Tag: cell phone tracking software

Is Cell Phone Monitoring For Real?

Can I monitor a cell phone’s calls, texts, and location?

Concerned parents and suspicious spouses have been asking this question for almost two decades now. And rightly so. Technology has given us access to a whole new world of communication that people born as late as the mid 80s never experienced growing up. We can have a whole life that is hidden from those closest to use through our cell phones. Phone calls, text messages, and cell phone internet activity can all be done on the move, in hidden places, and to the detriment of relationships and psychological development.

That is where cell phone monitoring comes in. If this technology is real and really works then it would be ideal for those individuals who have a child or spouse who is engaging in activity that is doing damage to their relationships or hurting them psychologically. It will give these concerned individuals the data they need to confront their at-risk individual, hopefully sparking a conversation that will turn the situation around for the better.

So first off, is cell phone monitoring for real? Does it really work?

Yes. It is for real and it really works.

What We Mean By Cell Phone Monitoring

I think it might be a good idea to talk about exactly what we mean when we talk about cell phone monitoring. To be sure, there is an element of GPS tracking in there – but monitoring usually denotes more than just finding the location of a mobile phone. It also includes things like seeing all incoming and outgoing text messages, a detailed log of phone calls, and cell internet browsing activities. In short, all activity that occurs on the cell phone is monitored.

This level of monitoring is accomplished by installing a piece of software on the cell phone that allows this type of tracking activity. Not every cell phone is compatible with just any monitoring program. A lot of cell phone surveillance programs only work on certain operating systems (OS). Some even work on only certain versions of those operating systems, so making sure that what you are going to buy to do your monitoring is compatible with your particular cell phone is pretty important. In fact, I would recommend looking at the spy program’s list of compatible devices before you even read more information about it. Why know about what you can’t buy?

If you don’t have any experience downloading cell phone software then you might want to check out our guide on how to download cell phone tracking software. You will either have to buy your monitoring software from your respective app store (iPhone = App Store; Android = Android Market; BlackBerry = App World; Windows = Marketplace) or purchase it from a 3rd party and download it onto your phone. Either way, our guide should give you want you need to know.

Who Should Monitor A Cell Phone’s Activity

The real question that somebody looking into this should be, why do you want to monitor the cell phone in the first place?

There seems be two groups of people who can answer this question in a legitimate way. The first are parents who have a valid reason to be concerned about their children. The second are a husband or a wife who suspects the other in the relationship of stepping out on them. There may be other people out there who want to track a boyfriend or a girlfriend, but doing so doesn’t seem right to me (and is often illegal).

Let’s take a look at each of them in turn.

Two Reasons To Monitor Your Child’s Cell Phone

Children, even teenagers, need their parents to be just that, parents. Sometimes this is going to involve getting into the nitty gritty of their daily experience. Who are they talking to? What do they think about? What do they like? Are they popular? Who are their friends? What makes them tick?

Now these are questions that all parents should have some sort of idea about, even if all the specifics are a little blurry. If you can’t honestly answer these question you need to evaluate your parenting and just how involved in the life of your child you really are. Then you should realize that cell phone surveillance is no substitute for good parenting.

You see, no amount of technology is going to make up for years of neglect and bad parenting. The only thing that will make up for that is effort, work, sacrifice, and growing up. You are the only one who can bring those things to the table with your child. Getting a cell phone monitor is just going to further alienate your teen because you will just be trying to coax out of them something by force (monitoring their communications) because you haven’t cared enough about them to actually learn who they are and help them grow.

That being said, if you have a good, healthy relationship with your child you still might be justified in using some sort of monitoring software on their cell phone. Here are just two:

They Are Being Cyberbullied

Cyberbullying is a real phenomenon and it is only growing in popularity. Kids are messed up (so are parents) and they do terrible things to each other. Its human nature! Some kids will tell their parents that they are being bullied. Others won’t. Some will even take their silence, and the bullying, to the grave.

If you know a little about your child you are going to be able to tell if something is off with them. You might not be able to pinpoint what it is, you just know that your teen has something going on. You probe and question but all your efforts run into a brick wall. What are you going to do now? This is where getting a quality cell phone monitoring program is going to be helpful.

By being able to read the texts they receive as well as the web information on their cell phone and social media sites you can figure out that they are being bullied. With a little elbow grease you might even be able to figure out who is tormenting your teen on the internet. With this information in tow you can talk with your teen about what is going on and ways that it can be dealt with. You might even be able to take matters into your own hands and get those SOBs who are hurting your teen to stop.

Either way, cell phone surveillance software is what is going to open this door for you.

They Are A Cyberbully

Now the shoe is on the other foot. What would you do if you found out your kid was a cyberbully? I sure as hell would want to make sure that they stopped tormenting another human being. This would take a lot of parenting but it would also include some cell phone tracking. After we talked about why they felt they needed to attack another human being and after I made any changes that I needed to myself and my parenting to ensure that I was creating a home where everyone’s needs were being met I would install some monitoring software on their cell phone to ensure compliance.

