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Are you similarly worried about the GPS in your iPhone that you presumably keep in your pocket wherever you go, which is tied to your credit card and billing ac

Are you similarly worried about the GPS in your iPhone that you presumably keep in your pocket wherever you go, which is tied to your credit card and billing account with the telephone company?

mixmastamyk 13y ago
Yes, why I keep it in airplane mode most of the time.
- baddox 13y ago
  Why would you believe that the radios are actually off when in airplane mode?
  - jasomill 13y ago
    Generally speaking, because some regulatory agency or other would refuse or revoke certification of a device that has a "disable radio" feature that doesn't work. I wouldn't assume that a device is incapable of accumulating GPS tracking information in "airplane mode" and forwarding it when the radio is turned back on, however, or that intelligence and law enforcement agencies would never quietly disable "airplane mode" in the course of specific investigations.
    - krallja 13y ago
      It's fun to see that you trust your government to regulate the "disable radio" feature! </g>
    - brown9-2 13y ago
      The same government that backdoored the phone?
    - oakwhiz 13y ago
      Airplane mode more or less disables the phone's transmitters, but not necessarily the receivers. Even if the baseband processor is told to shut down the radio, it can still be listening for a remote backdoor message, and subsequently enable the transmitter for some nefarious purpose - similar to a remote shell.
    - baddox 13y ago
      There are also agencies which regulate privacy concerns, like the FCC. Why would one agency be more trustworthy than another?
      - mixmastamyk 13y ago
        There's a branch of philosophy that takes this to your conclusion... we can't really trust anything in this world. However, while the NSA has surely overstepped its bounds I don't believe it is omnipotent. At some point its influence ends. I'm still willing to believe in airplane mode. Perhaps next week's scoop will change that, but for now I'm somewhat confident it works.

Are you similarly worried about the GPS in your iPhone that you presumably keep in your pocket wherever you go, which is tied to your credit card and billing account with the telephone company?

mixmastamyk 13y ago

Yes, why I keep it in airplane mode most of the time.

baddox 13y ago
Why would you believe that the radios are actually off when in airplane mode?
- jasomill 13y ago
  Generally speaking, because some regulatory agency or other would refuse or revoke certification of a device that has a "disable radio" feature that doesn't work. I wouldn't assume that a device is incapable of accumulating GPS tracking information in "airplane mode" and forwarding it when the radio is turned back on, however, or that intelligence and law enforcement agencies would never quietly disable "airplane mode" in the course of specific investigations.
  - krallja 13y ago
    It's fun to see that you trust your government to regulate the "disable radio" feature! </g>
  - brown9-2 13y ago
    The same government that backdoored the phone?
  - oakwhiz 13y ago
    Airplane mode more or less disables the phone's transmitters, but not necessarily the receivers. Even if the baseband processor is told to shut down the radio, it can still be listening for a remote backdoor message, and subsequently enable the transmitter for some nefarious purpose - similar to a remote shell.
  - baddox 13y ago
    There are also agencies which regulate privacy concerns, like the FCC. Why would one agency be more trustworthy than another?
    - mixmastamyk 13y ago
      There's a branch of philosophy that takes this to your conclusion... we can't really trust anything in this world. However, while the NSA has surely overstepped its bounds I don't believe it is omnipotent. At some point its influence ends. I'm still willing to believe in airplane mode. Perhaps next week's scoop will change that, but for now I'm somewhat confident it works.