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It is pretty easy to spoof GPS locations, at least in Android, in a way that is undectable to apps using location services. Might be a better option for these d

It is pretty easy to spoof GPS locations, at least in Android, in a way that is undectable to apps using location services. Might be a better option for these drivers?

mullen 6y ago
That might require a level of technological sophistication that a lot of drivers don't have.
- dmurray 6y ago
  Seems like a business opportunity for someone to sell them that service (sell them an app, or personally configure their phones, or both).
  - rootsudo 6y ago
    Like a gold rush, sell the equipment and services. Not the mining.
  - bigiain 6y ago
    "Business model: Uber, but for Uber"...
- notdang 6y ago
  It seems that they use an app to synchronize the tree phones with their real phones. Also the article states that the drivers are using 3rd party specialized apps.
- brianwawok 6y ago
  Millions of people spoof GPS to play Pokemon. Pretty sure the drivers could figure it out.
  - 5etho 6y ago
    aren't they banned on a large scale? just heard it, not playing
    - jerrysievert 6y ago
      from being a player (who doesn't do this), it tends to be a short temporary ban, and an arms race between Niantic and the people doing it (aka spoofers), with Niantic losing it most of the time.
- kjs3 6y ago
  Or one driver who shares it with/sells it to the the others.
badrabbit 6y ago
Not as easy as you might think. Not sure about amazon but some apps have anti-spoofing detection. Not sure what they look for, probably precision and correlated data
- _e 6y ago
  Yes, there are methods that apps can implement to detect anti-spoofing but as long as you have physical control of the computer/smartphone then it is just a matter of time before the anti-features are defeated if there are incentives to do so -- especially a monetary incentive. Case in point... I found a whole community dedicated to spoofing Pokemon Go -- https://old.reddit.com/r/PokemonGoSpoofing/ https://old.reddit.com/r/PokemonGoSpoofing/
  - perardi 6y ago
    As a former (very casual) spoofer…it’s far, far harder than it used to be. When the game was new-ish, and I was on Android, it was trivial. Just install a GPS spoofer, move the on-screen control, and you start walking. Nice when it was winter. It was also terrible for the gameplay, and they cracked down hard. You can still spoof, but it requires a relatively high degree of technical ability. On iOS, you have to, generally, install a shady enterprise certificate and use a hacked third-party binary of Pokémon Go. On Android, you have to have root, and then jump through many other hoops that are specific to your phone and OS version. All of that boils down to…yeah, you can always find a hack, but past some level, it becomes extremely fragile, and you would not want to rely on a hack for your livelihood. (And if you are capable of staying ahead of the app and OS developers, well, I suspect there may be a different job opportunity out there for you.)
jyrkesh 6y ago
Eh, it's less easy than it used to be if the application developer really doesn't want you to use a spoofed location. Pokemon GO and SafetyNet have been doing next-level in their ability to detect root. And GPS spoofing as a debug feature is built into Android now, so there's less legitimate reason to need root to do GPS spoofing
notsureaboutpg 6y ago
Android has a way for app developers to tell (obv. not 100% perfectly but still) whether a location is mocked or not: https://developer.android.com/reference/android/location/Location#isFromMockProvider() https://developer.android.com/reference/android/location/Loc...

It is pretty easy to spoof GPS locations, at least in Android, in a way that is undectable to apps using location services. Might be a better option for these drivers?

mullen 6y ago

That might require a level of technological sophistication that a lot of drivers don't have.

dmurray 6y ago
Seems like a business opportunity for someone to sell them that service (sell them an app, or personally configure their phones, or both).
- rootsudo 6y ago
  Like a gold rush, sell the equipment and services. Not the mining.
- bigiain 6y ago
  "Business model: Uber, but for Uber"...
notdang 6y ago
It seems that they use an app to synchronize the tree phones with their real phones. Also the article states that the drivers are using 3rd party specialized apps.
brianwawok 6y ago
Millions of people spoof GPS to play Pokemon. Pretty sure the drivers could figure it out.
- 5etho 6y ago
  aren't they banned on a large scale? just heard it, not playing
  - jerrysievert 6y ago
    from being a player (who doesn't do this), it tends to be a short temporary ban, and an arms race between Niantic and the people doing it (aka spoofers), with Niantic losing it most of the time.
kjs3 6y ago
Or one driver who shares it with/sells it to the the others.

badrabbit 6y ago

Not as easy as you might think. Not sure about amazon but some apps have anti-spoofing detection. Not sure what they look for, probably precision and correlated data

_e 6y ago
Yes, there are methods that apps can implement to detect anti-spoofing but as long as you have physical control of the computer/smartphone then it is just a matter of time before the anti-features are defeated if there are incentives to do so -- especially a monetary incentive. Case in point... I found a whole community dedicated to spoofing Pokemon Go -- https://old.reddit.com/r/PokemonGoSpoofing/ https://old.reddit.com/r/PokemonGoSpoofing/
- perardi 6y ago
  As a former (very casual) spoofer…it’s far, far harder than it used to be. When the game was new-ish, and I was on Android, it was trivial. Just install a GPS spoofer, move the on-screen control, and you start walking. Nice when it was winter. It was also terrible for the gameplay, and they cracked down hard. You can still spoof, but it requires a relatively high degree of technical ability. On iOS, you have to, generally, install a shady enterprise certificate and use a hacked third-party binary of Pokémon Go. On Android, you have to have root, and then jump through many other hoops that are specific to your phone and OS version. All of that boils down to…yeah, you can always find a hack, but past some level, it becomes extremely fragile, and you would not want to rely on a hack for your livelihood. (And if you are capable of staying ahead of the app and OS developers, well, I suspect there may be a different job opportunity out there for you.)

jyrkesh 6y ago

Eh, it's less easy than it used to be if the application developer really doesn't want you to use a spoofed location. Pokemon GO and SafetyNet have been doing next-level in their ability to detect root. And GPS spoofing as a debug feature is built into Android now, so there's less legitimate reason to need root to do GPS spoofing

notsureaboutpg 6y ago

Android has a way for app developers to tell (obv. not 100% perfectly but still) whether a location is mocked or not: https://developer.android.com/reference/android/location/Location#isFromMockProvider() https://developer.android.com/reference/android/location/Loc...