Protecting Your Location Information

Защищайте информацию о вашем местоположении

More on Cell Phone Tracking

We described earlier how the government can enlist your phone company's help in tracking the location of your phone in real time. However, that's not the only location privacy threat posed by your cell phone: your provider also keeps records of where your cell phone was each time you made or received a phone call.

In particular, phone companies typically log the cell phone tower you were closest to when you called someone or someone called you, as well as which "sector" of the tower's coverage area your phone was in. Particularly in urban environments where there are lots of cell towers, such records can locate you with a fairly high degree of precision, sometimes to within a city block or even within a particular building. The government routinely obtains these kinds of location records with only subpoenas and with no notice to the target, although EFF is working hard to ensure that such data can only be obtained with a search warrant.

Unfortunately, there's nothing you can do to prevent these records from being created short of not making phone calls, and turning your phone off to ensure that no one calls you. Indeed, turning your phone off might be your only recourse — particularly since some experts have advised us that the phone companies not only log the location of your phone when a call is made but also log the closest cell tower whenever your phone is turned on, as your phone continuously registers itself with the cell network.

Therefore, as is true with every communications device that you use, your best defense is to think before you use your cell phone. Do you really want your phone company to have a log reflecting that you were in that part of town at that time? If not, then you should turn the cell phone off.

Another potential solution is to anonymously purchase a prepaid cell phone using cash. The phone company will still have the same location data, but it won't be as easily linked to your identity. Keep in mind, however, that even if the phone company doesn't have subscriber information like your name and address, investigators might be able to quickly associate you with the phone based on the people you communicate with, or based on security camera footage from the store where you bought the phone.

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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