7 ms·

How GPS became a human tracking mechanism

124 points by steven 10y ago

aw3c2 10y ago
Advertisement for a book: > Excerpted from PINPOINT: How GPS is Changing Technology, Culture, and Our Minds.
- ffggvv 10y ago
  Is this a problem? Better than filling the page with heavy ads.
  - singlow 10y ago
    I'd rather have commercial speech be confined to identifiable areas of the page, than have the content of a "news story" actually be commercially motivated.
    - ffggvv 10y ago
      Then disable your ad-blocker. We want: - to block ads - not have sponsorized pieces - not pay or donate
      - yarou 10y ago
        Sponsored content is OK if I'm told in advance that it is. It's extremely deceitful and disingenuous to suggest that ad blocking justifies these sorts of shady journalistic practices.
- kristjansson 10y ago
  Excerpting a piece of a book that can stand more or less alone like this is pretty standard practice.
nacs 10y ago
And now we carry a GPS-enabled device on our person all day allowing us to all be tracked.
fimdomeio 10y ago
I just read a part of the text, eventually started searching for the GPS keyword. couldn't find the connection between the title and the article other that the ad for a book thing.
imglorp 10y ago
It's worth pointing out that modern phones have at least a half dozen other means to determine your location. Not all methods require the phone to participate. Here's a few off the top. * CGI/CGI-TA/UTDOA via the cell network * bluetooth discovery * wifi AP's * audio via both mic and speaker, possibly ultrasonic: listen and emit to other devices in environment * NFC * magnetic field If you don't like this, you should turn it off and keep it in a metal box. http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/bluetooth-surveillance2.htm http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/bluetooth-surveillance2... http://www.skyhookwireless.com/about-skyhook http://www.skyhookwireless.com/about-skyhook http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2015/11/beware-of-ads-that-use-inaudible-sound-to-link-your-phone- http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2015/11/beware-of-ads-tha... tv-tablet-and-pc/ http://newatlas.com/magnetic-anomaly-indoor-positioning/23253 http://newatlas.com/magnetic-anomaly-indoor-positioning/2325...
- sgift 10y ago
  Or leave it at home. I did this for many years. It works and is about as inconvenient as using a metal box. (Though I have to admit that surfing while commuting is great ..)
  - imglorp 10y ago
    I figure the Man knows where I work already. I spend hours telling him about it on my taxes. It really doesn't give out a ton of new information if you commute with a mobile. Unless you speed, I guess.
- rmxt 10y ago
  I see the "if you don't like it, don't use it" suggestion quite a bit. Can't we advocate for better public understanding of, and decentralization of, location services while also acknowledging that the best way right now is to leave it in a metal box turned off? The concepts of privacy and location services are at odds with one another, but reducing it to "love it or leave it" leaves the potential middle ground of preserving some privacy while reaping the benefits of location-aware information unexplored.
kazinator 10y ago
GPS isn't possibly tracking mechanism because it works via passive reception of a satellite signal. Wireless networking in mobile devices is a tracking mechanism. It works to an extent without help from GPS data. Even with GPS off, your device can know quite accurately where you are based on other environmental information.
- hackuser 10y ago
  > GPS isn't possibly tracking mechanism because it works via passive reception of a satellite signal. That's only one component of the GPS system. It also pulls data from the network based on your location; look up Assisted GPS. EDIT: I don't mind the downvotes, but someone please educate me and everyone else if the statement is incorrect.
  - diggernet 10y ago
    GPS works entirely through passive reception from satellites. No other connectivity is required. With true GPS, it is impossible for the satellites to know where you are, or even that you are using it. (That also makes it infinitely scalable, as users consume no satellite resources.) Assisted GPS is an "improvement" which depends on additional data from the cellular network. Which means the cellular network knows you are using it, knows where you are, and can track you. Edit: Back in my Nokia days, I had phones with true GPS and 100% offline maps, which would work perfectly well for navigation far from any hint of connectivity. No idea whether Android's "Device only" mode is GPS or aGPS.
    - hackuser 10y ago
      AFAIK, Assisted GPS is almost universal, so almost anyone using GPS uses that component too.
    - duskwuff 10y ago
      There's two types of assisted GPS. In one type, the cellular network (or some other network) is used to download a copy of the GPS almanac faster than it would have been received from the satellites. The almanac is globally valid (it's just a bunch of high-precision data about the GPS satellite orbits, the signals they're transmitting, and ionospheric conditions), so this doesn't leak any information about the receiver's location, beyond what's inherent from being active on a cell network. In another type, the receiver sends a portion of the GPS signal it's received to a server, which calculates a position fix and returns it. Obviously, this lets the server discover the client's location. My understanding is that the second approach is largely obsolete -- modern GPS chipsets are small and cheap enough that there is no advantage to offloading the calculations.
tr1ck5t3r 10y ago
Found it interesting that they have a device which uses X-Rays to look inside a property? What about the health risks to over exposure of X Rays? Based on some of the things that have been done to me, namely drugging of food perhaps to induce psychosis or something else, being injected with something like a steriod causing me to lose my temper, I wouldnt rule much out when it comes to Govt and all that it enshrines including big corporates fufilling Govt contracts, military depts and so on. Basically if you can think it, chances are they have already done it. Thing is, if we are going into a Grand Solar Minimum, the food & fuel security is going to be the main issue so finding ways to control the population is going to be paramount. After all the last time a Grand Solar Minimum happened was over 500 years ago long before scientific meteorological offices existed, and back than it caused things like the Irish Potatoe Famine, French Revolution, Great Fire of London amongst other things. Read Professor Brian Fagan's book on the Little Ice Age https://www.amazon.co.uk/d/Books/Little-Ice-Age-Climate-1300-1850/0465022723 https://www.amazon.co.uk/d/Books/Little-Ice-Age-Climate-1300... could give you an insight into not only why the big brother tech is really coming out into the open, because back then its thought/estimated 25% of the planets inhabitants died due to famine or cold. Fast forward to today with a great population and you can see why Big Brother is now on steriods.

