Cell Tracking on the Rise

An anonymous reader writes "ZDNet is reporting that with the recent advances in cell phone tracking tech more and more companies are using it to keep track of their employee's movements. From the article: 'The gains, say the converted, are many, ranging from knowing whether workers have been "held up" in the pub rather than in a traffic jam, to being able to quickly locate staff and reroute them if necessary. Not everybody is happy about being monitored, however, and civil rights group Liberty says the growth of tracking raises data privacy concerns.'"

Comments

Solution

[tindur]

Divert the calls from your employer's phone to your own phone and turn off your employer's phone.

Re:Solution

[Jotham]

Divert the calls from your employer's phone to your own phone and turn off your employer's phone.
nah, leave it on in your desk draw after diverted it... that way you're still busy working back late. :)

Outrageous

[Big Nothing]

At my current employment, I have refused receiving a company cell phone - I don't want my employer to reach me when I'm not at work! I CERTAINLY would not accept my employer tracking my movements! If the company I worked for implemented such a technology, I would quit - plain and simple.

If my employer has any reason to believe that I'm screwing him, he can damn well take it up with me, not play Big Brother.

Re:Just because you have a mobile doesn't mean

[h042]

Yes, But I'm [paid to be] on call sometimes. The problem then is - I'm not officially "working", (so I'd rather not have them know where I am) but I could be called upon to work (so need to have the phone on).

So the solution you outline is not universal.

Re:Easy solution

[Trurl's Machine]

I've heard--though I could be mistaken--that even turning your phone off won't help. I don't know why; I know that it doesn't make sense.. it just sticks out in my mind as "one of those things that I've heard". Probably better, in that it's more paranoid, to remove the SIM card when you don't want to be tracked, since that's what this technology relies on.

That won't help either! Each GSM phone has its own unique IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identifier) number. Even if you remove your SIM card your phone can still access the network (you can use it for emergency call even if your SIM card is missing or invalid!) and it identifies itself by its IMEI. Roughly you can compare this to the hardware (MAC) address of your network adapter; even if you change your IP address, you can be tracked.

The only way for 100% security is removing the battery. If you live in the USA, your phone should exchange no information with the network when it's switched off - that the FCC regulation. But if you don't live in the USA, there simply might not be such requirement at all, check local laws that apply. Besides, if you are tin-foil-hat-paranoid, you don't really think "they" care about the FCC, do you? So remove the battery and don't waste your time to toy with a SIM card, as long as "they" know you use this particular mobile phone, "they" can still track you even if you feel secure with anonymous prepaid SIM card.

Employee Tracking Victim

[Anonymous Coward]

I used to work for a company that used those little HID access cards. They had a system that could detect those cards in each room, so they knew where employees were at all times. Well, one week I had the flu, and since they denied my request for sick time, I was in the office, making frequent runs to the restroom (get it?). Later that week, my manager actually wrote me up because he had proof I was spending over an hour a day in the rest room, and accused me of being a goof off.

So, I resigned and immediately sued them. It turns out that a jury is very sympathetic when it comes to a company forcing a sick employee to come to work, even with a medical diagnosis of the flu and doctor orders to stay home. They are especially generous when it comes to a company actually writing someone up for trying to deal with the symptoms.

Of course, since they were a startup (what other kind of company would do something like that?), they didn't have enough cash for the settlement. They couldn't appeal because the local DA promised criminal charges if they did. Since they didn't have case, I settled for a majority stake in the company. I then sold it all to one of their competitors who took all of their IP and fired all of the executives, including the asshole who did that to me.

Stasi used radiation and smell to track you.

[AHuxley]

How would you track ppl smart enough not to have a phone?
Think like an East German.

East German secret police, the Stasi used scandium-46 with hidden radiation detectors to identify and track dissidents.
West German deutschmark banknotes, documents, clothing and meeting rooms where heavily tagged.
New Scientist, January 3, 2001

http://www.leftwatch.com/archives/years/2001/00000 4.html

They also used to get your odour by rubbing it onto a piece of fabric. They would then have a jar with your fabric in it.
Trained dogs would then sniff you out.
Stasiland by Anna Funder

http://www.arlindo-correia.com/081203.html

In Capitalist west phone irradiates you.
In Communist East Germany you irradiate phone.