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Cell Phone Tracking In the UK

jvlb writes "The BBC reports on cell phone tracking systems now available in Britain. The correspondent addresses the privacy and security issues that ensue." From the article: "With more and more children owning mobile phones, special attention needs to be given to who can track them. If you are not a genuine parent or guardian, the code requires location services to check that both the tracker and the person being tracked can prove they are consenting adults. Mr Macleod says: 'The person that is to be located has to demonstrate to the service provider they are at least 16 years old.'"

101 of 141 comments (clear)

  1. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 3, Funny

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  2. 16 years old by biocute · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I don't know how many 16-year-old teenagers would give consent to being tracked, while on the other hand, those need being tracked the most (under 10 or so) cannot legally allow parents to do so?

    1. Re:16 years old by HermanAB · · Score: 1

      No, in those cases, the parent can decide for the child.

      --
      Oh well, what the hell...
    2. Re:16 years old by Omaze · · Score: 1

      Haha. Or, for an 18 year old,"Sign here or you can start looking for another place to live."

      --
      The government itself is not stealing your liberties. Their new programs are enabling criminals who will.
    3. Re:16 years old by laughingcoyote · · Score: 1

      Or, for an XX year old, "Sign here or you're fired!" Really sounds great.

      --
      To fight the war on terror, stop being afraid.
    4. Re:16 years old by Omaze · · Score: 1

      Okay, a troll, or some priveleged member of society, would say,"What's the problem? Just go out and find a different job!"

      But me, haha, I can completely identify with that. Your statement describes the last 8 years of my employment.

      --
      The government itself is not stealing your liberties. Their new programs are enabling criminals who will.
    5. Re:16 years old by krbvroc1 · · Score: 1
      I don't know how many 16-year-old teenagers would give consent to being tracked

      Easy, offer a 'free' music video download to their phone and see how quickly they trade their privacy.

    6. Re:16 years old by nurb432 · · Score: 1

      Here in the US they would change that to 18. And that any legal guardian ( ask for proof, hopefully ) of anyone under 18 can demand access..

      --
      ---- Booth was a patriot ----
    7. Re:16 years old by VJ42 · · Score: 1

      That won't work here in the UK, we have the NHS. Grandma gets free healthcare"

      --
      If I have nothing to hide, you have no reason to search me
  3. Gotta Love The British... by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 1

    Big Brother is alive and well across the Pond. I wonder if they want George Bush to make up for what happened in the American Revolution? :P

    1. Re:Gotta Love The British... by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 1

      America screwed over King George, and British can to do the same with President George. It's not like they don't have a reason not to.

    2. Re:Gotta Love The British... by Uber+Banker · · Score: 1

      We'd love George Bush to throw himself off a tall building. The cnut.

      Are you suggesting George Bush is related to King Cnut? "Crowned in the turmoil of war and conquest, Cnut quickly established an era of peace and prosperity."

  4. Should we do it just because we can? by nx · · Score: 3, Interesting

    TFA mentions several reasons as to why one would want to use this service, viz. tracking your employees or your children. Oh, whatever did we do before this technology came to save us? It seems to me that while some technology I would deem harmful (such as most surveillance tech) does have its uses - if criminals communicate via email, then the police should be able to read their email (with a warrant). However, this is one area where this does not apply. Giving your child a cell phone does not make them harder to keep track of, thus warranting use of this technology. On the contrary; just call the kid.

    I think potential for abuse, in this case, outweighs whatever good may come from this. Please, kill this market by not using their service. Please.

    --
    L'homme est né libre, et partout il est dans les fers.
    1. Re:Should we do it just because we can? by thatkeith · · Score: 1
      Giving your child a cell phone does not make them harder to keep track of, thus warranting use of this technology. On the contrary; just call the kid.
      Interestingly, this tracks the phone, not the owner. Subtle but key difference.
      The only times I can see this coming in useful is when the mobile has been stolen - something all too common in urban and suburban UK. What with a mobile phone and an iPod, it isn't unusual for a 14 or 15 year old kid to be carrying £200-£300 worth of gear in their pocket. So gangs rough them up for their gizmos; here in London it has happened to my eldest son three times, and he's pretty streetwise. (My youngest is just wise: he never carries anything valuable. And funnily enough, it seems to show - he's never been hassled.)
      Now, if the thieves could be traced by the phone they've just lifted... but I can't see them giving their permission! (heh) And permission-free tracing is just too open to abuse to contemplate.
      I think potential for abuse, in this case, outweighs whatever good may come from this.
      I have to agree. But I don't think it'll fly anyway.
    2. Re:Should we do it just because we can? by Omaze · · Score: 2, Interesting

      More and more I think about this and I find that it probably won't be used directly for abuse by law enforcement or political officials. What will happen is that the infrastructure necessary to support this will be enlarged. That infrastructure will require care and maintenance by human beings. Those people are socially connected with other people.

      The abuse will come from people who are connected to the people who care and maintain the infrastructure for this. In short, more than enabling the trouncing of civil liberties, it will enable nascient stalkers, bitter ex-spouses, and control freaks.

      The same goes for the US NSA spying program. People are right. There are probably too many checks for politicians or law enforcement officials to directly abuse the system. Some day, though, when some middle manager at the FBI/NSA/CIA/whoever is facing a tough year for performance, has a new baby, and needs house repairs... you can bet s/he'll be mining that database for all s/he's worth to put together any flimsy excuse for an investigation/detention/arrest that s/he can find. Every one of the people who has access to the databases will probably require some sort of security clearance but when it takes 10,000 techs to take care of the database there will always be some insiders who managed to slip through the process.

      So while the government may not be the final criminal their pet projects are enabling the criminals--the very people they're supposed to be protecting us against.

