Location Tracking + Cell Phone Privacy: What You Need to Know

If you’re a big documentary watcher then there’s a good chance you’ve seen The Social Dilemma which came out in 2020 on Netflix from filmmakers Jeff Orlowski-Yang, Davis Coombe, and Vickie Curtis. And even if you aren’t the biggest documentary fan, this one rose in popularity pretty quickly as it heavily detailed the good and bad behaviors people have with their phones, along with providing information on cell phone privacy. 

Location tracking and cell phone privacy are a pretty big concern for mobile phone users and it doesn’t take too much research to understand why. Your cell phone contains a ton of personal information, from photos, to saved passwords in your notes app, to text conversations, and your browsing habits- the potential for all of that to be up in the air, or up in the cloud, is very anxiety inducing. Cell phones are a powerful tool, we have mini computers in our pockets, and as Uncle Ben once said: “with great power comes great responsibility.”

Because of the power our cell phones carry, our locations can be easily tracked if you aren’t careful, so it’s important to know information on the why, how, and what you can do about location tracking + cell phone privacy.

• What is Location Tracking?
• Who can access your phone information?
• What is Data Privacy?
• Decoupling Data & other Data Privacy Options

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What is Location Tracking?

Location tools on your phone can be a blessing and a curse. The good parts about location tracking is being able to track your pets or young kids when they’re outside, it can be used to recover your lost keys, wallet, or backpack if you have something like an AirTag, and it can let you know if a potentially harmful individual is close to you. However, there’s also the downsides of location tracking, phones can share your current location with strangers and through your travels, patterns can emerge which can make it easier for hackers to potentially steal your identity.

The feature of location tracking is on almost every Smartphone today and as the rise in technology has only progressed faster and faster, that same location tracking data has gotten better and better. It’s able to trace where your phone is, how fast or slow you’re moving, and it can create reports over time, establishing patterns to potential hackers and data seeking apps. 

There are many “Location Tracking Technologies” out there, but here are the most common ones:

• GPS (Global Positioning System): You know it, you love it, your GPS can get you to a location fast and without issue. It can let you know the fastest route to a new location within seconds. It’s a powerful tool we all have on our phones. It’s a US owned utility that provides users with PNT services. PNT stands for positioning, navigating, and timing. This satellite-based system makes a connection with a receiver, aka your phone, to provide you with your own version of location tracking. It’s a technology that is much better suited for wide-scale searches, it can’t directly point to a place inside of a building but it can give you the building itself.
• RFID (Radio Frequency Identification): These are small battery-less microchips, think fingertip sized, that can be attached to a number of things like pets, retail products, vehicles, office equipment, and more. They aren’t “always tracking” though, they need to first be engaged by the user in order to receive tracking data. Once the inquirer “sends out” radio waves, the RFID microchip will respond and that will prompt the reader to get a point of where the chip is at. RFID chips are a much better technology used to track smaller areas, like we said above, GPS can’t tell you where in the building, but a RFID chip could.
• Internet Based Tracking: Devices like your phone or computer have an operational tracking system and if a device has their location services on and is connected to the internet then you’ll be able to recover said device by pinpointing the location.
• Cellular Location Positioning: The same cell towers that provide us with our data, ability to call and text, are the same towers that transmit radio waves to track. As long as your phone is in range of a cell tower, your phone can be pinged through cellular location positioning. 

Some apps need your location data to work, apps like Weather and Maps can tell you very useful information that you may need in everyday life, but there are some apps that don’t tell you necessarily that they are collecting your location habits and those are the ones that your average person may not know about. Social media is a great example of apps being able to track your location, and if you click on your home screen but still have a social media app open, they could still be collecting your location data. 

We mentioned “data seeking apps” and you might not know what we mean by that initially. Well, think of the time when you’re looking up a new pair of boots for an upcoming event on your computer and then all of a sudden while you’re mindlessly scrolling through social media you get a few ads of those exact same boots from a few different companies. Apps will take your search history, which in a way is its own form of location tracking, and give your advertisements pertaining to your searches all in the same day. 

Who can access your phone information?

Now that you know more about location tracking technologies, you’re probably wondering about your own device and who or what can access your phone’s information. 

According to the ACLU, the American Civil Liberties Union, when it comes to our cell phone information, “Law enforcement agencies can often obtain this personal information without ever getting a warrant from a judge. The federal government also invokes powerful surveillance authorities to collect this information and more, including our call records, contact lists, and even the contents of our text messages and calls.”

For example, if you’re an iPhone user and have backed up your information onto Apple’s iCloud, then the government can get that info from Apple. Same thing can go for other brand devices.

How does the “cloud” work?

Phone storage is key to limitless use of your cell phone. And cloud-storage is almost the same thing as phone storage but it instead uses servers to save data, usually used as a way to backup your phones information so you can easily access your entire phone’s catalog if you switch over to a new device or to keep images and other information easier to access amongst all of your devices. That data is then sent to servers in an “off-site” location where it is stored on actual physical machines in a server room. 

Malicious Apps and RATS (Remote Access Tools) are also a way into your phone. These apps and tools can be used to remotely access your phone so it can see messages, call logs, camera, and other apps if you give it permission. 

But why would you give a RAT permission? Well, most of the time these apps and tools are disguised as seemingly unharmful and you might download them and give them permission without even knowing it- that’s why it’s good to do research beforehand on suspicious looking apps. 

