Although a smartphone is a communications necessity, your cel phone may be revealing more about you than you’d like. Cel phones today are offering services such as GPS navigation, Internet access and more. Plus the devices are also gathering information about you — data being marketed by your cellular provider to advertisers and other commercial services. It’s called location-based services and advertising.
Cell phone and GPS tracking technology is increasing at a rapid pace. It is important to consider how this technology impacts your privacy when you purchase and use your cell phone.
Mobile ad services combine information from your phone’s GPS location feature with other data from your service provider and package it up for sale to advertisers, keeping tabs on people through tags uploaded to their phones called cookies.
Can GPS tracking on my cel phone disclose my location?
Increasingly, the answer is yes. In the past, your general location could be verified by looking at your phone records to determine which tower was used to connect your call. Now, your location can often be tracked in real-time if your phone is turned on. Initially the notion behind location-based GPS tracking was public safety, but many companies are exploring commercial opportunities as well. These all revolve around location based cel phone GPS tracking services.
Location GPS tracking is not just a single technology. It actually combines several technologies. Three basic techniques can be used to determine the location of a cell phone or other similar device:
* GPS tracking system compares the timing of radio signals from satellites in space.
* Triangulation collects directional signals from cell phone towers.
* Wi-Fi local area networks track high-frequency radio signals from transmitters.
It is likely that the trend of including location-tracking components will continue as cell phone manufacturers comply with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Enhanced 911 (E911) rule. The FCC’s E911 initiative requires cell phone carriers to be able to pinpoint their customers’ locations within 100 meters, so emergency responders can reach them in a crisis.
For more info, read my next post:
Helpful Ways to Stop My Cel Phone GPS Tracking System Data From Being Monitored or Sold
About location based services
A location-based service (LBS) is an information or entertainment service, accessible with mobile devices through the mobile network and utilizing the ability to make use of the geographical position of the mobile device
LBS can be used in a variety of contexts, such as health, work, personal life, etc. LBS include services to identify a location of a person or object, such as discovering the nearest banking cash machine or the whereabouts of a friend or employee. LBS include parcel tracking and vehicle tracking services. LBS can include mobile commerce when taking the form of coupons or advertising directed at customers based on their current location. They include personalized weather services and even location-based games. They are an example of telecommunication convergence.
Sources:
http://www.privacyrights.org/fs/fs2b-cellprivacy.htm
http://www.foxnews.com/search-results/search?q=gps+tracking