      --
      The government itself is not stealing your liberties. Their new programs are enabling criminals who will.
    3. Re:Should we do it just because we can? by 16K+Ram+Pack · · Score: 1
      It's a technology that seems mostly useless to me except for business. Even then, many large hauliers already have systems using GPS which can be used to increase yield.

      I'm sure a lot of parents will opt for it. Those who don't trust their children to tell them where they are really going or think that there's a child killer on every corner. Even then, it's not a very perfect system. A kid will just leave the phone at their mates while they go off to try and get into a pub.

  5. LBS - Location Based Services by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    This is quite commonly used in the UK, lots of companies provide the service with connections in to the main networks... it's used for all kinds of things - a service I used last week allowed you to dial a number and be connected to the nearest taxi operator, fantastic for when you're out in the middle of London...

    In Norway they are using assisted GPS (GPS on mobiles with data / maps coming over GPRS or 3G) and can provide directions to your nearest doctor or supermarket or whatever right down to 10 metre accuracy.

    BTW, the guys providing this service do so through MX Telecom (juding by the short code in the picture - 88600) - http://www.mxtelecom.com/lbs.

  6. Re:No big deal, and in the end it will save lives. by HermanAB · · Score: 3, Informative

    Turning it off is not necessarily sufficient and removing the battery is inconvenient. So, forward your work cell phone to a private phone and permanently leave the work phone in its charger, inside a locked drawer of your desk.

    --
    Oh well, what the hell...
  7. Consenting Adults? by DesireCampbell · · Score: 1

    "The person that is to be located has to demonstrate to the service provider they are at least 16 years old."

    "Hello, operator? My buddy Jim is late, and I'm a bit worried about him, can you track him down for me?"

    "Certainly sir, just a moment."

    Calls Jim's phone

    "Hello, Jim? This is the operator, someone wants to track you. We need your concent and proof you're over 16 years of age."

    "AHHHHHHH! AAHHHHHH! I'm trapped under my car! It flipped on the highway, and now I'm jammed! Help me! AHHHH!"

    "So, is that a 'yes' sir?"

    "Yes! Yes! AHHHH! It's on fire! Hurry!"

    "Okay sir, I just need proof of your age."

    "AAARRRHHHHH! It burns! It burns! Oh, God! Help me!"

    "What year were you born sir?"

    "AHHHHHH! The flames! Help!"

    "Um, sorry sir, that's not the right answer. I need more to verify age."

    "AHHHH! I think the car's going to ex-"

    "Sir? I still need pro-"

    BOOOOOOM!

    "Sir?"

    Switches back to Jim's friend

    "Sir? I was able to locate the cell phone, but I was disconnected before I could verify age - so I was disallowed from tracking him."

    "Oh, well, that's fine - as long as I know he's still out there. Thanks."

    --
    Whoo, signature!
    DesireCampbell.com
    1. Re:Consenting Adults? by djsmiley · · Score: 2, Funny

      Hold on a sec,

      Jim is in a burning car, with a working mobile, yet he never bothered to phone the 999 and get some help? Dumb noobs like him are the kind that troll on slashdot, let him burn!

      Does it work in rural areas? This could be awesome for stuff like people lost in mountains etc

      As for agreeing, have a clause where you agree that person X can override this right. Hell if i fell down a hole and couldn't speak, i wouldn't care if my mum agreed on my behalf to have me found via my mobile.

      --
      - http://www.milkme.co.uk
    2. Re:Consenting Adults? by jonbryce · · Score: 1

      It will work anywhere where there are cell towers to do triangulation on. The only places I've been that don't have mobile signals recently are the London underground and central Oxford, but I'm sure there are others.

    3. Re:Consenting Adults? by leenks · · Score: 1

      Surely it will work anywhere, as it just needs to know which cell your phone is currently sat on. Triangulation is only needed for exact pinpointing, which these systems don't necessarily provide?

    4. Re:Consenting Adults? by enjar · · Score: 1

      Oh great, more ways for people to go unprepared into the wilderness, then get caught and expect people to risk life and limb for them.

      Should this become more of a problem than it already is, I hope the people are charged for the rescue so that the parks can spend more of their meager budgets on keeping the parks in good shape and not saving the guy who didn't take water, food and a map with him.

    5. Re:Consenting Adults? by typical · · Score: 1

      The only capability that needs to provide is the ability of a cell user to obtain such information.

      --
      Any program relying on (nontrivial) preemptive multithreading will be buggy.
  8. Works well by badzilla · · Score: 1

    I use one of these services to track my kids (www.fleetonline.net). I don't mean routinely just to snoop on them but on the occasion that I don't know where they are and am worried. Works pretty well in most areas; you don't need cruise-missile levels of resolution actually.

    --
    "Don't belong. Never join. Think for yourself. Peace." V.Stone, Microsoft Corporation
    1. Re:Works well by temojen · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Why not just phone them and ask if they're OK? If they're not OK, all you know is where their phone is ... Lying where they dropped it when they were abducted (oh good, he's at the park), In the car at the accident scene (oh, good, she's just leaving the mall now), In their pocket while they get drunk (oh good, he's at jimmy's).

  9. Re:No big deal, and in the end it will save lives. by pdbaby · · Score: 1

    Look, nobody says you have to be a member of a party that's against the current government. Nobody says you even have to SUPPORT a political party! If you don't want to be monitored closely, conform.

    --
    Global symbol "$deity" requires explicit package name at line 2. - If only $scripture started "use strict;"
  10. Re:No big deal, and in the end it will save lives. by turtledawn · · Score: 1

    it seems more likely to me that a couple of sixteen year olds will be dating and have given each other permission to locate- then when they break up one tracks down the other and makes a messy scene- either in the public screaming fit variety or the bloody stains everywhere variety. I just don't think that this is something necessary.