Even if my teenager doesn’t make the change on the inside to become a better person it is my responsibility to make sure that the bullying stops.

Should You Monitor An Adults Cell Phone?

Adults certainly pose a different challenge when compared over and against children. Most parents are going to understand that to a certain extent they have a right and responsibility to ensure that their children are healthy and safe. If parents are using cell monitoring technology to reach these goals then it seems like a valid use of the technology. To be sure, parents can use spy technology in an oppressive way – but we don’t think that this would be a valid use of the technology. We would advise such parents to stop.

But when it comes to tracking an adult most people will think that being to see their texts, internet activity, call log, and GPS location is overkill. That is if you ask them if they would want another person doing it to them. Otherwise most people I think entertain the idea of knowing everything someone else does on their cell phone – this is particularly true when it comes to romantic relationships.

If a person thinks that they are being cheated on by a wife, or a husband, or a boyfriend, or a girlfriend then they usually throw out all concern about whether or not it is right to track their cell phone in this way. While I can understand this I personally only think it is valid for a husband or a wife to track their other in a relationship. This is primarily because it is the only relationship described above where the individuals have made a covenant with each other in the sight of God and men to be faithful to one another until one of them is dead.

As is the case in most covenant relationships, both parties have a right to know if the other is breaking covenant. If you have repeatedly gone to your spouse and asked them if they are cheating and they consistently deny it but your suspicions remain then it is my opinion that you have a right to install a cell phone monitoring system.

Cheaters and Cell Phone Monitoring

The most important thing that you will be looking for is evidence of the cheating on their cell phone. Cell phone logs and text messages are probably going to be one of the most important pieces of evidence in your search – that and the cell phones location. A lot of monitoring packages will not only let you see the text messages but also let you recover deleted texts, which is really important for the careful cheater.

Once you have evidence of the cheating you can do what you want with it – but I recommend some sort of confrontation. Remember, they are the one who is cheating – but we all bear the responsibility for failed relationships. Work on the relationship and heal it. It will take work, but marriage is an institution that should be saved and protected.

Who Should Not Use Cell Phone Spying Software

Stalkers. If you want to use spy software just so you can stalk someone then you should stop. It is illegal, mean, and stupid.

Business Uses of Cell Phone Monitoring Software

Finally, there are some business uses for this technology. They include, but are not limited, to the following:

  • Ensure business use of the mobile phones for tax purposes
  • Reduce wasted time due to inappropriate use of the phones
  • Keep employees honest about activities and whereabouts
  • Promote a healthy workforce

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Can you think of any other legitimate reasons to monitor someone’s cell phone? If so, please feel free to leave it in the comments below so I can add it above.

Real Time GPS Tracking

When most people think of tracking someone they think of real time GPS tracking. They want to know exactly where a person or object is at any given moment of time. They want to sit at their computer and be able to follow the tracker’s movements on a Google Maps like interface. In essence, people want to be a little like God – knowing where someone is at any given moment in the day.

If you haven’t tried it, you should.

What follows is a look at some of the common questions people might have about real time GPS tracking. Its not a definitive list, its just a start.

What Is Real Time GPS Tracking?

Real time GPS tracking is the process where a device communicates its position over a wireless communication network to a 3rd party. This third party then makes the information available on the Internet for the user to access.

Essentially the device is a combination of a GPS and a cell phone. Once the GPS figures out where you are the cell part of the tracker sends that information to the tracking provider. The provider takes the raw data, puts it on a map, and then lets you look at the map online in a slick interface that often uses Google Maps.

Like I said before, if you haven’t tried it yet you should.

How Does Real Time GPS Tracking Work?

The process is called trilateration and it involves some math. Some fancy math at that. But what you need to know is that there are dozens of satellites in orbit around the wolrd right now put up there by the folks in the United States Airforce. These satellites put out a constant stream of low energy radio signals that have data encoded in them.

Your GPS tracking device receives these signals and is able to calculate how far it is away from each of the satellites it receives the message from. Once it has 4 of these distances calculated it can determine its location on the surface of the earth to within just a few meters.

Now that it has calculated its position it will now try and broadcast the information to the tracking provider. Some real time trackers use cell phone networks to do this transmission while others use communication satellites. Both have their place, but most tracking devices that work in real time are going to work off of a cell phone network.

Once this information is calculated and transmitted the tracking provider gives you access to the information through a website. Sometimes they will let you share the info in a widget on a personal blog or Facebook, or they might let you send secure text messages or emails with your location to a select group of people.

Can You Block A Real Time Tracker?

