerat]

In Mass we have the FastLane tags to automatically pay tolls on the highway. NY and surrounding states have E-Z Pass. Never once have I gotten a speeding ticket on the Mass Pike, and indeed never from FastLane. There is technology already in place to do this, and they don't. It's far too big a pain in the ass.

Re:I think this is a grand idea -- for minors

[kfg]

And you think "they" don't know that?

Just look around you at all the things that are considered perfectly normal that our great grandparents (or great-great grandparents if you're under 30) wouldn't have put with for a second.
You can start with the very existence of the Federal Income Tax and the FBI.

http://www.fbi.gov/libref/historic/history/artsp ie s/artspies.htm

http://www.taxhistory.org/default.htm

They managed to "slippery slope" their way in, nonetheless, and are now regarded as little more than the natural political landscape.

Anything you can make stick over the objections of the parents eventually just becomes "normal" for the children.

KFG

Data from cellphone towers are used

[AchmedHabib]

Data from cellphone towers/antennas has already been used for tracking people. In different criminal cases, the location of a cell phones and the calls made in that area from that phone, has been used to establish proof of guilt. It has also been used to contact people who were possible witness to the crime or other events that could help solve it.

Re:Terrorists my ass

[MoneyT]

And this is exactly what you get when everyone and their mother blames the government, and the FBI and the CIA for allowing 9/11 to happen. Here's the tradeoff that people don't understand, if you want the government to be proactive instead of reactive, they need to powers to be proactive, and you're going to have to sacrifice a handful of freedoms for it. Else, stop bitching when the government can't do something like catch 8 people that are conspiring to hijack planes.