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23 December 2017

You Can Be Easily Tracked — Even Without The Use Of GPS


Cyber security guru Bruce Schneier posted a December 15, 2017 article with the title above on his blog, www.schneier.com, about how you can be tracked without those tracking you — having to use of a global positioning system (GPS) device. “The trick in accurately tracking a person [without the use of a GPS tracking device], is finding out what kind of [daily] activity they are performing,” Mr. Schneier wrote — what is typically referred to as someone’s ‘pattern of life.’ “Whether they’re walking, driving a car, riding on a train or airplane, it’s pretty easy to figure out, when you know what you’re looking for.”


Mr. Schneier adds that “the sensors can determine how fast a person is traveling and what kind of movements they make. Moving at a slow pace in one direction indicates walking. Going a little bit quicker; but, turning at a 90 degree angle indicates driving. Faster yet, we’re in [on] the train or airplane territory. Those are easy to figure out, based on speed and air pressure.”

“After the app determines what you’re doing, it uses the information it collects from the sensors,” Mr. Schneier wrote. “The accelerometer relays your speed, the magnetometer tells your relation to true north; and, the barometer offers up the air pressure around you and compares it to publicly available information. It checks with the Weather Channel to compare air pressure data from the barometer to determine how far above sea level you are.” And of course, “Google Maps and data offered by the U.S. Geological Survey Maps provide incredibly detailed survey readings.”

“Once it has gathered all of this information and determined the mode of transportation you’re taking, it can then begin to narrow down [zero in] on where you are. For flights, four algorithms begin to estimate the target’s location and narrows down the possibilities until its error rate hits zero,” Mr. Schneier wrote.

“If you’re driving, finding your location can be even easier,” Mr. Schneier warns. “The app knows the time zone you’re in, based on the information your phone has provided to it. The app then accesses the information from your barometer and magnetometer and compares it to publicly available maps and weather reports. After that, it keeps track of the turns you make. With each turn, the possible locations whittle down until your exact location is pinpointed,” he added.

“To demonstrate how accurate this app is, researchers did a test run in Philadelphia. It only took 12 turns before the app knew exactly where the car was,” Mr. Schneier wrote.

Mr. Schneier concludes, “this is a good example of how powerful synthesizing information from disparate data sources can be. We spend too much time worried about individual data collection systems; and, not enough about analysis techniques of those systems.”


As With Most Issues/Things — There Is Good News & Bad News; Location, Location, Location

Well, there is good news, and bad news with respect to Mr. Schneier’s article. For one, the technique and test described was likely conducted against a ‘target,’ that was not attempting to evade surveillance, and/or, ‘hide their tracks.” The technique described may well work well, and quickly when the target is unwitting that they are being tracked/survieled, or don’t care. But. using this technique against a hostile, or determined adversary isn’t likely to bear fruit. Unless of course, the adversary gets tired or careless — which is always possible.

The good news is, if you want to thwart being surveiled or tracked via your cell phone and other devices, there are a number of ways to disguise your true location; and, also make you appear to be somewhere your aren’t. Some of these techniques are relatively easy to employ, are in large respects cheap to purchase, and work pretty well against the kind of routine tracking methods of social media and corporate America. It would take too long to go through all of these techniques, such as spoofing, blocking, masquerading, and hiding. I recommend you Google how to hide from today’s technology; and, or. I have a number of articles addressing this issue in my espionage/spying, and technology, and cyber security categories. Suffice it to say, you have been ‘constantly tracked,’ ever since you received or purchased your first cell phone. Your likes, dislikes, whereabouts, habits, and pattern of life is — for better or worse — easily obtainable for the vast majority of us. Unless you are an off-the-gridder, or somewhat paranoid and take active measures to hide or disguise your digital footprint, you are almost always under some kind of technical surveillance. Most of the apps we download to our phones and other devices, enables the storing and sharing of our personal information among multiple entities — who often re-sell, or redistribute our information to an even wider audience. Some of this sharing is intentional and witting, and some of it isn’t; but, the bottom line is — your whereabouts, activities, daily habits and routines, etc., are all out there and exposed.

The fact that we are so easily tracked and surveiled, has in turn, spurred a cottage industry of services and apps which — disguise, or hide our digital/physical presence. As they say, necessity is the mother of invention. Encryption and spoofing are two techniques that are popular options for those who wish to remain anonymous or hidden. Neither of these methods are foolproof, nothing really is, but these techniques work against about 80 percent of the ‘threat,’ and that may be good enough for most. As an example, the website, TheBigBoss advertises that they have an app that will “fake your device into believing its anywhere in the world, [except where you actually are], with their Location Spoofer.” The company claims that “Location spoofer allows you to get around all of the location specific locks that some apps put in place, to prevent you from viewing content in certain regions. as well as creating a fun utility to change your location to anywhere in the world — with a tap of the screen! It does this,” the company says, “all the while retaining the ability to retrieve your true location…without modifying any system files.” “The Location Spoofer, “is flexible,” the company says, “allowing you to modify every aspect of the Location Spoofing process. The ‘LocSpoof’ Control Panel — installed with the Location Spoofer, allows you to: Modify the exact latitude and longitude of the spoofed location; modify the altitude, horizontal and vertical accuracy of the spoofed location; and choose which apps to always Spoof the location; and, which to never spoof the location — all for $1.99 the company advertises. 

And, there are apps that disguise your voice, changes your number so that is appears differently when someone reads your number on their cell phone; and, disguises the number if someone breaks into your device to retrieve what these individuals think is an authentic number — that isn’t.

Then, there are services to trace spoofed numbers; how to unspoof a number; and, how to block a spoofed number. 

It is a constant game of cat-and-mouse, and in many ways mimics the incredible maze that the Internet and worldwide Web has become — a Digital Wilderness Of Mirrors.

Finally, there is perhaps the most reliable method, disposable cell phones which are cheap and can be used to make calls; and, then discarded — so that tracing you to that number at a particular time and location — is practically impossible.

So, for those of you off-the-grid types, privacy extremists, and others who are hiding for a variety of reasons, there are a panoply of services, tools, and techniques, that can address just about any niche issue you might have regarding disguising you true identity/location — when using a mobile device. There is even an anti-surveillance mask which promises to defeat facial recognition technology — at least for a period of time.

But, as with almost anything else in life, there are trade-offs to taking or implementing anti-surveillance practices — and, you need to fully understand and appreciate what those trade-offs are; and, what some of the unintended consequences might be — should you try and muddy or hide your digital presence. Outside of that, understand, there is really no such thing as personal privacy anymore — short of going completely off-the-grid, and living a nomadic life. For the vast majority of us, the latter kind of life is so unappealing, that we accept and understand, we’re surrendering privacy in exchange for a better, more enjoyable quality of life. Either choice, comes with consequences. RCP, fortunascorner.com

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