Yes. And blocking is actually much easier than you think. Let’s say that you think you are being tracked by someone against your will and in an illegal way. Perhaps an estranged ex-boyfriend is showing up in strange places. Definitely call the police and have them do a once over of your vehicle, but then go out and buy a GPS blocker. (Update 4/16/2012:  GPS jammers are illegal and should not be used.  After several events in recent years the US government has really began to crack down on GPS jammers since they pose a significant risk to public safety and  national infrastructure.  Consumers should not buy these devices unless they are approved by the FCC.  Any jammer in use should be retired and an alternative method to ensure location privacy should be employed since penalties for jammer use could exceed $100,000 and include jail time.)

This small device will scramble the incoming GPS signals so that they can’t get to the device. The tracker will be unable to tell where it is and the tracking will stop. These devices generally have to be plugged into your car and have an effective sphere of several yards. They are illegal in some places, so be sure to check to see if you are allowed to own and operate them in your car.

There are other ways to stop real time tracking that don’t involve owning a potentially illegal device. If the device is your cell phone then turn the phone completely off (and take out the battery if needed). This will prevent anyone from using your phone as a tracking device.

Types Of Real Time GPS Tracking:

There are a few different types of real time tracking. Here is a brief synopsis of each of them to give you an idea of what exactly they are.

Car tracking devices

Real time car tracking devices come in two main varieties: hardwired and stand alone. There are benefits to each of them, but in most applications a hardwired device is going to be the way that you want to go. Hardwired real time trackers benefit from getting their power from the vehicle itself, making nearly continuous, long term tracking a possibility.

This is incredibly important for tracking a teen driver, recovering a stolen vehicle, or improving fleet performance. Some hardwired trackers do require a professional installation or some familiarity with vehicle electronics. Others are so easy to install you can do it yourself. Just slide it into the OBD-II port and you are good to go.

Stand alone real time trackers will work just like the hardwired variety and have the same costs but will need to constantly have their battery recharged. Let’s use the popular stand alone tracker, the Zoombak, to get some sort of bearing on the difference between the two. According to the Zoombak website, the tracker can perform 150 locates (determining the device’s position via GPS and then transmitting that information over a wireless network to Zoombak) before the battery runs out. If you only do 1 locate every 3 minutes you only have 7.5 hours of constant, real time tracking with the Zoombak. You will need to recharge the device a lot if you want to use it for certain applications.

Don’t get me wrong, it will still work and may even work better in certain applications. You just want to make sure you know what you are getting into.

Cell phone tracking software

Did you know that cell phones are the most widely used real time GPS tracking devices in the world? Its true. It was on CNN:

Pretty much any cell phone can be located in real time just by being turned on. Not all cell phones can be located by YOU, but they can be located by your cell phone carrier who can then give that information to the police or some other government agency. Some cell phones have the capability to contact third parties if special software is installed on them.
It is this software than can turn a cell phone into a real time tracking device for normal people like you and me.

There are two types of software out there that let you track a phone in real time. The first is free GPS cell phone tracking software. Some of these free tracking programs are actually incredibly powerful and let you do tons of things with them. Most free trackers are designed to be used by willful participants and are not necessarily going to work as secret real time GPS trackers. Things like Google Latitude, InstaMapper’s GPS Tracker, and Lookout Mobile Security can give you pinpoint locations for the cell phone – they just all require account creation and are easily accessed from any smartphone.

Paid real time GPS tracking programs are also available, but these only should be purchased if you are trying to do something very specific that a free tracker will not allow you to do. One thing that a lot of paid services provide is cell phone monitoring in addition to the real time tracking. These services let you see incoming and outgoing calls, read text messages, and see Internet usage. These programs are extremely powerful and can be set up to run “silently” so the user of the phone doesn’t know that they are there.

Personal GPS trackers

Iceberg
Don't get trapped adventuring without a real time GPS tracking device!

Personal real time GPS tracking devices are generally about one thing – safety. If you can imagine a group or community that might benefit from having their position readily accessible by concerned loved ones then you can rest assured that there is probably already a tracking devices for that market. There are real time trackers for kids, for teenagers, for Alzheimer’s patients, and for outdoor adventurers– just to name a few.

None of these trackers can hold a candle to the sheer amount of data that they can collect when compared to a built in GPS tracker in a car, but in a pinch these devices can save a life. They suffer from short battery life since they try to be small and concealable. Some only have a real time battery life of a few hours. However, most of these devices are better when used on demand. You simply find there device when you actually want to.

The Future of Real Time GPS Tracking

Everyone is going to be using this technology in the future. If not for themselves then in some other way that benefits them. Governments are becoming increasingly aware that providing real time data on public transportation improves user’s experience. Companies are realizing that tracking data is fun and interactive. And privacy barriers are being increasingly eroded by childhoods saturated in Internet culture. The question that still remains for use to determine is how we will own this new technology and make it integral parts of our lives in the future. Real time GPS tracking is the future. Is that a future you are looking forward to?

