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Would there be anything illegal about modifying a phone such that the location data it submits looks like some random person in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, instead of

by mikece 7y ago

Would there be anything illegal about modifying a phone such that the location data it submits looks like some random person in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, instead of reporting where I actually am? Pretty much all I want in a phone is the ability to spoof location data and act as a hotspot for a smarter device (that doesn't have location awareness built in) so I can access richer apps over a VPN in greater privacy.

Jaygles 7y ago
Not sure if it would be easy to determine the legality, but you might be able to check EULAs and TOS of the services you plan to use to see if they have a clause establishing their ok-ness with false data. Tangent - Sheboygan has excellent brats
chewz 7y ago
Fake GPS does it. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.blogspot.newapphorizons.fakegps&hl=en https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.blogspot.n...
- mikece 7y ago
  Perhaps.... but Google would still know your real location, no?
  - chipperyman573 7y ago
    And your carrier, and anyone who does location based on IP, and anyone who does location based on inaudable noises only your phone can hear (https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2015/11/beware-of-ads-that-use-inaudible-sound-to-link-your-phone-tv-tablet-and-pc/ https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2015/11/beware-of-ads-th...), and... But, this would still help protect against the simplest way to steal your location data, which is what a lot of services do
    - openfuture 7y ago
      There's a hardware switch for the mic but yeah it's pretty hopeless to hide your location in those threat models.
mindslight 7y ago
If you're talking about GPS location, then don't use application software that reports your location. MicroG+LineageOS will suffice. If you're talking about tower based location, there is no way to significantly spoof your location since you can only connect to local cell towers. To mitigate the latter, what you actually want is a phone with smarter software that will communicate over Wifi most of the time (rotating macaddr of course), perhaps with the option to turn on a cell radio in case you really need to communicate out of wifi connectivity. Hopefully the freshly built software stack inspired by new platforms will end up being conducive to this usage.
wiml 7y ago
The cellular network always has to know your approximate location, or else it can't get your data to you. But that doesn't use GPS. Offhand (and I'm very far from an expert) the only situation I can think of that spoofing GPS might have legal ramifications is when using E911. In general, it's probably better to spoof a "I don't see enough satellites to get a fix, sorry" status than to spoof a "I'm definitely in Sheboygan" status.
- mirimir 7y ago
  > The cellular network always has to know your approximate location, or else it can't get your data to you. Sure. But if the cellular radio is a separate device, that information isn't necessarily available to the OS. If you use WiFi, that must also be a separate device, to prevent the OS from knowing what APs are available, and doing geolocation based on that.

by mikece 7y ago

Jaygles 7y ago

Not sure if it would be easy to determine the legality, but you might be able to check EULAs and TOS of the services you plan to use to see if they have a clause establishing their ok-ness with false data. Tangent - Sheboygan has excellent brats

chewz 7y ago

Fake GPS does it. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.blogspot.newapphorizons.fakegps&hl=en https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.blogspot.n...

mikece 7y ago
Perhaps.... but Google would still know your real location, no?
- chipperyman573 7y ago
  And your carrier, and anyone who does location based on IP, and anyone who does location based on inaudable noises only your phone can hear (https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2015/11/beware-of-ads-that-use-inaudible-sound-to-link-your-phone-tv-tablet-and-pc/ https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2015/11/beware-of-ads-th...), and... But, this would still help protect against the simplest way to steal your location data, which is what a lot of services do
  - openfuture 7y ago
    There's a hardware switch for the mic but yeah it's pretty hopeless to hide your location in those threat models.

mindslight 7y ago

If you're talking about GPS location, then don't use application software that reports your location. MicroG+LineageOS will suffice. If you're talking about tower based location, there is no way to significantly spoof your location since you can only connect to local cell towers. To mitigate the latter, what you actually want is a phone with smarter software that will communicate over Wifi most of the time (rotating macaddr of course), perhaps with the option to turn on a cell radio in case you really need to communicate out of wifi connectivity. Hopefully the freshly built software stack inspired by new platforms will end up being conducive to this usage.

wiml 7y ago

The cellular network always has to know your approximate location, or else it can't get your data to you. But that doesn't use GPS. Offhand (and I'm very far from an expert) the only situation I can think of that spoofing GPS might have legal ramifications is when using E911. In general, it's probably better to spoof a "I don't see enough satellites to get a fix, sorry" status than to spoof a "I'm definitely in Sheboygan" status.

mirimir 7y ago
> The cellular network always has to know your approximate location, or else it can't get your data to you. Sure. But if the cellular radio is a separate device, that information isn't necessarily available to the OS. If you use WiFi, that must also be a separate device, to prevent the OS from knowing what APs are available, and doing geolocation based on that.