Category: GPS Tracking System News

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The Battle Over Warrantless GPS Tracking and Privacy

In recent months, there have been several heated court battles between law enforcement agents and privacy rights advocates. One side argues that using a GPS vehicle tracking system to monitor suspect’s without first obtaining a warrant is perfectly legal and OK. The other side argues that this is a violation of a person’s rights to privacy.

The constitutional matter until now has been left to district courts around the country to decide, resulting in a patchwork of conflicting rulings. The use of GPS vehicle tracking devices is poised to become one of the most contentious privacy issues before the Supreme Court, if it agrees to hear an appeal filed by the Obama administration last month. The administration is seeking to overturn a ruling by a lower court that law enforcement officials must obtain a warrant before using a tracker.

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FBI GPS Vehicle Tracking Device Found On Activist’s Car

In 2005 Kathy Thomas, an animal rights activist, had been aware for years that she was being tracked and followed by the FBI. But one day she noticed the tracking had stopped. The FBI agents were no longer following her on a weekly basis. She figured the FBI had given up on her, but after a few weeks she confronted one of the agents she knew had been tracking her. After the confrontation, she was suspicious that law enforcement was still monitoring her, so she decided to check for a GPS vehicle tracking system under the bumper of her car. She was not surprised to find a small black GPS tracking system under the rear bumper of her vehicle.

Last week Wired Magazine obtained the GPS tracking device found by Kathy Thomas on her car in 2005. As part of its coverage of Thomas’ plight, the tracking system was sent to iFixit for analysis. iFixit is well-known for its tear-downs of electronic devices.

Overall, the tracking system is fairly simple and contains four major parts: a magnetic mount, a GPS antenna, a transmitter/receiver unit, and a battery pack. Its simplicity likely has a lot to do with the fact that the FBI doesn’t want you to ever find it unless you’re looking for it, and something more complex would be easier to find.

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Green Fleet GPS Systems – Save Money on Gas and Help The Environment

With regular gas prices averaging more than $3.95 a gallon in the US, drivers will be happy to know there is a GPS system that helps drivers take the “greenest” route which saves the planet and saves money at the pump.

For businesses, the recent increases in gas prices can have a huge impact on the bottom line. A green fleet GPS system can help companies to cut fuel costs while also reducing their environmental impact. Smart driving behavior, including everything from gradual starts to optimal routing with a GPS navigation system, can reduce fuel consumption by as much as 10 percent to 20 percent in some cases.

A Green GPS system can help drivers reduce their fuel costs and their “carbon footprint” as well. More than 1.2 billion tons of carbon dioxide is discharged into the world’s atmosphere each year by the cars that we drive. According to the United Nations, “The transportation sector accounts for 30 percent of greenhouse fuel emissions in developed countries … and that share is rising.”

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Apple and Google Testify in Senate About Location Tracking System

Apple and Google testified this week in front of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology and the Law. The purpose of the hearing was to to address users’ privacy on smartphones, tablets, and cell phones, and to get answers from Google and Apple about how and why they record various aspects of consumer data. Representatives from Apple and Google faced tough questions at they tried to defend their their location tracking system and privacy policies.

The hearing was called by Senator Al Franken (D-MN) in April following the location tracking controversy that first exploded over Apple’s products and Google soon thereafter. Apple VP of Software Technology Guy “Bud” Tribble and Google Director of Public Policy Alan Davidson both stood behind their companies’ policies at the hearing, while continuing to insist that they take consumer privacy seriously.

“Each year, over 26,000 adults are stalked using a GPS tracking system, including GPS tracking devices on mobile phones. This is from 2006 when there were a third as many smartphones as there are today,” Franken said at the beginning of the hearing. “The answer to this problem is not ending location-based services. No one up here wants to stop Apple or Google from producing their products or doing the incredible things that you do. What today is about is trying to find a balance between all those wonderful benefits and the public’s right to privacy.”

