GPS, a 911 call, and cell phone

[outlawbusa]

Something interesting happened last night. I saw a car parked in the driveway looking at a sign for a few minutes. I have a fairly long driveway and they were about 150 feet off the main road.

I cut the front light on (wasn't dressed at the time) and figured they would pull on out and leave. I then threw some jeans on (didn't want to scare them that bad), and walked out to see what was going on.

They seemed to be legit coyote hunters looking for a place to find a few (around midnight). They were debating if they should keep going up the road or not due to trespassing issues. Anyway, they were ok and I talked with them for a few minutes and came back inside.

While I was outside speaking with them my wife called the cops to come check on things (I should have taken my phone out and let her know everything was ok) because it was pitch black and people are usually pretty well armed around here.

The interesting part of this story is this...once I walked back inside the house my wife was telling me that the 911 call initiated an emergency GPS function on my phone.

My guess is since the call was from a cell phone on a suspicious vehicle, the dispatch unit now has the capability to track your phone to see exactly where you are at for safety sake, and so they know who you are...

Thought this was interesting...

Another thought...wonder how hard it would be to track someone this way who is breaking the speed limit~?~

 

[Goatkart]

function has been on phones for many years...

normally they have three settings changable in your cell phone menu

on always, on "on emergency call" or always off...

i set mine to emergency call, and many cell manufacturers are starting to default to this setting rather than always on...


that said, an ON cell phone, is ALWAYS trackable...

just usually not by local PD...

the feature your wife discovered is advanced 911 function(gps cell location traceback), which still many 911 switchboards dont have...

but since cell phone 911 functions different than hard line, they needed a way to see where calls were coming from..

 

[ogre]

don't give em ideas. i know you can set phones up so you can track your kids.

 

[chrisjp]

evil lurks lol

 

[Dozerdriver]

They are watching us anyways... just another way to do it.

 

[dadofthree]

 

[ibified]

Oddly enough though, phone companies are usually not very willing to share your information with law enforcement. I've seen before where the police have had to get a court order to access a person's phone records.

 

[Goatkart]

Oddly enough though, phone companies are usually not very willing to share your information with law enforcement. I've seen before where the police have had to get a court order to access a person's phone records.

very very true.... most private companies actually will require a subpoena(sp?) to access any private information about clients...

the possibilities of law suits if they just give it to police willy nilly are far to great....

by requiring supoena's(sp?) they are protected by being able to show it was court ordered to hand over the information..


however, disclosing your location due to an emergency call doesnt violate any of these....

either your making an emergency call and need assistance, so knowing where your at is a good thing.... or your making a fraudulent call, which is against the law, so knowing where your at is also a good thing


just .02

 

[Strife]

I recall someone here posting about a Cellphone company being accused of disclosure of gps info of their clients for various reasons. Not just 911 stuff.

 

[outlawbusa]

Well, I learned today about the new "chip" that is placed in the new licenses. A GPS tracker down to the last 3 feet. Again, I wonder how long it will take to start receiving something wondering why you are here or why you were doing faster than the posted speed limit...etc, etc

 

[Fernman]

look up flexispy it is a program that can get downloaded on most cellphones. very sneaky stuff. lots of companies are using this type of crap so keep the music up!

 

[Dino]

Sound like your pop needs a dirt bike.