124 points by steven 10y ago

aw3c2 10y ago

Advertisement for a book: > Excerpted from PINPOINT: How GPS is Changing Technology, Culture, and Our Minds.

ffggvv 10y ago
Is this a problem? Better than filling the page with heavy ads.
- singlow 10y ago
  I'd rather have commercial speech be confined to identifiable areas of the page, than have the content of a "news story" actually be commercially motivated.
  - ffggvv 10y ago
    Then disable your ad-blocker. We want: - to block ads - not have sponsorized pieces - not pay or donate
    - yarou 10y ago
      Sponsored content is OK if I'm told in advance that it is. It's extremely deceitful and disingenuous to suggest that ad blocking justifies these sorts of shady journalistic practices.
kristjansson 10y ago
Excerpting a piece of a book that can stand more or less alone like this is pretty standard practice.

nacs 10y ago

And now we carry a GPS-enabled device on our person all day allowing us to all be tracked.

fimdomeio 10y ago

I just read a part of the text, eventually started searching for the GPS keyword. couldn't find the connection between the title and the article other that the ad for a book thing.

imglorp 10y ago

It's worth pointing out that modern phones have at least a half dozen other means to determine your location. Not all methods require the phone to participate. Here's a few off the top. * CGI/CGI-TA/UTDOA via the cell network * bluetooth discovery * wifi AP's * audio via both mic and speaker, possibly ultrasonic: listen and emit to other devices in environment * NFC * magnetic field If you don't like this, you should turn it off and keep it in a metal box. http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/bluetooth-surveillance2.htm http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/bluetooth-surveillance2... http://www.skyhookwireless.com/about-skyhook http://www.skyhookwireless.com/about-skyhook http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2015/11/beware-of-ads-that-use-inaudible-sound-to-link-your-phone- http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2015/11/beware-of-ads-tha... tv-tablet-and-pc/ http://newatlas.com/magnetic-anomaly-indoor-positioning/23253 http://newatlas.com/magnetic-anomaly-indoor-positioning/2325...