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Garmin Profits Tripled in First Quarter 2011

Garmin, (GRMN) the industry leader in GPS navigation devices, announced last week that its profit nearly tripled in the first quarter of 2011, driven by sales growth in its core segment that makes GPS systems for cars.

The company has a lot of positive things going for it. It has a solid financial position with reasonable debt levels by most measures. Profits were boosted by an increase in sales at its automotive segment and a lower-than-expected tax rate. Garmin’s revenue increased to $507.8 million from $431.1 million a year earlier. The company earned $95.5 million, or 49 cents per share, compared with a profit of $37.3 million, or 19 cents per share, a year earlier.

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Fleet Tracking Study Shows 25% Reduction in Vehicle Maintenance Costs

Fleet managers who used a GPS fleet tracking system reported a nearly 25% reduction in downtime and costs from maintenance management, according to a recent study published by TrackNet. The results were announced this week in a company press release which also discussed some of the myriad benefits and solutions that a fleet tracking system can provide.

The study mentioned several fleet tracking benefits, including a reduction in fleet maintenance costs and and increased driver safety. In example, driving at 70 mph takes 159% more horsepower and burns excessive fuel when compared to driving 50 to 55 mph. Speeding means more wear and tear on the engine, resulting in higher fuel and maintenance costs. Each mile per hour above the ideal 50 to 55 mph a vehicle drives increases its fuel consumption by 1.5%.

A telematics based GPS fleet tracking system enables fleet managers to monitor speeds and encourage drivers to drive slower, therefore protecting the vehicle fleet.

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GPS Tracking Devices Help to Protect Endangered Desert Tortoises

ast week thirty-six tortoises were released into desert near Las Vegas. The endangered desert tortoises were outfitted with small radio transmitters and GPS tracking devices attached to their green and brown shells.

All of the tortoises are being tracked with a VHF radio transmitter roughly the size of a $3 stack of quarters, and 24 of them are also sporting GPS tracking units double the height of a deck of cards but not as wide or long. The portable technology carried by the tortoises will make it easier for the zoo’s workers to learn about the creatures’ movement patterns and habitat conditions.

The San Diego Zoo placed the tortoises in the wild after they were nurtured at the Desert Tortoise Conservation Center, a partnership between the zoo and federal and state agencies. This is the first time a high-tech GPS tracking device has been affixed to the exoskeletal creatures to monitor their movements. In 2009, the San Diego Zoo began partnering with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which oversaw the Desert Tortoise Conservation Center. Last year, the center released 100 tortoises into the desert.

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Tom Tom Busted Selling GPS Data to Police

Last week GPS giant TomTom apologized publicly after it was revealed that the company had sold user’s data to police in the Netherlands. The GPS data was then used to help police set speed traps for motorists.

Because sales from TomTom’s GPS devices has really slowed down, the company has been looking for other ways to maintain revenues. The company has been selling users’ GPS data to several different places, not just the Dutch police.

Chief Executive Harold Goddijn said that he was not aware that the GPS data would be used in the battle against speeding motorists and said the company would change its licensing agreements to stop the practice.

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Google Sued for $50 Million for Tracking Users’ Locations on Android

A lawsuit was filed last week in Michigan against Google for tracking and storing users’ location data from the Android. The $50 million lawsuit against Google attempts to stop the company from selling phones with software that tracks user location. A similar lawsuit was recently filed against Apple for the same reasons – privacy violations with iPhone’s location data logging process.

Google admitted last week in gathering location-related info, which includes GPS, Wi-Fi addresses, and device IDs, from Android-based devices but explained that this is untraceable to a particular user. For safety purposes, users have the choice to disable GPS tracking, but this will reduce the accuracy of positioning in maps and location-based services.

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Microsoft Admits Tracking Users’ Location, Congress Extends Inquiry

This week the House Energy and Commerce Committee sent letters to Apple, Google, HP, Microsoft (MSFT), Nokia and RIM requesting more information about how their mobile devices use and store users’ location data. The Senate is going to address the privacy concerns in a hearing set for May 10, 2011.