How To Download Cell Phone Tracking Software

If you are thinking about putting cell phone tracking software on your phone you might have several questions before you get started. Probably the very first thing you want to know is which program you should download. There are several great places to find some lists of tracking apps. We recommend this one: Free GPS Cell Phone Tracking

If you follow the link you will find a long list of tracking applications that can be downloaded on many different types of smartphones. All the major brands are represented – iPhone, Android, BlackBerry, and Windows Mobile. If you don’t have a smart phone then you might want to take a look at some of the other tracking apps that we covered in our post about free GPS tracking applications and software. There is plenty there that can be used on many different types of cell phones.

What you will find in these links is free cell phone tracking software. There is a lot of paid software out there. These can cost you anywhere between $5 from your app store to $60 for full fledged cell phone spy software. Some of these are worth the money and then some. Others are not worth the crap the monkeys who coded the software evacuated from their bowels while mashing away at the keyboard. This might be because they are worthless programs or because you can do the same exact thing with free apps that cost you nothing (the unnecessary reiteration is intentional!). Choosing the right software for your needs is obviously important, so take your time in determining exactly what you need the cell phone tracking software for and educate yourself on what some of the different free options are going to be able to do for you. They are often extremely powerful and capable of doing exactly what you want without having to fork out any more cash.

Once you have picked your app then the next question is going to be how to download the cell phone tracking software. This really depends on what type of cell phone you have. Here is a breakdown of what you can expect for each type of phone:

How to Download Tracking Software To A Smartphone

Smartphones benefit from being better than other, normal cell phones. They are, after all, smart. Almost every major brand of cell phone has an app store that you can go to and download the software to your phone automatically. The best part is, once it is downloaded, all the installation is taken care of for you. You don’t need to know a ton of stuff to get it work. Just choose what you want, tell it to download, and you are done.

Here is an example from an Android cell phone. There are two main ways that you can download the ever popular InstaMapper cell phone tracking software. You can go to the Android market and then search for “GPS Tracker.” Then look for the result withe InstaMapper, LLC as the publisher. Click on install and you will download and install the app seamlessly.

If you have a QR code reader just scan this:

InstaMapper Cell Phone Tracking Software QR Code

It really is that easy to download software with a smart phone.

How to Download Tracking Software To A Regular Cell Phone

GPS tracking software becomes a little more difficult when you are not working with the easy, breezy smartphones. Don’t take my word for it. Here is what the folks at InstaMapper recommend for downloading their software when using one of the Motorola iDen phones that you can get on the cheap:

The easiest way to Install InstaMapper on your phone is by loading it over-the-air using this tool provided by Sprint:

http://144.230.114.35/adp1/FUN/index.jsp?output=100

The tool will ask you for a .zip file, which you can get here.

Then go to Menu -> Games & Apps -> Download Apps. Click on “New Purchases”. If you don’t see the app there, navigate to Menu -> My Info on your phone and hit “Edit”. If Line 1 is empty, enter your full phone number there (starting with the area code). Then try downloading the app again.

Alternatively, you can install the app from your PC using a regular USB cable and Motorola’s iDEN Java Application Loader (JAL) software. The latter can be downloaded directly from Motorola here (free registration required; click “join MotoDev” when they ask you for your login information). After JAL is installed, connect your phone to the PC with a USB cable, start JAL, and hit “Connect to phone”. Unzip InstaMapper tracking software to a folder on your PC, then hit “Download” and select “GPSTracker.jad” from that folder. Hit “Disconnect” when the transfer completes.

Now start the app you just downloaded — it will be under “Java Apps”, possibly on the second screen (hit “More”). The app is called “GPS Tracker” and has an icon that looks like a satellite. Enter the device id from your InstaMapper account. Click “Save”. The phone will ask for your permission to access the GPS chip. Say “yes”. When the status message changes from “Locating…” to “Tracking…” your should be able to see the location of your phone on InstaMapper.

Note: the app will pop into foreground during the first few days of operation (the intention here is to discourage covert tracking). Unfortunately, on Motorola phones a notification sound is played whenever an application requests to be run in the foreground. We recommend leaving the app in the foreground during the first few days that it’s running, or muting notification sounds in the phone’s settings.

This is certainly doable, but it does break down significantly for someone who really is not too certain what they are doing.

Special Note On “Cell Phone Spy” Software

Unfortunately, the experience users have to go through to install cell phone spy software is a lot like installing something on a regular cell phone. This is because a lot of the publishers out there for this type of software don’t go through app stores and just sell them directly to customers. This makes these things notoriously difficult to install and get running. To me, this is their greatest failing. How can you use this type of spy software if you can’t even get it loaded on a phone?

