Iphone tracking

I just finished reading an article on the use of Iphone (generic labeling) to track the positions and habits of individuals without their consent by retail stores. While I realize that there are significant security reasons for this practice by the government, it is still an invasion of privacy, no matter who does it. Since an individual cannot disable this function, that raises a couple of questions.

Question #1. Should any individual be able to stop collection of this kind of information mining if they so desire?

Question #2. Should there be regulations in place to regulate this kind of information gathering by anyone?

Since I have ambivalent feelings on this topic, your views would be welcome.

Get an old fashioned land line, enjoy the freedom from instant communication, enjoy peace when you step out of the house, and freedom from spying.

Poker

pokermind wrote:Get an old fashioned land line, enjoy the freedom from instant communication, enjoy peace when you step out of the house, and freedom from spying.

Poker

Unfortunately, that doesn't work for me. I am required to carry a cell phone by my employer. All communication in the warehouse is by cell phone. Also, unfortunately, they don't pay for it. When I went to work there, I was the only person who didn't already have a cell phone.

My phone runs on android 2.2, has no gps, and i often have it on airplane mode. they can try and track me, but where i live, the cell towers are miles apart, so they can get the right town, and thats about it.

Spacekiwi wrote:My phone runs on android 2.2, has no gps, and i often have it on airplane mode. they can try and track me, but where i live, the cell towers are miles apart, so they can get the right town, and thats about it.

Sorry, Spacekiwi. I was unclear. This does not use your phones GPS signal to track you. Every time you walk by a store with the right equipment, it logs your phone. In Britain, walking by a trash can logs your phone. Shopping in some stores is tracked by the amount of time you spend in the store. Walking by a WiFi hotspot logs your phone. All of this, whether or not you want it to or know about it. As long as your phone is turned on, it uses the same signal as the cell tower to tell that a device is nearby. Just walking down the street, you may be located no times, one or two times or your entire walk could be recorded, with date, time and location, without any indication to you that it has happened. That information is collected, to be used by who knows whom, for who knows what purposes, all without any input from you. As long as your phone broadcasts the "Here I am" signal to the local tower, the equipment can pick it up. In other words, if your phone is turned on, it's location can be recorded by someone.

KNick wrote:I just finished reading an article on the use of Iphone (generic labeling) to track the positions and habits of individuals without their consent by retail stores. While I realize that there are significant security reasons for this practice by the government, it is still an invasion of privacy, no matter who does it. Since an individual cannot disable this function, that raises a couple of questions.

Question #1. Should any individual be able to stop collection of this kind of information mining if they so desire?

Question #2. Should there be regulations in place to regulate this kind of information gathering by anyone?

Since I have ambivalent feelings on this topic, your views would be welcome.

#1. Definitely.
#2. Yes!

KNick wrote:

Spacekiwi wrote:My phone runs on android 2.2, has no gps, and i often have it on airplane mode. they can try and track me, but where i live, the cell towers are miles apart, so they can get the right town, and thats about it.

Sorry, Spacekiwi. I was unclear. This does not use your phones GPS signal to track you. Every time you walk by a store with the right equipment, it logs your phone. In Britain, walking by a trash can logs your phone. Shopping in some stores is tracked by the amount of time you spend in the store. Walking by a WiFi hotspot logs your phone. All of this, whether or not you want it to or know about it. As long as your phone is turned on, it uses the same signal as the cell tower to tell that a device is nearby. Just walking down the street, you may be located no times, one or two times or your entire walk could be recorded, with date, time and location, without any indication to you that it has happened. That information is collected, to be used by who knows whom, for who knows what purposes, all without any input from you. As long as your phone broadcasts the "Here I am" signal to the local tower, the equipment can pick it up. In other words, if your phone is turned on, it's location can be recorded by someone.

Wasn't that through the wi fi on the phones being turned on though as to how they detected the phones? Thats what my impression was reading the rubbish bin thing.

Spacekiwi wrote:Wasn't that through the wi fi on the phones being turned on though as to how they detected the phones? Thats what my impression was reading the rubbish bin thing.

As long as your phone is turned on so you can receive a call, you can be tracked by these systems. They do not use the WiFi signal to track you, they use the "ready to receive" signal. That signal is transmitted by your phone as long as it is turned on. While the trash cans might require the WiFi signal (which is not the way I read it), the store systems simply require that the phone be powered up. If you turn the phone off so you cannot receive a call, they don't work. As soon as you turn your phone on, they can track you.
Of course, if your girlfriend is the understanding sort, she might not be upset when you don't answer her calls right away.

KNick wrote:

Spacekiwi wrote:Wasn't that through the wi fi on the phones being turned on though as to how they detected the phones? Thats what my impression was reading the rubbish bin thing.

As long as your phone is turned on so you can receive a call, you can be tracked by these systems. They do not use the WiFi signal to track you, they use the "ready to receive" signal. That signal is transmitted by your phone as long as it is turned on. While the trash cans might require the WiFi signal (which is not the way I read it), the store systems simply require that the phone be powered up. If you turn the phone off so you cannot receive a call, they don't work. As soon as you turn your phone on, they can track you.
Of course, if your girlfriend is the understanding sort, she might not be upset when you don't answer her calls right away.

Ah. ok. but what information can they get off the phone? is it like details of who you are, or just where you've been?
And does it affect prepay equally with contract people?

Spacekiwi wrote:Ah. ok. but what information can they get off the phone? is it like details of who you are, or just where you've been?
And does it affect prepay equally with contract people?

That is one of the problems that I see. I don't know what information goes out on that signal. From some of the things said in the article, they can get enough information to send advertising directly to you, although whether that is to your home or to your phone, I haven't a clue. I would guess it would depend on the info carried on that signal. That is something you would have to talk to your cell service provider about.
It might be something as simple as just your phone number. With that, they can do a reverse directory look-up to get a name and address. Once they have that, they can find out anything online about you. As I asked in the original post, how big an invasion of privacy is this?