The issues started last week when it was revealed that Google and Apple are tracking users’ locations. After reports began to surface that Microsoft Windows Phone 7 operating system is also collecting users’ location data, Microsoft has admitted that Windows Phone 7 does track users’ locations.

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Lawsuit Filed Against Apple Over iPhone Location Tracking

gps-google-iphoneA class action lawsuit was filed this week against Apple (AAPL) over the iPhone’s ability to track and store user’s location data. According to the lawsuit, filed by two men in Florida, Apple collects users’ location information covertly and the way they go about it is is a violation of law. According to the lawsuit documents filed, “users of Apple products have … no way to prevent Apple from collecting this information because even if users disable the iPhone and iPad GPS components, Apple’s tracking system remains fully functional.”

Apple’s stock tumbled yesterday as news of the lawsuit was made public.

The issue of iPhone location tracking made headlines last week when two researchers published a blog post that said iOS 4+ devices collect a users’ location in an unencrypted file known as “consolidated.db.” The consolidated.db stores user information including latitude-longitude coordinates and a time/date stamp.

The fact that Apple was collecting this user location data to serve up location-based services was no big surprise. But the researchers became concerned when they realized that this information is stored in an insecure manner, and transferred to a user’s PC when they sync their iOS device, whether they like it or not.

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Gas Prices Up 99 Cents in One Year

Gas prices are having a huge impact on families and businesses. Thousands of drivers will be hitting the road this weekend for Spring Break and Easter festivities. Many drivers will be carpooling, and some drivers are deciding to skip any long distance road trips altogether.

The national average on Friday April 22, 2011, for a gallon of regular unleaded gas is nearly $3.84 a gallon — up 99 cents from exactly a year ago, according to the AAA Fuel Gauge Report. One year ago gas prices were averaging $2.85. That’s a 35% increase in the past 12 months. There are six states and 27 major US cities where gas has already topped $4 a gallon.

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Garmin Launches First Touchscreen GPS Watch and Heart Monitor

This week Garmin launched an all-new touchscreen navigation GPS watch and heart rate monitor, the Forerunner 610. This GPS navigation device is the first of its kind. Designed mainly for runners, the Garmin Forerunner 610 will bring GPS to the masses in a way like never before.

The Garmin navigation device uses GPS and an integrated heartbeat monitor to record every aspect of your run, including pace, distance, heart rate and calories burned. Once your workout is finished, the device can upload your info to Garmin’s Connect website for further analysis and training program optimization.

Often times, it’s Murphy’s Law, that when you really need your GPS navigation, you realize you left it at home or your cel phone GPS tracking system isn’t getting reception. But with the Garmin Forerunner 610, since it is a watch, it will be with you all the time. It has a rechargeable battery that will last up to eight hours in training mode.

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Justice Dept Says Warrantless GPS Tracking is Legal

GPS tracking without a warrant, law enforcement and 4th Amendment rights: The legal system has been quite divided over whether law enforcement must obtain a warrant before placing a GPS vehicle tracking device on a suspect’s car. In some cases, if someone is caught doing something illegal, and 1) the GPS tracking system information was used to convict him or her and 2) the GPS tracking system was placed by law enforcement without a warrant, convictions are not possible or overturned. But in other cases, courts have upheld the use of evidence obtained by placing a GPS tracking device on a suspect’s car without a warrant.

This week the US Justice Department entered the legal debate over GPS tracking, law enforcement and 4th Amendment rights. The Justice Dept is appealing a lower court ruling that reversed a criminal conviction because the police did not obtain a warrant for the GPS tracking device they secretly installed on a man’s car during a D.C. drug-trafficking investigation.

Last year, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit reversed the life sentence of a Washington area man named Antoine Jones, saying the government violated Jones’ privacy rights in clandestinely tracking his movement for a month in a drug trafficking investigation. The initial ruling last summer says police can’t use GPS tracking technology to track a suspect’s car without getting a warrant. The full court, in a 5-4 decision last fall, refused to reconsider the decision. Now, the Justice Department, in a last-ditch effort, wants the Supreme Court to review the decision, arguing that it has broad implications for law enforcement across the country.

