this post was submitted on 24 Oct 2024
466 points (99.4% liked)

Technology

58863 readers
4083 users here now

This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.

Our Rules

  1. Follow the lemmy.world rules.
  2. Only tech related content.
  3. Be excellent to each another!
  4. Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
  5. Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
  6. Politics threads may be removed.
  7. No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
  8. Only approved bots from the list below, to ask if your bot can be added please contact us.
  9. Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed

Approved Bots

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
466
Location tracking of phones is out of control. Here’s how to fight back. (arstechnica.com)
submitted 1 day ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
90 comments fedilink hide all child comments
top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] [email protected] 29 points 23 hours ago (1 children)

I think generally speaking these privacy articles fail to convince the majority of people that there's a problem, which is crucial to be able to sell the solution.

I think the abortion part is the most relatable, but you'll hear them say they've got nothing to hide. I believe getting access to that data and show people what data they have on them would be the most effective. It's like saying to someone that has nothing to hide "oh yeah? Give me your phone and your documents, let me browse what's on them"

[–] [email protected] 5 points 5 hours ago* (last edited 5 hours ago) (1 children)

People can be irrational like that. But I bet if there’s a really successful horror movie where the killer finds the victim’s location then people will care.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

I feel like this needs to be real, not a movie. Not someone who gets killed, just someone who sees their own data

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 hours ago

You can take it a step further. If you live in an area with a lot of theft, put some tracking tags on things that tend to get stolen, then see how easily you can track them down. An attacker can track your phone in much the same way as you tracking down that tag, so if you have a particularly motivated stalker, they could figure out exactly where you are.

[–] [email protected] 25 points 1 day ago (3 children)

A lot of great comments here. I just wanted to add that even just your ip address is enough to roughly track your location. When your phone checks gmail you are leaving digital breadcrumbs in Google’s logs of your ip address which roughly tracks your location. App permissions will not solve this. We need strong privacy regulations with teeth.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 hours ago

Yes and no, when I check my actual IP address it shows that it's somewhere pretty far away, I guess that's where my carrier has their trunk connected.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 21 hours ago (1 children)

A VPN helps

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 hours ago

There are still attacks that can get around the VPN. It certainly helps, but it's not a complete solution on its own like VPN providers would like you to believe.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 23 hours ago (1 children)

And then there's wifi triangulation and Bluetooth which narrows it down further

[–] [email protected] 6 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

And this is why my GPS and Bluetooth are disabled 99% of the time unless I'm actually using them. It cuts down on a lot of potential data leakage.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

Can't they just triangulate you from cell towers?

Take the battery out I guess?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 hours ago

Yup, but that would require more effort (I.e. interacting w/ network operator). Tracking someone by Bluetooth can be done passively, as evidenced by services like "Find my Droid" or "Find my iPhone" or whatever.

Blocking my cell radios eliminates the entire point of the phone for me, so the tradeoff is too steep. That said, airplane mode is right over there if you need it temporarily.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 day ago (3 children)

I don't think enough people have mentioned that Auto manufacturers have been able to locate vehicles since the 90's.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

I'm pretty sure my car doesn't have tracking, and it's from the mid 2000s. Phoning home wasn't standard until relatively recent car models. I could absolutely be wrong though, but my understanding is that any wireless capabilities it has are limited to close proximity (i.e. tire pressure sensors and the like).

[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 hours ago (2 children)

Standard in 2008 If the auto manufacturer offered OnStar or Sirius, earlier.

I wish it wasn't true, and I definitely feel like a nut job when I bring it up.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 hours ago

In America, not the rest of the world.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 hours ago

Huh, both my cars are just before 2008 (2007 and 2006), and base models so they don't have any fancy features like satellite radio.

Replacing those two is going to suck...

[–] [email protected] 5 points 23 hours ago (2 children)

How did they do it tech wise?

[–] [email protected] 11 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

Originally the D.A.I.R. project (Driver Aid, Information and Routing) was conceptualized in the 60's. It wasn't until Hughes assisted EDS in the 90's that they were able to create a beacon that could communicate via Satellite and Cellular.

I myself didn't realize this was a thing until about a decade ago when I was trying to create an automation for my lights to turn on when I pulled into my driveway. I kept getting a ping about 5min after my phone connected to my WiFi. The MAC matched nothing I had in the house, I just blew it off.

When an associate stopped by to work on a HoneyPot project we started seeing a bunch of random MACs attempt to connect to the open wifi, we wrote that noise off as people walking by my house and their cell phones were just trying to connect. It wasn't until the garbage man showed up and stopped to talk to me that I was able to find his truck listed with an address connected to the open wifi, sent a few packets, then left. We made the correlation that the MAC's could be from cars so we started researching the manufacturer of those device MAC's

That pretty much opened a weird rabbit hole leading us to find out that almost every car has been tracked since the mid-90's.

Joking aside, I would move to Amish country if it weren't for the whiskey and bitches. But in all honesty; my family lives a much more comfortable life than I ever imagined I would with working in the IT field.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 hours ago (2 children)

There's a got to be a way to create an sudo Amish community where technology is hyper regulated but still allowed

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

Not even "pseudo-"... well done

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 hours ago

Sudo Amish. That's the name of the religion.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

A linux-only society. Those using non-free systems (google android, windows, macOS) are expelled.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 hours ago

We'll give them a chance to repent first at least

[–] [email protected] 6 points 21 hours ago (1 children)

Same as today, but slower.

GM’s OnStar was notorious for this. I think the first version had a 2G cell modem

[–] [email protected] 3 points 20 hours ago

GM's OnStar, I believe, was just EDS's tech at the time of their rollout in '96ish

[–] [email protected] 2 points 23 hours ago

I sure hope so. Pretty hard to sell cars if you don’t even know where they are

load more comments
view more: next ›