    --
    Uh, "if it looks roughly mouse-shaped according to my infra-red sensitive pit, eat it"? --Chris Burke 09-08-10
  11. Re:Brilliant! by AchilleTalon · · Score: 1
    What kind of abuse since both parties need to become into an agreement to setup the system?

    Beside that, I am pretty much sure tracking of any citizen can be done by authorities if needed. And this technology is there for a while and had not been made publicly available before. So, if you fear BB, it's just too late!

    --
    Achille Talon
    Hop!
  12. Re:No big deal, and in the end it will save lives. by woolio · · Score: 1

    So, forward your work cell phone to a private phone and permanently leave the work phone in its charger, inside a locked drawer of your desk.

    If employers are taking employees, then perhaps it should be brought home 1-2 times a week. Then your boss will be really really impressed when he finds you spent 110 hours last week in the office.... (Or he might be pissed as to why you didn't accomplish 3x as much as a regular 40hr/week person).

  13. Old news... by aallan · · Score: 3, Informative

    This is such old news, it was initially worked over by The Guardian at the start of the month, and it even got picked up by Slashdot. But it was old news even then, you've been able to do this sort of thing for years. I've talked about it a lot in my blog...

    Al.
    --
    The Daily ACK - Eclectic posts by yet another hacker
    1. Re:Old news... by gbjbaanb · · Score: 1

      Nope, its very old news. I implemented a location lookup system for a major UK roadside breakdown service (so if you've broken down in the middle of nowhere they can find out roughly where you are).

      As for abuse... well, lets say that during testing, my location was repeatedly looked up whilst I travelled between the customer and my office, by my colleagues, so it is very easy. in fact, they had to add a audit trail to the lookups so that callcentre staff would stop looking up their boyfriend's (or whoever) locations.

      On the good side, someone I know used it repeatedly to determine the location of his wife's handbag after it (and the phone inside) was stolen. I guess he had permission from his wife, though the thief obviously didn't consent.

      The good news though, is that the location accuracy is quite poor. It is almost useless to determine the exact location of someone, and quite often the location returned is useful only to tell what town/village they are in.

    2. Re:Old news... by Bloke+down+the+pub · · Score: 1
      On the good side, someone I know used it repeatedly to determine the location of his wife's handbag after it (and the phone inside) was stolen. I guess he had permission from his wife, though the thief obviously didn't consent.
      The way things are going in the UK, I'm surprised he didn't get fined for breaking the data protection act and have to compensate the thief for violating his right to privacy.
      --
      It's true I tell you, feller at work's next door neighbour read it in the paper.
  14. SIM card swap by PornMaster · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I would imagine that kids who were off and up to no good would pop in a different SIM card and meet up with their friends. The thing about cell phone tracking is that it would be quite hard to prove someone wasn't just out of range (elevator, basement), so even if the tracking were to say, "No Data Available", you can't assume that the kid turned off the phone or changed SIMs.

    1. Re:SIM card swap by DMoylan · · Score: 1

      Signal stength at least in dublin, ireland would prevent this. i can only think of one place in dublin that i use that has very low signal strength. on a new section of motorway there is a spot in a dip that causes voice calls to break up but the signal is still strong enough to maintain the call.

      thats only on one phone service. other phone services are ok in the area.

      even in large buildings there are mini masts located in shop signs that handle gsm calls.

      parents would be worried that children would be in an area not covered by gsm phone service as they at least in urban areas are very few and far between.

    2. Re:SIM card swap by nogginthenog · · Score: 1

      My mothers house in SE London has always had terrible coverage. Not sure why, I've used my phone all over the world and I got a better signal in the middle of the English Channel last time I was on a ferry to France. Also, if you're ever on a train going through Richmond station (W London) look out for people on the phone. Invariably they lose their connection. Always gives me a chuckle.

    3. Re:SIM card swap by stud9920 · · Score: 3, Informative

      IAAMTE (I am a mobile telecom engineer)

      We can still track them at IMEI (phone serial number) level.

    4. Re:SIM card swap by lga · · Score: 1

      You can't if they have switched to a different network.

    5. Re:SIM card swap by jonwil · · Score: 1

      I know of several places here in Perth (australia) where I dont get cellphone service (or didnt last time I was there) and where I had to move outside to get it. (the last case I can remember was when I was inside a k-mart store and had to go outside the store to get service)

    6. Re:SIM card swap by PornMaster · · Score: 1

      Hell, it happens in the bathroom where I work in midtown Manhattan (New York). It happens in the subway. It happens at various times all around the city of New York. It also happens as I head out into Connecticut or New Jersey, at various points. I don't really buy the "we have service everywhere" people, though I did manage pretty well with a triband when I was based out of London and went to Belgium, the Netherlands, and France, even on the train moving at high speed.

    7. Re:SIM card swap by digitalchinky · · Score: 1

      IMEI can be changed with a laptop and a cable in a matter of seconds. Not always inexpensive for the hardware, but if you don't want to be tracked or bothered by the 3 letter agencies... I'm sure it breaks a few laws in one or two countries, but whatever. They want to over-extend on the rules of intercept, then I'll swap my IMEI every day. A new sim card where I am at is about $0.50 US.

      What really screws it all up is that your identity can be fairly well confirmed by who you are calling.

      -- ex 'them'

    8. Re:SIM card swap by typical · · Score: 1

      I'm pretty sure that both the phone and the SIM transmit their own unique ID, though I hate cells and don't own one.

      --
      Any program relying on (nontrivial) preemptive multithreading will be buggy.
  15. Old news by weegiekev · · Score: 1

    This isn't new. Check out NTK which reported on this years ago. There was also an article later on in the sunday post where a university student had managed to find a way to bypass the security on these without requiring physical access to the device. I believe the guardian picked up on this as well.

