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Should we really be surprised that people don't want to be tracked everywhere they go? Isn't my location also a matter of privacy? I wonder where you buy one
by smoyer 14y ago
Should we really be surprised that people don't want to be tracked everywhere they go? Isn't my location also a matter of privacy? I wonder where you buy one of these jammers.
- dalke 14y agoIf you read all the way through, you would had seen the link to a site to buy one at the end.
- smoyer 14y agoI saw the link ... and wouldn't waste my money since my cars don't have trackers (three are 1971 models that barely have an electric system). What I meant was that I could understand why people would want one of these devices.
- Tuna-Fish 14y agoDisabling the tracker in your own car is fine. However, that's not what the jammers do. They broadcast a signal that blocks GPS for everyone on a wide radius. To be able to guarantee no lock in a 10m radius means you have to interfere with GPS for at least half a km around you. It's absolutely not okay to wholesale block service to everyone near you because you want to be more private.
- smoyer 14y agoI'm not condoning this as a technique to remain "private" ... I'm simply stating that I understand why people are buying jammers and I agree that some of them should be allowed to have their privacy. I'm not so sure about others. If you're driving a truck for a shipping company, I suspect it's their right to know where their equipment is.
- asdfaoeu 14y agoI don't understand your logic. If it's your car just don't install a tracker device?
- phillmv 14y agoYou increasingly don't get a choice.
- wpietri 14y agoCould you explain? Who's preventing you from not installing (or later disabling) anything on your own car?
- seabee 14y agoI can't think of anything that meets the hyperbolic claim, but I know some insurance companies have introduced driving monitors to assess how safe your driving is and adjust your premiums accordingly.
- cujo 14y agoYes, but those are opt ins as far as I know. That is, you agree to have said device installed so you can be eligible for a discount. Agreeing to have such a device installed and then installing a jammer doesn't strike me as logical.
- dhimes 14y agoLaw enforcement use them by placing them on cars they are following unbeknownst to the suspect. A jammer is an effective countermeasure.
- mistercow 14y agoIn the US, SCOTUS did at least rule that they need a warrant for that.
- jeza 14y agoSurely there's a better way, like disconnecting the external aerial that feeds the GPS receiver?
- bjcubsfan 14y agoIt is not necessary to interfere with GPS in a wider area to mask your own position. The GPS signal is very low power (below the noise floor). It does not take much effort to block it. For this reason, the in car maskers (aka jammers) will block signals over a wide area unless they are precisely engineered to stay localized. There are a lot of poorly engineered maskers out there. I study these maskers and how they affect WAAS for the FAA.
- zbowling 14y agoTracking is different than just getting your own location. GPS receivers only receive data. You still need a radio or recording device to track (realtime or deferred) where you are or have been.
- deleted 14y ago[deleted]
- Natsu 14y agoThey're not blocking the signal from their own cars, but from their employer's. And possibly using it to cheat on their taxes as well. They could probably put a stop to this by making jammer detectors and inspecting for them at weigh stations and then checking the logs on the GPS for anomalies. If the cops have a jammer detector, they can start pulling people over for having them. If a few people lose their CDL, they should fall out of favor. These aren't very easy to hide, given that they have to broadcast to work. And if this pushes them to invent some other way to tamper with their GPS monitors, so much the better: it wouldn't cause nearly as much harm as these.