If you are going to go this route I would urge extreme caution. Only buy something with a solid money back guarantee so you can recoup your money if you can’t get it installed correctly or if your phone isn’t supported.

How To Download Cell Phone Tracking Software

If you are trying to download and install mobile phone tracking software then you should hope that you have a smartphone. 🙂 In reality, it is very easy to download most trackers to your cell – even if you just have a regular old phone. If all else fails, follow the instructions on the website for the software you are trying to download.

7 Reasons To Begin Tracking Cell Phones Today

By now, we all know that cell phones that have GPS enabled can also be used as tracking devices.  The nature of cell phone networks, but especially the 3G and 4G networks that are now everywhere available, make it possible that almost every single cell phone that is currently being used can be tracked to a pretty precise location.  However, many phones that could utilize this tracking for cell phones don’t. Is there good reason to begin tracking cell phones?  Is this small percentage of adopters a sign that there are no legitimate uses for cell phone tracking?  Here are just a few reasons why more people should begin using this powerful technology:

1. You’re A Fitness Nut

Those that love to use fitness GPS know just how useful these devices can be in helping them stay on track with their workouts and improve their overall performance.  The only problem with these dedicated fitness GPS is that they can be pretty expensive to purchase.  As an example, a Garmin Forerunner 405, is going to cost you well over $200.  Even with the heart rate monitor which greatly increases the information that you can gather with this device, this is pretty expensive for something that you only use when working out.  There has to be a cheaper solution than that.

As it would turn out, there is a cheaper solution.  You can leverage the GPS that is already in your cell phone and turn it into your fitness tracking device.  There are both paid software packages that can do this as well as free ones.  As you might expect, the paid software generally provides a much more robust user experience and has a lot of bells and whistles for you to enjoy.  One example of this type of software is AllSport GPS by Trimble.  In some instances you are  going to have to pay a one time fee while at other times you are going to need to pay a monthly subscription.  Wherever possible and whenever it makes financial sense, go with the one-time fee over the monthly subscription.

Free software, on the other hand,  is going to cost you nothing to use and to install but it is going to “cost” you in terms of features and ease of use.  Many free tracking applications are general purpose and not necessarily designed for fitness tracking.  This makes it a little more difficult to use it in this fashion, but it is certainly doable.

2.  You Suspect A Spouse of Cheating

GPS tracking shouldn't be necessary for married couples, but sometimes it is because cheaters like to lie - they must be found out
GPS tracking shouldn't be necessary for married couples, but sometimes it is because cheaters like to lie - they must be found out.

If you suspect your spouse of cheating then you might want to begin tracking them using GPS.  The reason that using a cell phone to do it is such a good idea is that cell phone generally go with a person wherever they go.  If they are going to a hotel to meet their fellow cheater then you can pretty much assume that they are going to be bringing their cell phone with them.  This makes being able to track their cell phone very powerful and very useful.

But there is one word of caution here, it is generally fairly difficult to install GPS tracking software on your spouses phone without them knowing it or being able to figure it out.  If they are savvy they might notice that there battery is loosing charge faster than normal, or that some of their other activities – like browsing the internet while doing a few other tasks underneath the surface – are going slower than normal.  If they then look at all the running applications on their phone they might notice something is amiss.

Tracking your spouse with GPS through their cell phone is certainly not the easiest thing in the world, but if you can’t afford a standalone tracker then you will find that the cell phone works just as well as these other devices.  You might have to expose your tracking to more risk of discovery, but getting to the bottom of it is worth the risk if money is tight.

3.  Monitor A Teen Driver

Teens take their cell phones everywhere, so when you install GPS tracking software on their phone you will be able to track them wherever they go – even while driving.  The ability to do this is especially important given the fact that teens tend to drive rather dangerously when they are alone or when they have friends with them in the car.  Being able to monitor and regulate your teenager’s driving is a primary concern for many parents who do not want their child to be a statistic for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration  to compile.

There are plenty of ways to help drive better, with one of the most effective being a robust GPS tracking system that encourages and rewards safe driving practices.  For more information on how to make this a reality for your teen please see the following articles:

4. Make Your Own GPS Art

While you may not create a piece like the Mona Lisa, GPS can still be used to create art.
While you may not create a piece like the Mona Lisa, GPS can still be used to create art.

Like it or not, GPS tracking art is a real phenomena.  Many locative artists mainly use portable GPS tracking devices, but there really is not reason that they could not use cell phone GPS tracking for their work.  All they would need to do is get a program that let them track the position of their phone and they would be set.  The tracking would not have to go on in real time so the artists would not need to be constrained by receiving a cell phone signal to do the tracking.  All they would need is the ability to receive GPS satellite signals.

This would mean that the cell phone could be used in all sorts of locations.  Rugged mountain regions, desolate tundras, barren deserts, or lush jungles – as long as you could receive data from 3 satellites in the constellation of GPS satellites then you are good to go.