    1. Re:Old news by andrewuoft · · Score: 1

      This is just substitution for parenting!

  16. The serveillence society by danratherfoe · · Score: 3, Insightful
    The issue of tracking and surveillance is not one that is confined to the UK. All of the cell phones sold in America since 2001 have had the capability to be tracked down to a radius of only a few feet by a combination of triangulation and GPSs technology. Anytime the government wants to, they can know where you are -- if you have your phone with you -- even if that phone is not on (see http://news.tbo.com/news/MGBYEM9DQ3E.html). The capability also exists to turn your phone into a passive listening device even when you do not think that it is on.

    Now consider this: in Texas, there is a plan afoot -- already approved by the legislature -- to turn over 6000 miles of preexisting roads to a foreign Spanish company so that the company can charge tolls on those roads. Drivers will be required to have an RFID tag in their car with will allow their movements to be tracked and cataloged that company (and the state will have access to that information, see http://www.austintollparty.com/). This is not just confined to Texas, there are similar plans in many other states.

    The question has to be asked: why is there is this massive push for the governement to know where we are all of the time and have the ability to listen to us. This may just be the insipiant footprint of a police state.

    1. Re:The serveillence society by MountainMan101 · · Score: 1

      Foreign and Spanish - amazing!

    2. Re:The serveillence society by ScrewMaster · · Score: 2, Interesting

      By any ordinary measure, America already is a police state. One that is far more technologically-advanced (and thus potentially far more invasive) than any that have preceeded it, with the possible exception of Great Britain. The fact that the abuses that invariably occur with the arrogation of such power haven't reached the level of, say, the old East German government is irrelevant. America is a police state held in check by tradition and the tattered remnants of our Constitution, and once our educational system has finished removing any sense of history, or understanding of what it once meant to be an American, that pesky document with its "inalienable rights" and other inconveniences can be eliminated once and for all.

      I doubt I will want to live here then. I doubt they will let me leave.

      --
      The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.
    3. Re:The serveillence society by blitziod · · Score: 1

      the reason we are not a police state in the old east german fashion is that we still have guns. The right bear arms helps keep our taxes lower and press almost free! As long as we have guns big bro has to convince us to let him do stupid things to us, instead of just doing them.

      --
      The only way to bust a doper--is when you yourself become a smoker!
    4. Re:The serveillence society by cliveholloway · · Score: 1

      That has got to be the biggest pile of crap I have read here in a while (and you have some stiff competition).

      Learn to spell, learn how to form a coherent argument, *then* share your wisdom with the world.

      --
      -- Trinity in high heels carrying a whip: The donimatrix - there is no spoonerism
    5. Re:The serveillence society by qzulla · · Score: 1

      What? Try it again. This time look up the word coherent.

      qz

    6. Re:The serveillence society by ScrewMaster · · Score: 1

      Well, there's always hope ... just hope I don't wait too long.

      --
      The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.
  17. The battle between functionality and privacy. by keilinw · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Its funny how my perception of the world changes depending on the current situation. I firmly believe in a person's right to privacy. However, I've often thought that it would be very useful to be able to track people with cell phones. The HYPOTHETICAL solution would be that those who consent to tracking could broadcast their locations to their friends, thus making it easy to know if one is in proximity to someone they would like to meet up with.

    On the flip side, as we all know, are the privacy issues that stem from this. And, in this day and age I'm certain that there is a lot of room for abuse. The author of the BBC article certainly proved this to be the case. Is is really ever possible to achieve this hypothetical solution where only those who consent to being tracked are tracked?

    The BBC author brings up another interesting point that I didn't think of before --the issue of tracking children or minors. For some reason I always assumed that the greatest benefit from this technology would be to track your children and perhaps even keep tabs on whether or not they are visiting "forbidden" areas. Obviously this is not the case as children cannot legally consent to being tracked! So what about that GPS tracking collar thing? How do the children consent there?

    The battle between functionality and privacy continues in full force. I'm sure that we'd all like the CONVENIENCE of RFID, biometric scanners, wireless credit cards, wireless passports, etc... but at what price and at what risk to our privacy? Certainly large governments will be the major players behind such schemes. Who knows... for a while privacy rights may be protected... but what about the future? Since the technologies are there then the room for abuse is also there....

    Some food for thought.

    Matt Wong

    http://www.themindofmatthew.com

    1. Re:The battle between functionality and privacy. by RahoulB · · Score: 1

      the main point of this is that it is now publicly available. thepolice have been able to do it for years whenever they wanted - in fact the ian huntley murder (which was a very big deal here) was down to phone tracking - there was only one place in the village that was a mobile dead spot - ian huntley's house.

  18. Re:No big deal, and in the end it will save lives. by hachete · · Score: 1

    I don't think you can turn the bloody things off. Also, have you seen the state of public telephone boxes? That's if you can find one. A mobile phone is *essential these days.

    --
    Patriotism is a virtue of the vicious
  19. Re:Brilliant! by masklinn · · Score: 1

    You barely need the phone for 5mn to setup the tracking, a guy has already used it to track his girlfriend.

    He told his gf what he was going to do and got authorization, but basically everything that's required is to get sole access to the switched-on phone for 5 minutes: setup the tracking, receive SMS, delete SMS, you're done, the owner of the phone is tracked without his knowledge. With this kind of "requirements", you can setup a tracking for quite a large number of people...

    --
    "The way we can tell it's C# instead of Haskell is because it's nine lines instead of two." -- wadler
  20. Consenting Adults. by twitter · · Score: 1
    ... code requires location services to check that both the tracker and the person being tracked can prove they are consenting adults.

