Your Apps Know Where You Were Last Night, and They’re Not Keeping It Secret Dozens of companies use smartphone locations to help advertisers and even hedge funds. They say it’s anonymous, but the data shows how personal it is. By JENNIFER VALENTINO-DeVRIES, NATASHA SINGER, MICHAEL H. KELLER and AARON KROLIK DEC. 10, 2018 The millions of dots on the map trace highways, side streets and bike trails — each one following the path of an anonymous cellphone user. One path tracks someone from a home outside Newark to a nearby Planned Parenthood, remaining there for more than an hour. Another represents a person who travels with the mayor of New York during the day and returns to Long Island at night. Yet another leaves a house in upstate New York at 7 a.m. and travels to a middle school 14 miles away, staying until late afternoon each school day. Only one person makes that trip: Lisa Magrin, a 46-year-old math teacher. Her smartphone goes with her. An app on the device gathered her location information, which was then sold without her knowledge. It recorded her whereabouts as often as every two seconds, according to a database of more than a million phones in the New York area that was reviewed by The New York Times. While Ms. Magrin’s identity was not disclosed in those records, The Times was able to easily connect her to that dot. The app tracked her as she went to a Weight Watchers meeting and to her dermatologist’s office for a minor procedure. It followed her hiking with her dog and staying at her ex-boyfriend’s home, information she found disturbing. “It’s the thought of people finding out those intimate details that you don’t want people to know,” said Ms. Magrin, who allowed The Times to review her location data. Like many consumers, Ms. Magrin knew that apps could track people’s movements. But as smartphones have become ubiquitous and technology more accurate, an industry of snooping on people’s daily habits has spread and grown more intrusive. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/12/10/business/location-data-privacy-apps.html
They don't follow me, because I simply keep my cell data option turned off. When I need to access the interweb, I simply turn it on when I am at the place where I need to access the info. I write down the info and can continue on my journey. This is one of the benefits of having a limited data plan on the cheap...It forces you to limit your access. Plus, I know how to use a frickin' map. You know, the ones printed on actual paper, or a stand-alone GPS if in a hurry. People need to turn off their location tracking options in their phone. Oi!
It's well known that unless you have a physical hardware switch attached to the radio in your cell phone the cell phone could still be broadcasting data. The Librem (https://puri.sm/learn/hardware-kill-switches/) is one of the only phones that can enable the level of privacy you think you have on your current phone. Slate ran another article (https://slate.com/technology/2013/0...-cellphones-even-when-they-re-turned-off.html) on this. Even assuming your phone actually kills it's signal, every single time you turn on your phone's wireless they have a new data point. Given the association of the phones around you, your IMEI (used to uniquely identify your hardware), and a handful of other data it's a trivial task to extrapolate what you're up to. Many criminals have been caught thinking your technique worked because a Stingray Tracker (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stingray_phone_tracker) can follow you around every time you turn your phone back on. Assuming you're just talking about apps tracking you they can cache data on your phone and upload it every time your signal comes up. You really arent protecting yourself from app tracking using your technique either. If you're doing something you dont want tracked leave your phone at home in a faraday cage. Otherwise it's safe to assume you are always being tracked. I appreciate your level of paranoia (I too am cautious of these things), but at least do it right. Otherwise it's just security theater. EDIT: here is a decent video on cell phone tracking from a number of defcons back.
Any dumb phone can allow for that level of privacy at a fraction of the cost https://www.ebay.com/itm/Original-N...ked-Classic-Mobile-Phone-Bar-Style-2G-Network
Since most of the 2g networks have shut down, they're super secure because they won't even ever connect to a cell tower
I've said for years, if one was so inclined and had access to such things... it would would be a great way to spot mergers and acquisitions that were in the works. Think about it.
As long as you don't remove the battery of your phone they can still track you. Switching off your phone or location tracking options, and even not going on internet will not help you either. GPS stand alone or not stand alone, will save a lot of information too. One of the biggest, if not the biggest, information stealing company in the world is Google. You better don't go on social media too. And an Iphone is not really the safest phone. Not only Huawei can spy, all mobile phones can/will do the same. Using bankcards or creditcards generates a lot of information too. There are countries where by law all data of mobile phones has to be saved for at least 12 months. So they can reconstruct in full detail where you went the last 12 months, minute by minute.
I have never owned a sell fone. I don't The Facebook. I've been watching closely for 20 years, but it still seems not-quite-mature technology to me.