5. Share Your Location With Friends and Family

It is pretty obvious that cell phones help you stay in better contact with friends and family.  Just being able to call someone from wherever you are at is a great way to stay in better contact, but when you add to that things like internet browsing (for Facebook and other social media use) you begin to get a very powerful social device. Since this idea is already well ingrained in the minds of users, once GPS came around there were many people who saw that this could be just one more way that these practical devices could be used to connect user to their friends. Thus social cell phone tracking software was born.

There are several free tracking systems available for use made by third parties as well some that are made by cell phone providers themselves. Find the social tracking application the best fits your needs and is going to get you in contact with the largest number of your friends.

6. Help You Find A Lost Cell Phone

We have already written extensively on how one might use GPS to find a lost cell phone, so we won’t go into too much detail here. But suffice it to say that this is a very real and powerful method for users to stay in contact with their cell phone – wherever it is. There are a lot of different options available to you depending on which type of cell phone you own and what current features you already subscribe too. For example, MobileMe for the iPhone already has a built in lost cell phone finding feature. There are also some free gps cell phone tracking programs that you can use as a lost cell phone finder as well.

7. Create An Accurate Theft Recovery Device

Speaking of a cell phone’s ability to track down a lost cell phone, MobileMe, and the iPhone, cell phones also work great as GPS theft recovery devices. There are several documented cases where stolen cell phones were used by police to track down the perpetrators of the crime and bring them to justice. All it takes is installing a little extra software on your phone and it suddenly turns into a powerful theft recovery device capable of reuniting you with your stuff when the information is given to the right people (the police or your mob friends 🙂 ).

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As you can clearly see, there are many different reasons to use GPS tracking for cell phones.  What I find most interesting about them is that they are not all mutually exclusive.  In fact, one type of cell phone tracking is often compatible with other types of tracking as well making cell phones even more useful and cost effective purchases.  Why buy expensive, stand alone GPS tracking device when you can use a cell phone at a fraction of the price and for much more than one device could ever accomplish?

The Cell Phone Tracking Software That Keeps On Taking

Just a few weeks ago the blogosphere was in an uproar about some cell phone tracking software that came pre-installed on the Palm Pre that conveniently sent your location information to Palm HQ.  At the time many saw this as a gross invasion of privacy, especially since Palm did not really make it clear to users that this type of activity was going on.  They hid it in the privacy policy, expecting users to actually read these things instead of just accepting them so they can get on with using their new toy.

But, according to some interesting patent information recently uncovered, the folks at Palm want to use your location information for a lot more than just helping you use Google Maps.  They want to use it to sell you stuff.

Here is the actual language in their patent, taken from the very first line under the claims heading (emphasis mine):

1. A mobile device, comprising: a processor; and a memory coupled to the processor and configured to store user-specific data; wherein the processor is configured to access data indicating a position of the mobile device and provide advertisement data based upon the position of the mobile device and the user-specific data.

To cut through all the patent speak used in this … patent, let’s sum up what they said in the following manner.  Palm wants to use your position and information specific to you in order to display laser targeted ads to you on your mobile phone.  This then raises the question, What user specific information do they want to use?  And how are they going to go about getting this information?

Well, as one might expect, there is more of this information in the patent.  The next 5 entries in the patent read as follows (emphasis mine):

2. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the user-specific data includes data associated with at least one of a date stored in the memory and data provided by an address book of the mobile device.

3. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to provide the advertisement data further based on a prospective position [presumably from the date book] of the mobile device.

4. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to provide the advertisement data further based on a historical record of the mobile device, the historical record including a record of at least one of a historical rate of travel of the mobile device and a historical position of the mobile device.

5. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to access a rate of travel of the mobile device and provide the advertisement data further based on the rate of travel of the mobile device.

6. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to provide the advertisement data further based on a likely mode of transportation of a user of the mobile device.

The Palm-Pre: The Heart of The GPS Tracking ControversyNow if we let ourselves think about this, we can see that this is some pretty scary stuff.  Palm just wants to use GPS cell phone tracking to make a buck or two, but they are doing so at the expense of your privacy – and that is just wrong!