    Oh, how nice of them to keep their toys to themselves. I doubt that people wanting cell service are asked for their consent when the phone company or government agent tracks them. Tracking is creepy and not something customers are demanding. Code should require the phone companies to provide phones that can not be routinely tracked. Instead, the price of modern convenience is a loss of privacy. We are forced to pay for yet another tool for those in power to maintain their power and wealth and told it's "for the children".

    --

    Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.

    1. Re:Consenting Adults. by AnyoneEB · · Score: 1

      As I understand it, if a cell phone is connected to the network, it is pretty easy to figure out where it is. I assume that having GPS on the phone improves the precision. The only way to make a cell phone that is untrackable is to turn it off.

      --
      Centralization breaks the internet.
    2. Re:Consenting Adults. by twitter · · Score: 1
      I assume that having GPS on the phone improves the precision.

      Yes to a few yards. The only way to make a cell phone that is untrackable is to turn it off.

      I'm told that does not work. If you really don't want to be tracked you have leave it behind.

      --

      Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.

  21. Re:No big deal, and in the end it will save lives. by Stephen+Samuel · · Score: 1
    it seems more likely to me that a couple of sixteen year olds will be dating and have given each other permission to locate- . . . . .

    And what does being 16 years old have to do with it? I know one fully grown woman (30s) who had an abusive B-friend who would have jumped at the chance to be able to track her whereabouts 24/7.

    Thankfully she's now broken up with him, but I figure that he would have had no problem with the idea of tracking her down at work and making a public scene ... just for the fun of it (or, more accurately, all the more to make sure that she towed the line so that he "won't be forced to do something like that again").

    --
    Free Software: Like love, it grows best when given away.
  22. Covered and hacked in "2600" mag this quarter by djkitsch · · Score: 1

    I won't bother linking to their site, since it doesn't feature the article, but this quarter's "2600" magazine has a feature on hacking this system. Essentially, it involves sending the verification SMS to the mobile to be tracked, and then spoofing the confirmation using one of the many available "fake" SMS message services to be found online.

    Deeply dodgy, and were I to be of a paranoid nature, I would definitely be carrying my cellphone switched off.

    --
    sig:- (wit >= sarcasm)
  23. Re:If the phone is off by tobybuk · · Score: 1

    Do you really think that when you call a cell phone every transmitter IN THE GPS WORLD transmits a 'ring' request for you? No, the phone constantly communicates with its local cells to say where it is. You cannot operate a cell phone without it transmitting. And its this that is used to track you.

  24. www.theregister.co.uk by EmbeddedJanitor · · Score: 1

    ... and you'd have seen this about a month ago.

    --
    Engineering is the art of compromise.
  25. Re:i forght for these rights! by Isotopian · · Score: 1

    What are you, twelve? I'd argue with you, but it would go over your head. On a side not, quite amusing, in that 'kids on the short bus' way.

    --

    It's poetry with a beat behind it! And guns! They're like beatniks with automatic weapons.

  26. You just admitted failure as a parent. by Flying+pig · · Score: 1
    I was going to post at length on this subject, but I'm not. At the risk of being moderated flamebait I have to say it: if you need to track your children you should be asking yourself, very seriously, what this says about you, them and their upbringing. Knowing where they are makes them safer how, exactly?

    One thing; when I was at U, I was attacked by a psychopath with a knife while on college premises. Location services are about making money, and they therefore seek to induce the paranoia that causes people to buy them. But how real is the actual security?

    --
    Pining for the fjords
  27. Old stuff by russint · · Score: 2, Interesting

    When I lived in Finland (5+ years ago), my carrier had some sort of tracking service. Basicly, you just sent an sms with a keyword to a specific number, and got a reply with an address.

    --
    ^^
    1. Re:Old stuff by drrnwbb · · Score: 1

      any idea what the keyword is? i had sonera as my operator for the last three years and ive not heard of anything like this. instructions must be hidden away in the finnish part of the site.

    2. Re:Old stuff by russint · · Score: 1

      Some word in finnish (I think) that I cant remember. (I dont speak finnish)

      --
      ^^
  28. Re:Brilliant! by AchilleTalon · · Score: 1
    So, basically, password protect your cell-phone and never let someone else you don't trust use it.

    BTW, could it be cancelled easily as it can be setup?

    It should and it circumvent completely this kind of problem, since you can always cancel your authorization, anytime and in less than 5 minutes.

    --
    Achille Talon
    Hop!
  29. Re:If the phone is off by David+Horn · · Score: 1

    Not so. The phone is constantly communicating with the base stations - for the obvious purpose that the network needs to know where it is when someone calls you.

    I've tried a tracking service and it got my location down to about 200 yards. Was quite impressed.

    --
    PocketGamer.org - For the gamer on the go!
  30. Mod parent up by hotdiggitydawg · · Score: 1

    Good points! Tracking only tells you where their phone is, not where they are. And even if the two coincide, it doesn't tell you what they are doing, which one would presume is more important.

  31. Guardian Story by Anarkee · · Score: 1

    The BBC ripped this off from a story the Guardian did over three weeks ago:

    http://technology.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,,169 9156,00.html

    But still, scary stuff.

  32. Re:Brilliant! by Shemmie · · Score: 1

    On the tracking system I was looking at a few days ago, it sends regular SMS's to the tracked phone to ensure consent is still agreed, rather than a one off. http://www.followus.co.uk/received_a_text.html

  33. Mobile security: none by j.leidner · · Score: 1
    The article mentions there is no protection from location tracking other than the companies' Code of Conduct.

    It is not well-known that the same holds for reverse billing text messages ("premium SMS"); anyone can sign up to send these unsolicitedly.

    For example, you can write a short (less than 50 lines) bash script send-50p.sh that takes a mobile phone number and reverse-charges the receipient 50 pence (or, in fact anything up to 5 pounds per message) by sending them e.g. an empty (" ") text message - and without them opting in first.

