Three providing location details to CSO

[Bocking14]

On Monday's RTE Radio 1 Ray D'Arcy show there was a discussion about Three passing on aggregated and anonymised movement data to the CSO for their 'Staying Local Indicator'.

I was surprised to hear this and have a problem with it on a point of principle.

Is it possible to stopping Three collecting this data by turning off location services?

And no I've nothing to hide.

 

[skrooge]

Every time your phone uses mobile data or a call is made it interacts with the network. Your provider will use the relative strength of the signal between your phone and it's cell towers to triangulate your position. In this case I presume Three ran a query to count the number cell tower connections over a period of time and worked out which combination of connections would imply movement above a certain distance.

Turning off location settings will stop apps on your phone from working out where you are but fundamentally the network operator is different. It's the connection which provides your service.

To avoid three knowing where you are you basically need to be in airplane mode or off for the whole time. I.e., stop the phone and network communicating with each other.

Aggregated and anonymised data are used across the board.

 

[EasilyAmused]

To avoid three knowing where you are you basically need to be in airplane mode or off for the whole time. I.e., stop the phone and network communicating with each other.

I don’t think turning off the phone will prevent it from being traced.
Remember that murder case in East Cork around 2004/2005 when a teenage boy murdered the boy next door and burned the body near a local beach?
The reports at the time said he’d turned his phone off so as not to be traced, but as he’d brought it with him the Gardai were still able to triangulate the murder’s movements and locate the body.

I remember a lot of people commenting about this at the time. That the phone could still be traced while it is turned off.

If you don’t want your movements traced, leave your phone at home.

 

[NoRegretsCoyote]

I remember a lot of people commenting about this at the time. That the phone could still be traced while it is turned off.

If you don’t want your movements traced, leave your phone at home.

That was pre-smartphone though. Airplane mode on a smartphone may be more effective at stopping communication with cell towers. I'll bow to expertise on this though.

 

[EasilyAmused]

Aye, pre-smartphone. But if anything location services are more advanced.
I’ve a three year old iPhone whose battery is barely limping along. I recharge fully three or four times a day.
But when the battery goes completely flat, and the screen goes black, it’ll still have enough in reserve for the alarm to sound.