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Back to Timeline !privacy @j4k3
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@pineapple@lemmy.ml on lemmy.ml Open parent
Is GPS private?
I can’t believe I’ve never thought about this and that no one is really talking about it. GPS is a system that everyone uses everyday on there phone and is constantly tracking your location. Many people here (including myself) use airplane mode to block mobile data signals so that mobile data companies cannot track your location and sell it to data brokers. But airplane mode doesn’t block GPS (I just tested this now on my phone, maybe your phone works differently). Is GPS somehow designed in a way so that it’s private?
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j4k3
𞋴𝛂𝛋𝛆 in !privacy
@j4k3@lemmy.world · Mar 02
Depends on the system. Typically, the older systems do not work like this. The GPS satellites only transmit a signal that contains their location information and the time. The device must collect several of these signals and then use trigonometry to calculate your real location in time and position. Yes there are relativistic effects due to the distance to the satellites and gravity. For instance, in home lab electrical engineering, if a person wants a really good reference clock but cannot afford a cesium atomic reference, they can use a relatively cheap GPS system to build a referenced oscillator that is disciplined by the reference clock on these satellites. I think they are cesium too, but it has been awhile since Dave Jones made YT uploads on the eevblog about it. A Garmin bicycle computer is another example. It is triangulating the signals and plotting periodic waypoints with some basic averaging. That said, WiFi routers and cellular towers are possible to use for similar triangulation. Maybe check out Hak5 if they are still around. It has been awhile since I looked them up, but they used to make pen testing red team stuff that will infer much about vulnerabilities.
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privacy
Privacy
!privacy@lemmy.ml
A place to discuss privacy and freedom in the digital world.

Privacy has become a very important issue in modern society, with companies and governments constantly abusing their power, more and more people are waking up to the importance of digital privacy.

In this community everyone is welcome to post links and discuss topics related to privacy.

Some Rules
  • Posting a link to a website containing tracking isn’t great, if contents of the website are behind a paywall maybe copy them into the post
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  • If you have a question, please try searching for previous discussions, maybe it has already been answered
  • Reposts are fine, but should have at least a couple of weeks in between so that the post can reach a new audience
  • Be nice :)
Related communities
  • Lemmy.ml libre_culture
  • Lemmy.ml privatelife
  • Lemmy.ml DeGoogle
  • Lemmy.ca privacy

much thanks to @gary_host_laptop for the logo design :)

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Created: November 15, 2019
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