• Pennomi@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    40
    ·
    1 month ago

    “Will track” is a weird way to say “already does, as is proven by researchers”.

  • TachyonTele@lemm.ee
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    13
    ·
    edit-2
    1 month ago

    I was watching a video about a kid that killed his mother. The cops were detailing how they caught him being somewhere else than what he stated.

    They weren’t able to track his phone itself, because he had it turned off most of the time. But when he did turn it on they got the ping from nearby cell towers, and then they looked at highway cameras in that area. They were able to ID his license plate that way.

    Basically they just ran nationwide searches for his phone, and then ran a search for his plates.

    All of that data is already collected, all they need to do is “Google” it. Pretty interesting imo. A little scary too.

    Edit. This guy also went to a Best buy and literally asked them for “a burner phone”, and was on camera asking for it. That’s how they knew what phone to look for. Lol

  • Possibly linux@lemmy.zip
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    6
    ·
    1 month ago

    They didn’t before? This is Google we are talking about. If nothing else they need your location for Google maps data.

    It is a great time to degoogle your life.

    • unexposedhazard@discuss.tchncs.de
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      5
      ·
      1 month ago

      Unless you physically remove the entire SIM module from your phone, this is not solvable. I have a degoogled phone too, but as long as you use a SIM card, you are being tracked.

      • Possibly linux@lemmy.zip
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        1 month ago

        You aren’t being tracked by Google. Also cell tower tracking is much harder than just querying a GPS service.

        • unexposedhazard@discuss.tchncs.de
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          1 month ago

          Thats true but im not sure if i have more trust in the cops than google. The requests for cell location data are instantly waved through usually.