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Beyond GPS: The Hidden Ways Your Phone Tracks You (minddump-5f4.pages.dev)
submitted 2 weeks ago by to c/privacy@lemmy.ml
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I wrote a blog post about the hidden ways your location is being tracked without your knowledge.

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[–] 5 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 child)

Qualcomm has its "IZat" system where:

- every AP's BSSID your phone sees is sniffed by a program running continuously in the background, mapped to a latitude/longitude if possible (via GPS or any phone location means) and sent to their servers,

- So that other devices can send a list of AP BSSIDs and signal strengths and get a triangulated location within 5-10 meters.

So the server ends up with a global database of AP locations, and also the location of every device in the world using the service within ~5-10 meters.

They've had this in action since 2012.

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  • [–] 2 points 2 weeks ago

    IZat

    Article about -> https://www.theregister.com/on-prem/2023/04/27/are-qualcomm-chips-snooping-on-you-no-not-quite/1100433

    Situation seems muddled. Article claims its opt-in, but who knows, I don't put much trust in claims like that. The idea of a local service to reduce power reqs of a GPS radio seems OK. But this allegedly sends loc data back to Qualcomm, which seems unnecessary. Mfgs like to muddle everything up so features you want, get tied to things you don't.

    Faraday pouches are our friend.

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