    Since you can also easily fake caller IDs (the Nigerian 419 scam people are doing this nowadays when they threaten people - it happened to a friend), there are really a lot of loopholes that need fixing, IMHO.

    Like everywhere else, the maxim is "security is an illusion"...

  34. Re:No big deal, and in the end it will save lives. by LainTouko · · Score: 1

    Really? I've never found a lack of a mobile phone to be an inconvenience. Essential for what, exactly?

  35. Years old, but still cool. by caluml · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I have access to one of these systems, and I've been tracking myself on a website of mine for years now. Just for fun, really. (And to see if it would be a way police could monitor speeding - better to know if it's possible before they do it. :) It's not - there are too many errors - the cell sizes near motorways are too large and vague). The first thing anyone asks when I tell them is - can you track anyone? And I tell them, yes, on this network. The second thing they ask: Can you tell me where my girlfriend/boyfriend is right now? To which I tell them: I could, but I'm not going to.
    It's scary. I think a lot of people would abuse it given half a chance.
    You can sign up for developer accounts with most phone networks in the UK - but the queries are expensive. 10p each with a minimum of 5000 per month - that sort of thing.

  36. Re:i forght for these rights! by packetmill · · Score: 1

    I was having trouble deciding whether he was kidding or what..then he put the muslim-communists punchline in and gave it away.

    Dude:You should not be here. This is slashdot. Please go here.

  37. Oh dear...pedophiles will have a field day with it by MindPrison · · Score: 1

    Doesn't anyone worry about kids being tracked by childabusers?

    --
    What this world is coming to - is for you and me to decide.
  38. Right... by suparjerk · · Score: 1

    "With more and more children owning mobile phones, special attention needs to be given to who can track them." But all those people who are 16 and up, no worries. We can all invade their privacy and track where they are 24/7 it's no big deal, right?

    --
    I caught the Mountain Wumpus! He gave me his treasure chest ($100) to let him go free again.
  39. Re:No big deal, and in the end it will save lives. by turtledawn · · Score: 1

    it wasn't my intent to imply that older people might not abuse it as well- just that an older person would have more options (private investigator, more experience at stalking, more psycho friends etc) and that something this simplistic was more likely to be abused by younger and/or less sophisticated users.

    --
    Uh, "if it looks roughly mouse-shaped according to my infra-red sensitive pit, eat it"? --Chris Burke 09-08-10
  40. Re:Brilliant! by Anonymous+Luddite · · Score: 1

    >> What kind of abuse since both parties need to become into an agreement to setup the system?

    The copy of 2600 sitting in front of me (22.4) has an article called "How to track any UK GSM phone (without the user's consent)".

    In a nutshell, it involves using an online number spoofing service to OK the request for tracking. So much for the agreement bit....

  41. You're on to something by Beryllium+Sphere(tm) · · Score: 1

    >The HYPOTHETICAL solution would be that those who consent to tracking could broadcast their locations to their friends

    What if your location information went out only to people on your IM buddy list, as part of your presence information? How useful would it be to scroll through a list and see that Kathleen is Not Busy, @ laundromat next to Caligula Pizza, Current Mood Hungry?

  42. There can be only one by unknownideal · · Score: 1

    Mr Macleod? Of the Clan Macleod? He can't track me, I'm not even immortal.

  43. Let's break this down, once and for all by Catbeller · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Phone tracking is bad. RFID tracking of people, bad. Spying on people, BAD BAD BAD.

    GPS or other tracking is BAD. I won't buy a new cell phone made after 2004 because they have government mandated GPS trackers built in, whether you want it or not. Software controlled shutoffs are garbage; the phone company can switch it back on if they so desire, probably without letting you know, at the request of any figure of authority.

    Give me at least a phone where the GPS is a physical module that I can depower or remove. Anything else is a little government/corporate/anybody-who-cares-to spying machine.

    As for kidnappers and, oh god, here we go, pedophiles: um, they'd throw the phone in a metal box or down a sewer or onto a freight train bound for Toronto.

    Tracking people on cellphones should be done only with the permission of the user. Anything else is just police state horse manure.

    I am beginning to realize that my generation, which grew up with an expectation of privacy and dignity, is not explaining the problem to newer generations which grew up in schools with dogs searching their lockers, with strip searches, metal detectors, ID badges, probably anal cavity searches done at will on their persons for no damned reason at all. I've only recently paid attention to how differently most of you view civil liberties, given that you never experienced them. Your gestalt acquiesance to the police state that you poor sods schooled under and then work for is genuinely shocking to me.

    I'm saying that you have no problems with being prisoners under a warden 'cause you were brought up that way, "for your safety". It is the fault of decades of parents becoming WAAAAAAYY too overprotective and fearful of bogeymen.

    You don't need to be tracked, unless you want to be. You shouldn't be required to be tracked to work for a living. The magic word is "no". Remember the magic word. Teach it to your children in turn.

    Remember, remember, the 5th of November.

  44. When it comes down to it.. by joshier · · Score: 1

    People are just going to have to be a lot more secure about their mobile phone numbers.

    Of course, technology and the whole security thing isn't going to sort this mess out, so we'll have to take action into our own hands.

    This means changing your sim for example, of course - once this exploit gets down to a nifty little illegal pc app to allow you to track any number you want, many people will have access to it and privacy will just go down the drain.

    I for one, will change my sim if they don't secure this, clearly they have not .. luckily, i don't have many contacts so it's not too bad (only contacts i do have are my closest friends)

    On the other hand, that solution will be futil since i'm sure the security of this tracking will soon be cracked, so any phones near you (tihnk of bluetooth) you will be able to grab their phone number, and say for example a pedophile was out for vulnrables, he could phone their phone and they would answer.

