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Location tracking of phones is out of control. Here’s how to fight back. (arstechnica.com)

submitted 1 month ago by misk@sopuli.xyz to c/technology@lemmy.world

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[–] xylogx@lemmy.world 29 points 1 month ago (4 children)

A lot of great comments here. I just wanted to add that even just your ip address is enough to roughly track your location. When your phone checks gmail you are leaving digital breadcrumbs in Google’s logs of your ip address which roughly tracks your location. App permissions will not solve this. We need strong privacy regulations with teeth.

[–] pineapplelover@lemm.ee 8 points 1 month ago (1 children)

And then there's wifi triangulation and Bluetooth which narrows it down further

[–] sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 6 points 1 month ago (1 children)

And this is why my GPS and Bluetooth are disabled 99% of the time unless I'm actually using them. It cuts down on a lot of potential data leakage.

[–] Poem_for_your_sprog@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Can't they just triangulate you from cell towers?

Take the battery out I guess?

[–] sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 month ago

Yup, but that would require more effort (I.e. interacting w/ network operator). Tracking someone by Bluetooth can be done passively, as evidenced by services like "Find my Droid" or "Find my iPhone" or whatever.

Blocking my cell radios eliminates the entire point of the phone for me, so the tradeoff is too steep. That said, airplane mode is right over there if you need it temporarily.

[–] ArcaneSlime@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 1 month ago

What phone do you have, one of these?

[–] WolfLink@sh.itjust.works 5 points 1 month ago (1 children)

A VPN helps

[–] sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 month ago

There are still attacks that can get around the VPN. It certainly helps, but it's not a complete solution on its own like VPN providers would like you to believe.

[–] PriorityMotif@lemmy.world 4 points 1 month ago

Yes and no, when I check my actual IP address it shows that it's somewhere pretty far away, I guess that's where my carrier has their trunk connected.

[–] ArcaneSlime@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 1 month ago

Yes, I am in Sweden, totally, believe it ipaddr checkers!