espo Posted December 29, 2018 Share Posted December 29, 2018 I'm charging my phone today and I hear the pinging sound like when you receive a text message. When my wife and I are together like this weekend I hardly ever get a text so of course I thought it may be something important. The text is telling me that I have additional photos from a Jeep Jamboree we attended this summer. My thought was that someone in the group we were with on the trail may be sharing their pictures. The message contained a map of the trails we had been on and it had a little picture on the map in the locations where I had taken pictures. I open the map and it was pointing out exactly where we were when the pictures were taken, and we were off in a fairly remote area several miles from any paved road. In the message they had grouped the pictures , I guess using GPS or something to show where I was and what pictures were taken at that location. My wife gets messages when she leaves for work sometimes saying how long it will take her to get to work. She also gets the same information when she is shopping and gets in the car to head home the same thing, time and miles. So I ask all of you here, do you think your phone is looking over your shoulder ?? We never asked for any type of service from our phone carrier, they just start following us and telling us how long it will take to get somewhere and even sending me copies of pictures that are only on my phone that I haven't shared with anyone else. This is starting to get very creepy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Hall Posted December 29, 2018 Share Posted December 29, 2018 (edited) Location services are enabled it sounds like. Apps usually ask to use location services when you install or update them. Pretty standard stuff on modern smart phones, pretty much has to use GPS for many apps. On my phone apps I use like Google Maps, Yelp, Waze, Uber, DoorDash, etc all need the location to function. Edited December 29, 2018 by Rob Hall Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Van Posted December 29, 2018 Share Posted December 29, 2018 Yes......... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrObsessive Posted December 29, 2018 Share Posted December 29, 2018 They are using the EXIF data that your pics contain when you're taking pics. You can turn off the location service when you're taking pics, that should put the kibosh on the data. Or, when you load the pics on your hard disc for instance, there is software that will take out the EXIF data. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SfanGoch Posted December 30, 2018 Share Posted December 30, 2018 Turning off or removing apps won't stop your phone from tracking your movements. Neither will turning it off. This isn't tin foil hat conspiracy stuff. That's the technology built into each iCrap, Android, etc. Your privacy is being invaded every second. https://www.techrepublic.com/article/your-smartphone-can-be-tracked-even-if-gps-location-services-are-turned-off/ Now, don't you all feel better knowing this? You are Number Six Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Classicgas Posted December 30, 2018 Share Posted December 30, 2018 You bet your life it is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bismarck Posted December 30, 2018 Share Posted December 30, 2018 I won't own a smart phone. Smartphone Tech has went from being a tool of convenience, to being a tool of information and passive information gathering for anybody who can hack in and get it. No thanks. I still prefer the ability to not be reached at any time of day or night. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ace-Garageguy Posted December 30, 2018 Share Posted December 30, 2018 19 minutes ago, SfanGoch said: ... Android, etc. Your privacy is being invaded every second. But Joe...everyone who's not a card-carrying Luddite fossil knows that "technology" is the be-all-end-all ne-plus-ultra accomplishment of the human race and that only someone who's doing something they "shouldn't" could possibly have any objection to being tracked 24-7, and that everyone should appreciate the instant convenience of having carefully targeted advertising sent just to YOU based on your individual behavior patterns because YOU'RE SPECIAL, and that tech's striving to enhance your experience as an inhabitant of Earth, being able to buy exactly what you want instantly and have it delivered to you without even the effort of opening a car door and turning a key, and that having the ability for your refrigerator to tell you the milk has gone off when you're in Paris (though God knows why anybody would go there now), or being able to flush the john from the plane if you forgot in your highly-stressed lifestyle-dash-to-accomplish-nothing makes everything SO much better than it's ever been before... What was the question again? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Van Posted December 30, 2018 Share Posted December 30, 2018 I saw a news reporter do a story where he turned off his phone......took bus rides with stops around Washington DC and then had a phone expert look at his phone. The expert was able to tell the reporter where he went, how long each step took......weather he was in a vehicle or walking. Yep....it's trackin...on or off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrObsessive Posted December 30, 2018 Share Posted December 30, 2018 Dave that's interesting because in the past I've taken pictures with my phone (iPhone 6 Plus) and had the GPS location service turned off. I then took the pics and put them in my PC and I was not able to get the EXIF data off of them using software which can do so. Now subsequent updates since then, they very well may have changed the software so like you said, whether it's on or not the tracking is still taking place. Ain't 2018 technology grand?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ace-Garageguy Posted December 30, 2018 Share Posted December 30, 2018 (edited) One device to rule them all... Edited December 30, 2018 by Ace-Garageguy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bismarck Posted December 30, 2018 Share Posted December 30, 2018 Ain't that the truth!! Lol. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atmobil Posted December 30, 2018 Share Posted December 30, 2018 1 hour ago, Dave Van said: I saw a news reporter do a story where he turned off his phone......took bus rides with stops around Washington DC and then had a phone expert look at his phone. The expert was able to tell the reporter where he went, how long each step took......weather he was in a vehicle or walking. Yep....it's trackin...on or off. Yes, I have tried something similar at times aswell but I still got a message from google that they have made a recap of my month and I had travelled to so many places and spent such amount of time in a car. Some of those places I have gone to I have not had the phone turned because it was out of power and I did not have chargingpossibilities untill later on so how the thing knew where I have been is strange. 1 hour ago, SfanGoch said: Turning off or removing apps won't stop your phone from tracking your movements. Neither will turning it off. This isn't tin foil hat conspiracy stuff. That's the technology built into each iCrap, Android, etc. Your privacy is being invaded every second. https://www.techrepublic.com/article/your-smartphone-can-be-tracked-even-if-gps-location-services-are-turned-off/ Now, don't you all feel better knowing this? You are Number Six Haha, The Prisoner. Now that is a strange tv-series. I have tried to see it many times but I just can't make it trough and I usually love movies and tv shows from era. But it is very true, we are all just a number. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snake45 Posted December 30, 2018 Share Posted December 30, 2018 3 hours ago, bismarck said: I won't own a smart phone. Smartphone Tech has went from being a tool of convenience, to being a tool of information and passive information gathering for anybody who can hack in and get it. No thanks. I still prefer the ability to not be reached at any time of day or night. PREACH IT BROTHER BISMARCK!! Can I get a AY-men from the choir? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SfanGoch Posted December 30, 2018 Share Posted December 30, 2018 1 hour ago, MrObsessive said: Now subsequent updates since then, they very well may have changed the software so like you said, whether it's on or not the tracking is still taking place. It's not the software and this isn't a recent issue. This has been going on for a long time. The hardware built into the phone makes tracking, among other insidious things, possible. This is why DoD was required to cease purchases of, and remove, telecom equipment from a Chinese company. The phones were used to spy on U.S. national defense assets. If you've been following the news, Google is guilty of invasive data harvesting and the company execs have been raked over the coals during Congressional testimony over this very issue. BTW, all them new cars loaded with fancy-schmancy technology are peaching on you just as well. It's like spilling your guts to an informant of Stasi, KGB and Gestapo every time you get in and drive to the store or strip club. That ephemeral "they" knows about every facet of your day-to-day, minute-by-minute activities and you cheerfully give up this information without "them" having to resort to rubber hoses and car batteries. Makes those nasty, ancient, pre-computerized cars you ditched for power everything and voice-activated creature comforts look not so bad in retrospect. Hell, anyone using Metrocards to pay subway and bus fare in NYC has their movements tracked whenever one swipes it at a turnstile or bus farebox. Surveillance cameras on/in buildings, traffic lights, streetlamps, trees, etc. monitor your activities from lighting up a smoke to scratching your rear. Your First, Third, Fourth, Fifth, Ninth and Fourteenth Amendment rights are violated every day and nobody thinks twice about it. Sad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ace-Garageguy Posted December 30, 2018 Share Posted December 30, 2018 ^^^ Yup. Yup. Yup. