cell phone anonymity

[Phillip H. Zakas]

Thanks for pointing out the article -- love learning new things.  Didn't
realize companies were moving so quickly to GPS.  Not sure how well it would
work in urban areas or buildings (hence I guess the two mode system of
triangulation and GPS in one).

phillip

-----Original Message-----
X-Loop: openpgp.net
From: owner-cypherpunks at Algebra.COM
[mailto:owner-cypherpunks at Algebra.COM]On Behalf Of Declan McCullagh
Sent: Monday, January 08, 2001 1:07 PM
To: Multiple recipients of list
Subject: Re: cell phone anonymity





On Mon, Jan 08, 2001 at 03:10:55AM -0500, Phillip Zakas wrote:
>
> Just a minor correction to the below posting: cell phone locations are NOT
> calculated using GPS.  They're triangulated via the three nearest cell
sites
> reading the cell phone signal.  Accuracy is much lower than with GPS, but
> good enough for cops to, say, find a stranded motorist on a highway.  I
> believe resolution is somewhere around 40 meters in densely populated
areas
> (where there are many cell phone towers).  This resolution figure varies

For now; future trends include GPS. See an article I wrote below.

-Declan


http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,40623,00.html

Qualcomm, for instance, said that its gpsONE technology shifts the
choice to whomever is holding the handset. The user has three choices:
a default of always on or always off, the option of deciding every
time the device is used, or choosing which applications will reveal
the information.

The company argues that providing its customers with that flexibility
will give them even more options than they enjoy with landline phones,
which often reveal the subscription address of the person paying for
the service. The gpsONE technology, which uses both GPS technology and
base station triangulation, can locate a user within a diameter of 5
to 15 meters outdoors, and 30 to 60 meters indoors.