    I blaim it on the corperate mind and the structore inwhich it has run, it was doomed to failure from day one (well, not that early.. but when they registered a corperation as one 'man').. it's all about money, and if getting that money requires business to not give two shits about users privacy, then so be it.

    The world and economy as it stands to this day is like an aero plain... it's flying, but it's flying down, and unless we change the way corperations work, it will crash... and boy it will crash hard, i'm talking about billions of people dying (think global warming)

  45. Re:abusing 'for protection of children' motive by LocalH · · Score: 1
    Similar recently in the USA where the DoJ wants the search results of google because of 'child pornography'.
    Except they were just fishing to see how many searches were being done for porn in general, not child porn.
    --
    FC Closer
  46. What if you don't care? by Squigley · · Score: 1

    I couldn't care less if people new vaugely where I was all the time.

    I'd even write an interface to the system, that allowed my website to update automatically, and when someone visited, it would say "where am I?" and show a map of where I was at the time, perhaps even overlayed on google maps.

    All people are going to see is that I am at home, or at work, the addresses of both they could find without too much issue, or I'm on the road travelling somewhere.

    I don't see what the big deal is, if someone wants to stalk someone, they are going to do so, whether or not a phone has a part of it is neither here nor there. I doubt someone lazy is going to say "ooh, now I can start stalking because I don't have to follow the person around all day".

    Any nutbag that would stalk someone would be following them around all day anyway.

  47. Re:Brilliant! by nmg196 · · Score: 1

    > What kind of abuse since both parties need to become
    > into an agreement to setup the system?

    No you don't - you simply need both parties' PHONES. Big difference. Who doesn't have access to their wifes/girlfriends/child's phone for the purposes of sending the "ok to track me" text message?

    A decent system should tell the tracked user that they are being tracked (and by whom) each time their position is requested by the tracking party.

  48. Re:Brilliant! by smallfries · · Score: 1

    There is no password protection on most mobile phones, they just have pin entry when they're first switched on. That is no good if the phone is already powered up.

    Cancellation would not solve this problem. You are kind of missing the point. The journalist that the GP is referrering to showed how easy it is to set up tracking on somebody elses phone. Once setup there is *no* indication that the service is active. Thus you wouldn't know to cancel it, or who with.

    --
    Slashdot: where don knuth is an idiot because he cant grasp the awesome power of php
  49. Re:Consenting Adults at 16? by Bloke+down+the+pub · · Score: 1
    we will charge ever-younger criminals (now as young as 13 or 14) "as adults" for their crimes, while they don't enjoy any of the privileges afforded to "adults."
    If you can do the crime, you can do the time.
    --
    It's true I tell you, feller at work's next door neighbour read it in the paper.
  50. Turning it off is sufficient. by Viol8 · · Score: 1

    When a phone is off all that happens is it polls the on button.
    It doesn't communicate with base stations at all since to do so
    would waste the battery which would defeat the whole point of
    it being off!

  51. George Orwell fell short by rvalles · · Score: 1
    George Orwell couldn't imagine the present situation.

    On the propaganda side, not only there's a "telescreen", but it isn't needed to force people to watch it: They're stupid enough to watch it even if they're not forced to do so. Not only that, but for the greatest part of the society, life is completelly centered around TV. When people return from work, most of the times worktime and conmuting adding up more than half their time awake, and pay being of course pathetic, they do so in the cars TV shown them as good. Then, once they're home, they turn on the TV first thing, in order to watch pure mindless reality shows or just plain and pure propaganda. At the times they're not working or watching TV, you'll find them in the supermarket buying the crappiest and most expensive choices; the ones the TV made them buy. Maybe sometimes they get together and, say, talk about those crappy series from TV, or go shopping together to buy crappy pop music... things like that. Of course, nobody is interested in politics anymore, or in personal research of any kind, or learning anything that's not strictly needed, just for fun, or creating cultural works (they've all been told creators are a different race that is, of course, starving thanks to "piracy"); their lives are completelly busy already with TV and what surrounds it; a few channels, controled by a small amount of people. They can guide the thoughts of the masses. We know about those studies where not even the university-educated circles of people are capable of understanding a text, detecting obvious and simple patterns when analyzing tables of data, and of course, any critical thinking. Uncapable of working out the simplest logical deductions. They've archieved this much power.

    On the surveillance side, of course, it's even worse. Not only privacity doesn't exist anymore because communications are under indiscriminate surveillance; It's seems like _everybody_ but me carries a tracking device known as a cellphone with them, and what's worse, most of them have no idea of that, or the implications.

    To sum it up, it's a working modern totalitarian regime where people are completelly caged while they stupidly believe they're completelly free, to the extend that some countries, namely the USA, got rid of democracy through unverified (no paper trail) electronic voting; going unnoticed by the illiterate masses.

    And this is the world we're living on. We are screwed.

  52. Re:No big deal, and in the end it will save lives. by Stephen+Samuel · · Score: 1

    I'd say that young kids are more likely to do it in the throes of hormone love, and not consider the implications. Older lovers are more likely to demand it fully knowing how they can abuse it.

    --
    Free Software: Like love, it grows best when given away.
  53. 1984 is in the past by typical · · Score: 1

    You know, I always thought that 1984 and similar books would be sufficient to discourage ubiquitious government monitoring.

    I guess I was wrong.

    I remember the police chief in Houston just a couple days ago putting monitoring cameras up all over and saying "If you don't have anything to hide, then you don't have anything to worry about." Quote from 1984, but simply used in the opposite direction.

    Of course, Britain already *has* cameras all over, so I guess tracking is just the next logical extension. They're just starting on their own post-September 11th style reduction in civil liberties.

    I guess that the problem is that it's hard to stuff complex ideas into a pop movie, so today's media lacks much beyond very simple political criticism.