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snake45 Posted December 30, 2018 Share Posted December 30, 2018 46 minutes ago, SfanGoch said: Your First, Third, Fourth, Fifth, Ninth and Fourteenth Amendment rights are violated every day and nobody thinks twice about it. Sad. Third? Who's having troops quartered in their homes? Did you mean Second? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SfanGoch Posted December 30, 2018 Share Posted December 30, 2018 No, Third. By virtue of electronic data harvesting, law enforcement and the military, via those wonderful folks at the alphabet soup-acronymed intelligence agencies, are essentially shacking up with you. The least they could do is bring beer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Handley Posted December 30, 2018 Share Posted December 30, 2018 4 hours ago, bismarck said: I won't own a smart phone. Smartphone Tech has went from being a tool of convenience, to being a tool of information and passive information gathering for anybody who can hack in and get it. No thanks. I still prefer the ability to not be reached at any time of day or night. If you have a flip phone, you can still be tracked from you phone pinging off cell towers, just like a certain NY lawyer that's been in the news lately. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Russell C Posted December 30, 2018 Share Posted December 30, 2018 I'm of the increasingly endangered species whose phone is still connected to the wall with a copper wire. It couldn't track me if you held a gun to its head. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bismarck Posted December 30, 2018 Share Posted December 30, 2018 (edited) 8 hours ago, Joe Handley said: If you have a flip phone, you can still be tracked from you phone pinging off cell towers, just like a certain NY lawyer that's been in the news lately. If I don't need it, I shut it off. Problem solved. My phone is so old, it doesn't have all the bells and whistles of these modern things. Besides, IF they ARE watching me for whatever reason, I'm a pretty boring study.. And yes, they should at least bring the beer. I spend enough time in the green machine to know how track and observe works. Electronic or otherwise. This is prob old news to most people, but those reward cards ALMOST everybody uses at the box stores, gives big brother a nice baseline of EVERYTHING you buy, allowing them to establish baseline buying patterns on everything you consume. Food for thought..... Edited December 30, 2018 by bismarck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TarheelRick Posted December 30, 2018 Share Posted December 30, 2018 (edited) A couple of months ago I noticed every time the wife and I went into a restaurant or went shopping my phone would come up with a message "How did you enjoy your....? I went to my local Veri- - - store and talked with the technician about this. He turned off my Google maps and at least this form of invasion has stopped. Glad to hear about the rewards card tracking. I probably knew about that, but it had resigned to the recesses of my mind. It appears "1984" is here, only 35 years later. Edited December 30, 2018 by TarheelRick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
espo Posted December 30, 2018 Author Share Posted December 30, 2018 Thank you all for some very interesting, and dare I say scary information. Mine is an old device and I try to keep everything I can turned off. I have not used any type of mapping app for years. I even have blocked many of the updates that the phone says it wants and I can't live without. One thing I have a hard time understanding with the photos, we were in an area with no cell phone service. I didn't try mine as all I was doing was taking pictures. Several people in our group were always messing with their phones the way those who are addicted to these device's tend to do. Now if I can't get a cell phone signal I wonder how they know where I was taking these pictures? This trip was in September and almost 4 months later I'm being sent a text to me showing where I was in a remote off road area with a trail map in the back ground and showing the different places I stopped to take pictures in addition to another set of the pictures I had taken. This is to much like an invasion of my privacy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Classicgas Posted December 30, 2018 Share Posted December 30, 2018 It got the info from your phone when service resumed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Hall Posted December 30, 2018 Share Posted December 30, 2018 I couldn't imagine turning off Google Maps...it's one of the most useful apps on my phone, I use it more than the nav system in Jeep. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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