There are a couple points that are particularly disturbing, and remind me a lot about the decision made by the New York State Court of Appeals that ruled a warrant was needed to use GPS tracking on a suspect.  What you will find next is an edited excerpt from the courts majority opinion expressing their deep concern about warrantless GPS tracking:

One need only consider what [companies like Palm] may learn, practically effortlessly, from planting a single device [to track your cell phone with their advertisement driven cell phone tracking software] . The whole of a person’s progress through the world, into both public and private spatial spheres, can be charted and recorded over lengthy periods …. Disclosed in the data retrieved from the transmitting unit, nearly instantaneously with the press of a button on the highly portable receiving unit, will be trips the indisputably private nature of which takes little imagination to conjure: trips to the psychiatrist, the plastic surgeon, the abortion clinic, the AIDS treatment center, the strip club, the criminal defense attorney, the by-the-hour motel, the union meeting, the mosque, synagogue or church, the gay bar and on and on. What the technology yields and records …  is a highly detailed profile … of where we go,  … of our associations — political, religious, amicable and amorous, to name only a few — and of the pattern of our professional and avocational pursuits. When multiple GPS devices [or cell phones with webOS running] are utilized, even more precisely resolved inferences about our activities are possible. And … it will be possible to tell  … who we are and are not with, when we are and are not with them, and what we do and do not carry on our persons — to mention just a few of the highly feasible empirical configurations.

Big Brother Company GPS Tracking

Again, this is talking about the police tracking a suspect with GPS, but it also correlates rather nicely with the activity of Palm in this instance.  Do you really want Palm delivering ads on your phone based upon your current destination or one of your previous locations?  Is that really going to make your life better?

For example, let’s say that you have been having some bowel problems lately and have been going to get a colonic regularly as part of the treatment.  Once you have made a recovery are you going to want to have ads displayed on your cell phone for a colonic every time you drive in the general vicinity of the clinic?

Or what if you made an appointment to get a massage at a local massage parlor.  You have never gotten a message before and this place was close to your home when you looked on Google Maps.  You add it to your mobile phone’s address book.  When it comes time for you appointment you head on over to the massage parlor and you enter it and there are tons of scantily clad Vietnamese women walking around the waiting room.  You get this sick feeling that this might not be your sort of massage parlor and you leave.

Well, if you were using a cell phone that didn’t feel a need to invade your privacy and track your position with GPS then this embarrassing experience would be over.  However, it seems possible with the vision expressed in the patent application submitted by Palm that you would be reminded of that fateful day with advertisements as you head in that general direction.  Yuck.

Then there is the issue of what Palm could do when they start correlating different pieces of data between cell phone users.  Let’s say that you are a generally very respectable, moral person who attends an event that draws people from a bunch of different backgrounds.  It could be a church service, or a PTA meeting, or even just a mom event at a park.  Now let’s say that another person who attends these events does not necessarily hold the same value system that you do – they could drink, or smoke, or go to clubs, or do something else that you don’t necessary disapprove of, but certainly don’t want to do yourself.  Now, would you want Palm to suppose that because you meet with this person you also must like doing what they do and therefore display ads for these activities on your cell phone?

While this last scenario isn’t necessarily in the patent information, it sure seems possible – and that possibility is scary.  What business does Palm have knowing this type of information about us and serving advertisements on our cell phones?  I think that this is pretty bad and should be stopped.

Now I need to make it clear that I don’t think GPS tracking is bad in and of itself.  I think that it can be a great way for a  business to improve efficiencies by tracking their fleets.  Fleets that utilize GPS for the purpose of driver routing and maintenance have been able to realize huge cost savings and increase the overall output of their fleets.  This is a great way for businesses to utilize GPS tracking, whether by cell phones or by traditional GPS tracking devices, and to benefit their companies bottom line.

But a business should never invade their users privacy so that they can better target them with advertising – that is just lame.

Another perfectly viable use of GPS tracking in my opinion is the use of this technology by the police to catch criminals. While some may think it odd that I think that the police can track a suspect without the use of a warrant in light of my disgust with Palm for invading their users privacy, I don’t see a contradiction. The police are trying to uphold justice – catch murders, stalkers, rapists, thieves, etc – while Palm is just trying to make an extra buck. Which aim do you think is a little more noble?

Another perfectly legitimate use is to track family members, such as your child, teenager, or spouse. I think that this is entirely in line with the dynamics of a family and the way that it ought to work, as long as GPS is used as a supplement to good parenting techniques and with open communication between spouses. It should never be used as a replacement for these things, and if it is it is being used poorly.

GPS tracking is also great in fitness applications.  GPS running watches are just one of the many different ways that tracking technology has been appropriated for use in fitness.  These devices are powerful training computers that fit easily on your wrist and work, look, and feel like a regular watch that has all the power of GPS infused within it.  When paired with a heart rate monitor there are few things that can compare to the power of a GPS tracking watch.

Finally, GPS tracking is also a great way for people to stay connected with friends and family.  The cheapest alternative out there is certainly the cell phone, and this is why it is so tragic that Palm is turning GPS enabled phones into privacy invading devices.  All that you needed to do to make your phone into a GPS tracking cell phone was download some free GPS software and you were already well on your way to having an easy to use tracking system for your family or friends to use to find you.  Now that Palm is invading your privacy many people might be more wary of pursuing this route, and that is unfortunate in my opinion.

