[JohnKobeck]

I was watching a fascinating Youtube video regarding privacy and how Google tracks everyone with a smartphone, even in airplane mode! I will post the link below. Basically the person in the video demonstrated exactly what our smart phones transmit back to google minute by minute, our whereabouts, in real time, in very specific details. Very frightening. That got me thinking, would a phone running on BB 10 do the same thing? I assume the BB Android phones would, but Im not sure about a Classic. Here is the video:

[Invictus0]

The only Google example in the video seems to be about location data, out of the box no Google services are installed or used by BB10 so I assume the answer is no unless you install the Play store, apps that use Google services, or use Google sites through the browser.

The same would likely apply for Amazon, BlackBerry, etc.

[Troy Tiscareno]

In the example in the video, you are simply seeing services working exactly as designed and intended - as well as a serious misunderstanding of what Airplane Mode does.

Airplane Mode turns off all radio TRANSMITTERS, because airlines require this during take off and landing (at the very least). IP networking requires 2-way communication, as do legacy digital cellular connections, so in Airplane Mode, they stop working.

GPS is a receive-only technology, just like FM radio - and both will work just fine when the phone is in Airplane Mode because the necessary signals are already in the atmosphere.

If you have Location Services set to On, and you lose Internet data for whatever reason (including the phone being in Airplane Mode), the phone continues to log GPS data and will upload it to your account the next time you have a data connection. This isn't nefarious, and it works this way on any device.

If you don't want to be tracked, the thing to turn off is Location Services (duh). Turn that off and the only people tracking you are your carrier (and they DO track you whenever your phone is turned on). But Google or Apple or Microsoft or BlackBerry will not have tracking data during that time.

This is what happens when non-tech people try to write a tech article...

[Dunt Dunt Dunt]

In the example in the video, you are simply seeing services working exactly as designed and intended - as well as a serious misunderstanding of what Airplane Mode does.

Airplane Mode turns off all radio TRANSMITTERS, because airlines require this during take off and landing (at the very least). IP networking requires 2-way communication, as do legacy digital cellular connections, so in Airplane Mode, they stop working.

GPS is a receive-only technology, just like FM radio - and both will work just fine when the phone is in Airplane Mode because the necessary signals are already in the atmosphere.

If you have Location Services set to On, and you lose Internet data for whatever reason (including the phone being in Airplane Mode), the phone continues to log GPS data and will upload it to your account the next time you have a data connection. This isn't nefarious, and it works this way on any device.

If you don't want to be tracked, the thing to turn off is Location Services (duh). Turn that off and the only people tracking you are your carrier (and they DO track you whenever your phone is turned on). But Google or Apple or Microsoft or BlackBerry will not have tracking data during that time.

This is what happens when non-tech people try to write a tech article...

And when it's their intent to cause fear... and hits to their site.

It's no longer about journalism, but about clicks....

[JohnKobeck]

I actually know someone who works in technology for a pretty big IT form and he carries an old school Nokia flip phone ( to avoid unauthorized surveillance)

[Troy Tiscareno]

And his carrier still knows exactly where that phone is at all times (that it's turned on, anyway).

[Kryngle]

In the example in the video, you are simply seeing services working exactly as designed and intended - as well as a serious misunderstanding of what Airplane Mode does.

Airplane Mode turns off all radio TRANSMITTERS, because airlines require this during take off and landing (at the very least). IP networking requires 2-way communication, as do legacy digital cellular connections, so in Airplane Mode, they stop working.

GPS is a receive-only technology, just like FM radio - and both will work just fine when the phone is in Airplane Mode because the necessary signals are already in the atmosphere.

If you have Location Services set to On, and you lose Internet data for whatever reason (including the phone being in Airplane Mode), the phone continues to log GPS data and will upload it to your account the next time you have a data connection. This isn't nefarious, and it works this way on any device.

If you don't want to be tracked, the thing to turn off is Location Services (duh). Turn that off and the only people tracking you are your carrier (and they DO track you whenever your phone is turned on). But Google or Apple or Microsoft or BlackBerry will not have tracking data during that time.

This is what happens when non-tech people try to write a tech article...

I literally just learned something today. Thanks.

Posted via CB10

[markmall]

What if we use Gmail in the Hub? Probably it only can read our emails.

But what if we use Blackbullet and sign in using our Gmail account?

The built-in Amazon apps bug me the most. I think Chen sold our privacy to Amazon in the waning days of his halfway BB10 effort.

