Defend Yourself Against Cell Phone Tracking

As described earlier, the government can use information transmitted by your cellular telephone to track its location in real-time, whether based on what cell phone towers your cell phone is communicating with, or by using the GPS chip included in most cell phones.

Many courts have required the government to obtain a warrant before conducting this type of surveillance, often thanks to briefing by EFF. (For more information on our work in this area, visit EFF's cell tracking page.) However, many other courts have been happy to routinely authorize cell phone tracking without probable cause.

Even more worrisome, the government has the capability to track cell phones without the cell phone provider's assistance using a mobile tracking technology code-named "triggerfish". This technology raises the possibility that the government might bypass the courts altogether. Even if the government does seek a court order before using "triggerfish," though, it will only need to get an easy-to-get pen-trap order rather than a wiretap order based on probable cause.

Put simply, cell phone location tracking is an incredibly powerful surveillance technology that is currently subject to weak technical and legal protections.

Unfortunately, if you want to use your cell phone at all, avoiding the threat of this kind of real-time tracking is nearly impossible. That's because the government can track your cell phone whenever it's on, even if you aren't making a call. The government can even track some cell phones when they are powered down, unless you have also removed the battery. So, once again, there is a security trade-off: the only way to eliminate the risk of location tracking is to leave the cell phone at home, or remove the battery.

For more information about the privacy risks posed by cell phones, take a look at our article on mobile devices[создать]. You may also want to take a look at the advice offered by MobileActive.org in its Primer on Mobile Surveillance.

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