WorldFun Posted February 20, 2009 Report Share Posted February 20, 2009 the only ones automatically having the info about all cell phones is the network service providers (owners of the cell towers / base stations) storing the location ID of every single mobile either current updated ID or last registered ID in case of being out of reach, switched off etc. this info is of course 'confidential', but the operators / service providers can always look it up whenever. additionally there's some web or mobile applications that has various tracking features, but most likely they will only work if users install them & agree to let others see their info. google is one of the major players in this arena with their google maps & associated global 'cell info' database (working on any mobile) in addition to the GPS positioning which of course only limited mobiles support. so is it scary? yes & no. be informed & it isn't, but sure the hype about it being like some super power monitoring everyone of us Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Weird Posted February 22, 2009 Report Share Posted February 22, 2009 try looking up google latitude Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheCorinthian Posted February 25, 2009 Report Share Posted February 25, 2009 The cell phone has to be "on". Yes. Take it from me, unless we have planted you with a "special" phone (and we do have them), if you turn it off, we can not track it. And believe me we have tried. Cell phones work by regularly "checking in" to the tower several times a secound. This is how you receive calls and the main consumer of bat power. If it were doing this you would see your batt going down precipitously even while "off." If you are still worried, take the battery out. Then your phone is just a pile of plastic and copper. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hugh_Hoy Posted February 25, 2009 Report Share Posted February 25, 2009 What you say is true. Interesting conversation with a U.S. biz owner on my last trans-pac flight. He was en route to Hong Kong. He said the minute the plane lands and he turns on his cell phone, "somebody" knows he there and the drums start beating from Hong Kong to the plants in the Mainland. Everybody is waiting for him. He assumes somebody in the Chinese company has a "source" which gives it a "heads up". HH Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.. Posted February 25, 2009 Report Share Posted February 25, 2009 LOL! Not so mysterious HH. My AIS service will send me an SMS when a person whom I've called is available (i.e., turned on their phone). Cheers, SD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WorldFun Posted February 25, 2009 Report Share Posted February 25, 2009 Hey not so hi-so SD - every AIS subscriber get these notifications by default - well I do at least - sometimes yeah rather cool (useful) actually Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.. Posted February 25, 2009 Report Share Posted February 25, 2009 Yup. I did not intend to imply I was special. Indeed, my point to HH was that it was no mystery nor any "clandestine" activity that allowed his buddy's work colleagues to know exactly when he landed. It was a normal service by the mo-by provider. Cheers, SD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WorldFun Posted February 25, 2009 Report Share Posted February 25, 2009 SD, you're right of course Weird, as I said only the mobile operators have every (GSM) mobile phone users location 'instantly & always' thus is a capable 'big brother', so http://www.google.com/support/mobile/bin/answer.py?answer=136640 mobile app is merely a tool to enable individuals to disclose their more or less 'exact' location when & if they choose to do so to each other only aka all the networking/social portals - so far this service is in limited use (supported mobiles), but sure interesting indeed :hubba: so far not able to locate a single 'friend' (via pc - app doesn't work at all in firefox at least ) & I'm yet to see any app do that 'independently'? best thing though (since sliced bread/cheese) is that gmaps on mobile now had english overlays for bkk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LAX Posted February 25, 2009 Report Share Posted February 25, 2009 what info is saved in the phones memory of where its been ? if its turned on you would think it needs to keep its cell tower location in memory , but does it keep the last 10-20 cell towers it has been "traced" by ? and when you turn it off does it erase the last cell towers ? Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cavanami Posted February 26, 2009 Report Share Posted February 26, 2009 I have heard that the Bangkok police can tap in and locate a person via the person's cell phone... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.