It isn’t all bad though, there are active third parties and amendments that are working your favor. For instance, the ACLU is working to ensure that your cell phone data is protected. They “advocate in courts, Congress, and state legislatures to make sure that law enforcement is required to comply with the Fourth Amendment’s warrant requirement before obtaining cell phone data from service providers or tracking phones directly…” The Fourth Amendment protects you from illegal search and seizure and there are loops government agencies have to go through in order to obtain information.  

• Tip: If you’re a frequent WhatsApp user then you should take a look at their “Information for Law Enforcement Authorities” section in their FAQ page, they heavily go over what a force needs before it can obtain your personal message records. 

What is Data Privacy?

There’s no exact definition of data privacy- also known as information privacy, but it has been summed up by many sources as the idea that everyone should have control over their own personal data, including but not limited to deciding what organizations and/or companies will collect, use, and store your personal data.

• Many of these organizations and companies have to uphold certain privacy standards. The CCPA (California Consumer Privacy Act) is a form of data privacy as it “gives consumers more control over the personal information that businesses collect about them and the CCPA regulations provide guidance on how to implement the law.” (Read more about their guidelines here).

Data privacy pertains to the user’s individual rights of their own owned data. And for organizations and companies they practice data privacy by implementing policies so individuals like yourself may have control over their own data. 

• Although there is no single principal data protection law in the United States as a whole, there are a handful of laws, like the CCPA, that form into one messy ball of data protection laws. The Telecommunications Act under the FCC that “carriers must protect the privacy and security of their customers' service-related and billing information…” - however there are circumstances and conditions that can permit certain parties to look at said information, more on that on the official FCC website.

Data privacy means that a user should have access to what an organization and/or company has on record, transparency concerning what said businesses are doing with their data, rely on reliable security measures regarding their personal data, and be able to give full consent over what bits of information organizations, companies, and all businesses alike have access to.

Decoupling Data & other Data Privacy Options

There’s terms that may pop out at you when you’re researching location tracking, cell phone privacy, and data regulations and that is decoupling.

What is decoupling?

In the simplest terms possible, decoupling is “the separation of previously linked systems so that they may operate independently.” But in terms of data, it can be a tad more complicated, so we’re going to try and keep this easy to understand.

When you’re looking something up on a website, say Google for instance, and you type “Top Young Adult Books 2024” into the search bar, Google will know what terms you searched. It will be able to identify you as the user that looked up that specific term.

To decouple data from itself, it’s giving extra steps and shielding you from being able to be known as you use the internet in various ways.

There are three different “data types” to look at:

• Data in Motion refers to specific circumstances like when you’re in a call with someone and the bounce you’re hearing on your end is the signal being sent from that person’s location to your phone.
• Data in Rest refers to specific circumstances like when you log onto a website and you get the “Remember me” option that pops up when you go to log in, that’s known as cookies and it saves your information locally, It’s not always “on” but it is in “rest” waiting for you to come back online to the website. 
• Data in Use refers to the data you are currently using, what you’re watching, scrolling through, looking up, etc.

In terms of our example from earlier, Google will notice all of these data paths you take. So the idea of decoupling is when you’re using these data types, you’ll have your computer or phone see you as different sources or “users.” Normally these three data type methods are pointing at you in three different ways all from the same direction or one centralized way. With decoupling they won’t be able to see your activity in all three data types and they won’t be able to connect that you’re all the same user. It’s a way to help improve your cell phone privacy and security.

There will be no single route of failure with data decoupling, Spectrum said it here best: “If a cloud provider of a decoupled videoconferencing service is breached, all that’s visible is the flow of encrypted bytes to and from other nameless cloud servers. Same with storage: A breach reveals only a bunch of encrypted disks and encrypted flows of data. Same with compute: The hardware enclave shields the data in use from the attacker’s prying eyes.” Decoupling is a huge method for data privacy to be ensured.

Another method many with cell phones turn to is signing up for a service that uses decentralized wireless networks (DeWi). DeWi is a new type of network that allows users to “host wireless devices and control the network they use.” It focuses on privacy and anonymity. 

Learn more about decentralized wireless (DeWi) from this related blog post: What is DeWi? Our Complete Guide to Decentralized Wireless Networks

REALLY separates personal info from data, so it is one option for maintaining privacy on a mobile phone. REALLY’s phone plans focus first and foremost on privacy and you are ensured that you’re protected as best you can be- more so than any other wireless service.

Other forms of Data Privacy Options include:

• VPNs. A VPN, Virtual Private Network, creates a secure connection between your digital device and a remote server owned and operated by the VPN network. It helps to encrypt your data and hides your IP address- allowing you to sidestep any potential firewalls or website blocks. It also helps prevent location tracking. A useful tool indeed!
• Two-factor Authentication. It’s such an important technology for average users and makes it so hackers can’t access your information. It takes two steps personal to you, it asks for your password along with a text to your phone from the company asking you for a one time password or an email sent to you directly.
• Turn OFF Locations Services. It may seem like a simple option and it is! Turn off your location services in your phone’s settings to help keep one step away from potential location tracking.

Cell phone privacy is more important than ever, it’s important to protect your data so you can browse with an ease of mind. Through data privacy and looking into a wireless network that protects your information like REALLY you’ll be able to focus less on what ifs.

REALLY isn’t just a great wireless service, you can also compare and contrast your current phone plan to over 1,200 phone plans so you know you’re getting the service that’s right for you, then make sure to check out the REALLY compare page which allows you to look at pricing, coverage, what phone plans are available, current deals and steals, and how you can make the most of your potential phone bill.