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GPS Based Inhaler Helps Identify Triggers of Asthma Attacks

Asthma is a very common illness. Worldwide, over 300 million people suffer from the inflammatory condition. Each year, is is estimated that over 250,000 people die from asthma attacks.

Asthma attacks are triggered by different things in different people. For example, my nephew always starts wheezing whenever he is near a grassy area such as a park or field. But his mother, my sister, only has asthma attacks whenever she is near second-hand smoke from cigarettes or cigars.

Because asthma attacks are triggered by different things in different people, doctors usually ask patients to track when and where their asthma attacks occur. Based on this concept, epidemiologist and medical anthropologist David Van Sickle has come up with a GPS add-on for asthma inhalers. Van Sickle’s company, Asthmapolis, created Spiroscout, a GPS based asthma inhaler, so doctors and asthmatics patients can identify the triggers of their asthma attacks.

When you have an attack and reach for your inhaler, the GPS tracking device will record the time and location of the attack; it can then either store or send the data to a remote server. It’s hoped that then a patient or doctor will be able to see patterns in when an attack happens, and what caused it–be it pollen or a chemical substance.

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IBM’s Smarter Traveler Aims to Save Drivers From Traffic

No one likes wasting time and money sitting in traffic. Did you know that due to traffic congestion in the US, most people waste an average of a week’s worth of time, 28 gallons of gas and $808 over the course of a year? With IBM’s new Smarter Traveler Research Initiative, wasting time and gas sitting in traffic may become a thing of the past.

Yesterday IBM (NYSE: IBM) announced a joint initiative with the California Department of Transportation and the California Center for Innovative Transportation, to develop an intelligent transportation solution that will help commuters avoid congestion and enable transportation agencies to better understand, predict and manage traffic flow.

Even with advances in GPS system navigation, real-time traffic alerts and mapping, daily commute times are often unreliable, and relevant updates on how to avoid congestion often reach drivers when they are already stuck in traffic and it is too late to change course. This problem is what led IBM researchers to develop their new project, called Smarter Traveler. The Smarter Traveler system is going to collect and analyze traffic data from over 1,000 sensors already embedded in the cement at toll booths, bridges, roads and intersections in the San Francisco Bay area.

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GPS Devices to be Deployed After FBI Busts Building Inspectors

Recently the FBI caught two building inspectors in Los Angeles County taking bribes in exchange for signing off on construction work. Now LA County says they want to start using GPS tracking devices to monitor all of their building inspectors.

According to FBI documents filed last week, the FBI bust involved an undercover informant and two building inspectors caught on videotape taking bribes in exchange for the approval of construction work. In some instances inspections were not even conducted. The informant paid over 40 bribes to the shady building inspectors. Bribes included cash, free building materials, free labor and, a free vacation.

Building and Safety spokesman David Lara told the LA Times that his department sent a series of recommendations to LA Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, including a move to use GPS tracking devices for all building inspectors in the future. “For us, it’s mostly about making sure our inspectors are where they’re supposed to be,” Lara said. “With the latest turn of events, it’s too bad that we’ve had to take that type of measure. But we feel in the long run it would provide better control for our supervisors.”

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North Korea Caught Jamming GPS System Signals in South Korea

GPS systems are very reliable, but they are vulnerable to jamming. North Korea was recently busted taking advantage of this fact. According to several news outlets and the top US military commander in Korea, Walter Sharp, North Korea has been jamming global-positioning-satellite (GPS system) signals used in South Korea for military and commercial purposes. Sneaky! Sharp was the first U.S. official to publicly confirm allegations of jamming made by South Koreans.

The GPS system jamming signals are interfering with both military and civilian GPS system signals. North Korea has been trying to jam mobile phones in the Seoul area, as well as GPS tracking devices used by South Korean military forces. Because of the jamming, some mobile phones both used by civilians and soldiers have not been working properly. Additionally, certain military equipment has been affected and has not been working properly, such as distance measurement devices used by artillery units.

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