This article is mostly a straightforward tale of a stalker getting caught before anything truly bad happened. A simple enough article. But...

It's one of those articles that propogates a myth or a misunderstanding about a technical subject, and does it in such a way as to be damaging to the industry/research/community that the myth is about. Here's the bad paragraph:

Quote:
Gabrielyan had purchased a Nextel phone device that has a motion switch on it that turns itself on when it moves. As long as the device is on, it transmits a signal every minute to the GPS satellite, which in turn sends the location information to a computer.

It's this very misconception that makes some people afraid of GPS satellite technology. A surprising number of people who might benefit from owning a GPS receiver never consider it because they think they can be tracked with it.

I don't know how Nextel's system works, but I know for a fact that it doesn't transmit a signal to the GPS satellites. I doubt it even receives signals from GPS satellites. If I recall correctly, most of the locator-cell-phones use cellular rather than satellite technology to provide position information. The only signal that phone transmits is to the Nextel cellular network.

The fact that "just anybody" could use a planted cell phone to track an unsuspecting target is a problem, I agree, but that's something we need to talk to the cell phone providers about. It has nothing at all to do with GPS satellites or GPS technology. That kind of technological slander (er, libel?) can be damaging to entire industries.

I used to work with a guy who was paranoid that phones could be used to locate a caller. I tried to explain to him how much this could help him if he ever needed to call 911 but he was dead set on the idea that some guy in a dark room is going to be tracking his every move. Granted, he thinks we didn't land on the moon, but does anyone really think that resources are going to be spent to track the location of every cell phone user? I can just visualize my log now:

7:30 "Brad left home for work."
11:30 "Brad left work to get some Subway." (Go through trash can to see what he ordered)
12:15 "Brad returns to work."
17:00 "Brad heads home."

I know I'm a bit off topic, GPS satellites transmit, they don't receive, but I think these misunderstandings can lead to paranoia about technology.

The funny part is... Your own phone is safe, because you choose whether to activate the tracking feature. My Verizon phone (before I switched companies) gave me the option. The problem is that just anybody can activate the feature on their phone, hide it in your car, and achieve the same effect.

Your former coworker's paranoia wasn't completely unfounded, he was just worried about the wrong phone.

But think about how many people are worried that a GPS navigation system in their car can be used to track them? It's a completely different technology, a completely different issue, and I'll bet bottom dollar that the consumer GPS industry is being hurt by this perception.

There's a similar system available in the UK:
http://www.traceamobile.com/

Cost is from £5.month (5 phones) or £50/year (10 phones) with bundled search credits which go from 50p down to 20p a search.

They used to claim that tracked phones have an SMS regulalry sent to them but there is no mention of this on the site!

Either way it would be a neat way to track somebody's car - just wire a pay-as-you-go phone under their dashboard and remove the speaker and ringer.

Gareth

It might be offset by all the lives that have been saved with GM's OnStar program where 911 is dispatched to a car that had airbag deployment or had the emergency button pushed.

Not to encourage technological paranoia or would-be kidnappers, but it's worth noting that some of the latest pint-sized GPS receivers have data logs that can be uploaded wirelessly via Bluetooth -- meaning of course, they can be hidden in somebody's car/baggage/whatever and then, sometime later, you can see everywhere they've gone. Y'know, in case that Subway dude wants to hold Brad for ransom....