sgift 10y ago
Or leave it at home. I did this for many years. It works and is about as inconvenient as using a metal box. (Though I have to admit that surfing while commuting is great ..)
- imglorp 10y ago
  I figure the Man knows where I work already. I spend hours telling him about it on my taxes. It really doesn't give out a ton of new information if you commute with a mobile. Unless you speed, I guess.
rmxt 10y ago
I see the "if you don't like it, don't use it" suggestion quite a bit. Can't we advocate for better public understanding of, and decentralization of, location services while also acknowledging that the best way right now is to leave it in a metal box turned off? The concepts of privacy and location services are at odds with one another, but reducing it to "love it or leave it" leaves the potential middle ground of preserving some privacy while reaping the benefits of location-aware information unexplored.

kazinator 10y ago

GPS isn't possibly tracking mechanism because it works via passive reception of a satellite signal. Wireless networking in mobile devices is a tracking mechanism. It works to an extent without help from GPS data. Even with GPS off, your device can know quite accurately where you are based on other environmental information.

hackuser 10y ago
> GPS isn't possibly tracking mechanism because it works via passive reception of a satellite signal. That's only one component of the GPS system. It also pulls data from the network based on your location; look up Assisted GPS. EDIT: I don't mind the downvotes, but someone please educate me and everyone else if the statement is incorrect.
- diggernet 10y ago
  GPS works entirely through passive reception from satellites. No other connectivity is required. With true GPS, it is impossible for the satellites to know where you are, or even that you are using it. (That also makes it infinitely scalable, as users consume no satellite resources.) Assisted GPS is an "improvement" which depends on additional data from the cellular network. Which means the cellular network knows you are using it, knows where you are, and can track you. Edit: Back in my Nokia days, I had phones with true GPS and 100% offline maps, which would work perfectly well for navigation far from any hint of connectivity. No idea whether Android's "Device only" mode is GPS or aGPS.
  - hackuser 10y ago
    AFAIK, Assisted GPS is almost universal, so almost anyone using GPS uses that component too.
  - duskwuff 10y ago
    There's two types of assisted GPS. In one type, the cellular network (or some other network) is used to download a copy of the GPS almanac faster than it would have been received from the satellites. The almanac is globally valid (it's just a bunch of high-precision data about the GPS satellite orbits, the signals they're transmitting, and ionospheric conditions), so this doesn't leak any information about the receiver's location, beyond what's inherent from being active on a cell network. In another type, the receiver sends a portion of the GPS signal it's received to a server, which calculates a position fix and returns it. Obviously, this lets the server discover the client's location. My understanding is that the second approach is largely obsolete -- modern GPS chipsets are small and cheap enough that there is no advantage to offloading the calculations.

tr1ck5t3r 10y ago

Found it interesting that they have a device which uses X-Rays to look inside a property? What about the health risks to over exposure of X Rays? Based on some of the things that have been done to me, namely drugging of food perhaps to induce psychosis or something else, being injected with something like a steriod causing me to lose my temper, I wouldnt rule much out when it comes to Govt and all that it enshrines including big corporates fufilling Govt contracts, military depts and so on. Basically if you can think it, chances are they have already done it. Thing is, if we are going into a Grand Solar Minimum, the food & fuel security is going to be the main issue so finding ways to control the population is going to be paramount. After all the last time a Grand Solar Minimum happened was over 500 years ago long before scientific meteorological offices existed, and back than it caused things like the Irish Potatoe Famine, French Revolution, Great Fire of London amongst other things. Read Professor Brian Fagan's book on the Little Ice Age https://www.amazon.co.uk/d/Books/Little-Ice-Age-Climate-1300-1850/0465022723 https://www.amazon.co.uk/d/Books/Little-Ice-Age-Climate-1300... could give you an insight into not only why the big brother tech is really coming out into the open, because back then its thought/estimated 25% of the planets inhabitants died due to famine or cold. Fast forward to today with a great population and you can see why Big Brother is now on steriods.