While there is little doubt that GPS tracking is always going to have a commercial aspect to it, it is sad that the desire to make money off of position data has led some companies *cough*Palm*cough* to disregard their user’s privacy and use their information without communicating it to them in a useful way.  I hope that other cell phone companies and GPS tracking providers are watching this debacle and learning the lessons the easy way: don’t steal users GPS location information for advertising – make sure they opt in to it themselves!

Related Information:

Palm’s Patent Application

Beware of Unwanted Cell Phone Tracking Software

The Internet is abuzz with the latest news that some GPS-enabled cell phones are automatically sending information like your GPS coordinates to third parties, often without notifying you of this activity.  The first to fall into this PR fiasco was the Palm Pre, which had their continuous and constant GPS tracking discovered by Joey Hess.  While the allegations that this cell phone tracking software actually is constant and continuous has not been officially confirmed or denied by Palm or major news outlets, there is a pretty damning statement released by Palm that seems to indicate that Mr. Hess finding are gospel truth:

Palm takes privacy very seriously, and offers users ways to turn data collecting services on and off. Our privacy policy is like many policies in the industry and includes very detailed language about potential scenarios in which we might use a customer’s information, all toward a goal of offering a great user experience. For instance, when location based services are used, we collect their information to give them relevant local results in Google Maps. We appreciate the trust that users give us with their information, and have no intention to violate that trust.

To me, this is a muddy statement that admits to the use of GPS cell phone tracking software to gather information on a users location.  While Palm is claiming that they would never do anything bad with this information, there is little doubt that a lot of bad can be done.

Palm Pre Cell Phone Tracking SoftwareAnother key issue with the Palm Pre debacle is that they did a piss poor job of informing users about the tracking going on behind the scenes.  Sure, they probably included it in their privacy policy – but let’s be honest here, no one, and I mean no one reads a privacy policy these days.  They are long.  They are boring.  And we generally have a hard time sifting through the legalese to find the real information that we want to know. One blogger pointed out that the responsible thing for Palm to have done in regards to their GPS cell phone tracking would have been to have forced users to opt in to the “feature” rather than turning it on automatically. That seems pretty sensible to me, but for whatever reason the folks at Palm decided otherwise.

The second brouhaha currently fomenting on the Internets is that some of the GPS cell phone tracking software for the iPhone sends your position information to third parties whenever you use certain apps. According to one developer friendly to hacking the iPhone (so they cannot be implicitly trusted) there is one mobile phone analytics package that is particularly “spyware-esque.” The name of the spyware-esque mobile phone analytics is Pinch Media and they provide support for several different iPhone apps.

What is reported as going on is that these applications using Pinch Media track the following information:

  • Your iPhone’s unique ID – which can link you directly to any activity that the phone engages in
  • iPhone model
  • OS version
  • Application version (in this case, camera zoom 1.x)
  • If the application is cracked/pirated
  • If your iPhone is jailbroken
  • Time and date you start the application
  • Time and date you close the application
  • Your current latitude & longitude
  • Your gender (if Facebook enabled)
  • Your birth month (if Facebook enabled)
  • Your birth year (if Facebook enabled)

That is a lot of data for a third party to have about you and your iPhone use.  While the iPhone does manually require that you opt in to all location monitoring applications, they do not necessarily require that developers disclose the exact bits of information being tracked or where they are being sent off to.

There is a text document that is terribly hard to read that offers some more information about different apps that are the worst privacy offenders.  It can be found here: http://textbin.com/y6223

Automatic Cell Phone Tracking Software and Privacy

The privacy implications of these actions by corporations is huge.  All steps down the road to tyranny begin with but a single step, and this is not good news for our children 50-75 years from now.  Once corporations and government agencies begin gathering this type of information on us it is going to be a short road to some form of oppressive regime.  If they aren’t trying to control us with fear, they will be trying to do it with pleasure – and the only solution that I can see is to make hard stands now as consumers.

While we are huge proponents of the massive benefit that can be derived from GPS tracking, we also feel like that this information should not be used for marketing or other purposes.  Placing a financial incentive on a person’s location information is only going to degrade a human brother into an object sought after for their capital and not as a person with thoughts, feelings and emotions.

We are huge fans of free GPS cell phone tracking software, thinking that it can help parents stay connected to their children, provide an awesome safety net for people of all ages, improve our fitness levels through fitness tracking programs, and even help us stay connected to our friends.  In time we hope to see GPS make commuting and all driving more efficient and “earth friendly,” end abduction and other forms of personal assault, and help keep the criminal element at bay.

Unfortunately, privacy concerns like the ones raised against Palm Pre and the iPhone will prevent ground being taken toward these ends.  While the cell phone tracking software could be utilized for great good for a great number of people, I fear that it will probably only be used to make the rich richer and the poor poorer.  That is not the future for GPS tracking that I would want, but it seems to be the future that just might be.