GPS Tracking on smart phones
 

Does someone here (I KNOW there's SOMEBODY here who knows) know if the tracking feature in cell phones is recorded somehow when it's turned on. I'm thinking in terms of being able to keep a record of where the phone has been over time as opposed to just knowing where it is at a given moment.

Mine is always turned off. I don't want anybody knowing where I go all the time. We have so little privacy anymore. I'm wondering if we've lost even more privacy than we realize.

Any of you lawyers know aything about this? I can see where this could come up in a trial and really shock somebody.

This is starting to become popular as a discovery item. I know of only one specifically that records cell phone location - Nextel. BUT there retention is only 72 hours before the data is dumped. Of course that is the Nextel phone that have the GPS walkie talkie feature. I am sure other cell carriers do the same. The data string that is produced is weird not like an address.
EXAMPLE
6/27 0006 7.7 SSW of Atwood TN;17.2 N of ter 32 S
6/26 2306 1.9 ESE of Martin TN;48.8 N of ter
6/26 2206 1.8 ESE of Martin TN;48.7 N of ter 48 N
6/26 2131 0.5 NNW of Milan TN;20.7 N of ter 10 NNW
6/26 2110 3.1 SSE of Milan TN;17.2 N of ter 44 NNE
6/26 2049 4.3 NNW of Jackson TN;5.0 NW of ter 63 ENE

Sprint also has a walkie talkie feature (apart from Nextels). Do you know if that works the same way? I think you have to pay extra to get that, but someone in one of their stores told me they had it already when they bought Nextel.

I don't know specifically but would assume they work similar. To competitive a market to re-invent the wheel.

Something else just ocurred to me. Don't the current crop of cell phones have a "locator chip" of some sort in them to enable them to be used for 911 calls effectively?

Yes - if you remember the Nextel commercial "Don't Mess with the Dots" you have to have the software to decode the relative position.

When an employee needs to disappear he/she simply turns the GSM off.

The new powersource phones have the Nextel band in them specifically for the walkietalkie. They use the sprint side for the phone calls and the data.

I just bought a Verizon LG GPS equipped phone last week; the GPS navigation function gives the option to locate you all the time, never, or with permission when GPS is in use. I chose the on demand option; when I activate the GPS function it asks permission to locate me for 4 hours at a time. By not giving permission the GPS function wouldn't work for navigation.

Hopefully they won't start using it to tell if we're speeding.... I'd hate to have to disable the one function on my phone I used while I'm driving, GPS... (although I use an external bluetooth GPS on my Windows Mobile phone, so I doubt they could acess it even if they wanted..)

Ahhhh! We live in a world of heightened paranoia at every turn.

It's getting pretty hard to keep anything to one's self anymore. I guess this situation fits nicely with our apparent national feeling that we ought to air every piece of our dirty laundry on television in reality shows and talk shows.

Cellphone generally work with a HC19/49 crystal which is a frequency chip. Every cell provider can track you down if needed but usually only turn those records over to the authorities as needed. If your phone is off then there is no signal and you remain untracked but one you initialize the system you are now a blip on the radar much like a plane on a radar system.

My dads company put GPS on all the work trucks and has it activated on all the company phones. You had better be where you are supposed to or you are busted. They were having problems with guys finishing jobs early then taking the equipment home for personal jobs. Like barrowing a John Deer back hoe to dig a pool.

Off Topic (sort'a)
 

"On-Star" ain't the only worry you've got!
(it can/will track your every move...and can be subject to subpoena!)

'Use a "Smart Pass"? RFID technology