    --
    Any program relying on (nontrivial) preemptive multithreading will be buggy.
  54. Re:Modded Interesting? by typical · · Score: 1

    How long do you think that will last?

    Once the technology is in place, what exactly prevents policy change? Policy is such a fragile thing...

    --
    Any program relying on (nontrivial) preemptive multithreading will be buggy.
  55. Re:Brilliant! by masklinn · · Score: 1

    For one that does, dozens don't, just pick one that doesn't and you can track people without their knowledge...

    --
    "The way we can tell it's C# instead of Haskell is because it's nine lines instead of two." -- wadler
  56. Re:Brilliant! by masklinn · · Score: 1

    So, basically, password protect your cell-phone and never let someone else you don't trust use it.

    Most cells don't have password protection once they're turned off. And it's not "don't let someone else use it", it's "don't let anyone use it", not your friend, not your girlfriend, not your parents, no one.

    BTW, could it be cancelled easily as it can be setup?

    If you dismiss the fact that you don't even know you're being tracked (and therefore wouldn't have the idea to cancel your tracking), then yes.

    --
    "The way we can tell it's C# instead of Haskell is because it's nine lines instead of two." -- wadler
  57. Re:Who sold you those guns? by ScrewMaster · · Score: 1

    With a little help from the French that militia removed Great Britain from ownership of this country. Laugh if you wish. And I don't know about us shooting each other, but more of us die in car accidents every year than shootings. Personally, I don't even own a gun. But I want that right in case I decide that I should.

    Sorry to contradict, but the right to bear arms has as much to do with the defense of the citizenry from our own government as defending the country from any external aggressor. It was to provide the citizenry with a last-ditch defense against their own government, and as a long-term deterrent to negative action by that government. Before commenting on what purpose our Founders intended our various rights to serve, read some of Jefferson or Franklin's writings. It might open your eyes a little. There were (and are!) damn good reasons for that right, and the fact that our government has finally begun to follow the road to hell as predicted by Thomas Jefferson does little to convince me otherwise. He pointed out that, from a legal perspective, the United States Federal Government at its inception was about as good as it was going to get, and and that it was all downhill from there. As usual, he was right.

    The people that speak out against gun ownership by law-abiding citizens forget that it's a fine line between peaceful governance and armed rebellion. Look around the world to see how true that is. Our government is right on course for a significant internecine conflict, and would very much like us to be completely unable to defend ourselves should the need arise. The government has not, to date, been able to justify that stance with anything resembling logic and reason, instead appealing to illogic and emotion. Not to mention large numbers of manufactured "statistics."

    It is interesting to me that, prior to the rise of the Hitler and the Nazi Party in pre-World War II Germany, the Weimar republic had a remarkably modern gun control law. Hitler had to do very little, from a legal perspective, to continue disarming those whom he wished defenseless against his militia. Even more interesting, during the early pogroms against the Jews, the few that had refused to turn over their weapons were able to fight off the Nazis and escape. Had the rest of the Jews been as heavily armed there would have been no Holocaust ... but because they obeyed the law and turned in their weapons they died en-masse.

    Switzerland was the only country in Europe at the time where every man had a military rifle at home. The Nazi leadership acknowledged this fact in their invasion plans, and pretty much left Switzerland alone. Just goes to show that an armed population makes a remarkable deterrent to invasion. Actually, genocidal actions by numerous governments around the world are largely enabled by successful efforts to disarm local populations. It's really easy to control or eliminate unarmed people ... it's a lot different when they can shoot back.

    --
    The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.
  58. Re:Stop whining... by ScrewMaster · · Score: 1

    A very nice sentiment that unfortunately doesn't acknowledge the fact that we are consistently presented with Presidential candidates that do not stand for freedom. Sure ... they all say they do but when you look at the laws they allow to be signed into law (or directly lobby for themselves!) it becomes obvious that freedom is something that is being tolerated less and less by our leaders as time goes on.

    --
    The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.
  59. Re:Consenting Adults at 16? by Bloke+down+the+pub · · Score: 1

    A sly shag isn't the same as committing premeditated murder. That's leaving aside the fact that in one case the underage person is the victim and in the other the perpetrator. Maybe you should go shopping at www.senseofperspective.com - I hear they do a special first time offer for bleeding-heart liberals.

    --
    It's true I tell you, feller at work's next door neighbour read it in the paper.
  60. Ah, but good news about a movie about freedom! V. by Catbeller · · Score: 1

    "I guess that the problem is that it's hard to stuff complex ideas into a pop movie"

    What a weird coincidence. Remember my closing line?

    "Remember, remember, the 5th of November"

    to finish:

    "The gunpowder treason and plot;
      I know of no reason,
      why the gunpowder treason,
      should ever be forgot."

    It's the English ditty commemorating the attempted bombing of Parliment by Guy Fawkes. I quoted it because it is the tag line of "V for Vendetta", a pop movie coming out in the middle of this month.

    If ever a Hollywood movie spoke to us of why cameras and surveillance are bad, bad, bad, this movie will. It is the scream of the sane of our time. And to think, the story was written 25 years ago by Alan Moore, in response to Thatcher's creeping fascism.

    (A weird note: in "V" the graphic novel, fascism actually came after the Liberal party took over from the Conservatives. TOO close to reality.)

  61. Cell Phone Tracking In USA by BJBrad99 · · Score: 1

    Hey, You guys across the Atlantic can't have all the fun. We have an application just like this over in here the USA. I subscribed to one called Findum for my Sprint phone just to see how it works. The url is www.FindumWireless.com. I just use it to see how well it works, which is really good. Now... if only I had something to track I bet it would be a lot cooler. But no in general, I think it's a good idea. There is so much loss in this world that this type of stuff could prevent. I would like to see more LBS offerings. Brad

    --
    If it's a gadget, I gotta get it