Posted via CB10

[Zidentia]

If you truly want to eliminate tracking there are ways but they are not suitable for most people. There are CDMA anonymous phones that you have to build that use spoofing software. It let's you on the network and it works reasonably well with some caveats.
1) calls get dropped when you move from tower to tower because the server detects you and boots you off.
2) calls get dropped due to the software not being able to transfer connections every time.
If you are in one spot it works well.

The bigger issue is CDMA is being phased out for many reasons, this being one of them

There are LTE versions but the servers catch on much faster especially if you use an older spoofing software. It is not as reliable as the CDMA version but you can work with it.
1) the biggest issue is the LTE and how it moves the calls.

The best and worst solution is WiFi calling. It is available on many carriers but they track you. There is a self built version you can use and there is literally no issue with dropping connection and the sound quality is better than cell.

1) the problem is WiFi availability and the movement from one WiFi network to another.

I am by no means encouraging any illegal behavior so take this message as informational only.


Posted via CB10

[Leyra B10]

Yea, tracking scripts for their search engine are all over the place. Websites that want more visitors are likely to include them. The ip address, platform and user agent can trigger the scripts. It's all automated and mainly for advertising and viewing who(you) visited the site. Not something I really worry about though.

The only thing that gives google their power are the people who use it.

Posted via CB10

[Leyra B10]

What if we use Gmail in the Hub? Probably it only can read our emails.

But what if we use Blackbullet and sign in using our Gmail account?

The built-in Amazon apps bug me the most. I think Chen sold our privacy to Amazon in the waning days of his halfway BB10 effort.

Posted via CB10

You would need to use an alias for any electronic trace your device has. VPN, tor, and proxies. So you communicate with a middleman who in turn does what you need for you. Or a smart encryption maybe a trail of breadcrumbs. Placeholders and shadows pretty hard to catch coming from a level that you don't need to be aware of.

Posted via CB10

[JohnKobeck]

While on the topic of privacy: I was recently reading a very interesting thread (I can't locate the forum but I will try) which discussed how google eavesdrops on users via the the iphone microphone for the purpose of targeted advertising. Not phone calls, but actual conversations within range of the mic, about random things like sneakers, or cars or whatever . Then when the phones are turned back on and these users connect to the web, they see these targeted ads that appear based upon how many times the keywords were picked up about a certain product. Sounds pretty fantastic.

[markmall]

I think I've seen this sort of thing before.

Posted via CB10

[Troy Tiscareno]

While on the topic of privacy: I was recently reading a very interesting thread (I can't locate the forum but I will try) which discussed how google eavesdrops on users via the the iphone microphone for the purpose of targeted advertising. Not phone calls, but actual conversations within range of the mic, about random things like sneakers, or cars or whatever . Then when the phones are turned back on and these users connect to the web, they see these targeted ads that appear based upon how many times the keywords were picked up about a certain product. Sounds pretty fantastic.

It's sounds pretty BS, actually. Google actually logs every single thing their servers "hear" and you can go into your Google account and read that - it's part of the Google Assistant.

Now, it may be possible to install and configure certain voice functions to activate the browser and thus "track" what you say - but that's not a stock configuration. If it was, it would be front-page news. But, again, many non-techie people write such alarmist articles in order to get advertising clicks (oh, the irony) on their site, and many people fall for such "fake news" that may technically be true (IF you manually configure things a certain way which few will ever do) but in reality affects almost no one.

[Dunt Dunt Dunt]

It's sounds pretty BS, actually. Google actually logs every single thing their servers "hear" and you can go into your Google account and read that - it's part of the Google Assistant.

Now, it may be possible to install and configure certain voice functions to activate the browser and thus "track" what you say - but that's not a stock configuration. If it was, it would be front-page news. But, again, many non-techie people write such alarmist articles in order to get advertising clicks (oh, the irony) on their site, and many people fall for such "fake news" that may technically be true (IF you manually configure things a certain way which few will ever do) but in reality affects almost no one.

If BlackBerry had sold their own brand of tin foil they would have solved all their problems...

[Mojarch]

In the example in the video, you are simply seeing services working exactly as designed and intended - as well as a serious misunderstanding of what Airplane Mode does.

Airplane Mode turns off all radio TRANSMITTERS, because airlines require this during take off and landing (at the very least). IP networking requires 2-way communication, as do legacy digital cellular connections, so in Airplane Mode, they stop working.

GPS is a receive-only technology, just like FM radio - and both will work just fine when the phone is in Airplane Mode because the necessary signals are already in the atmosphere.

If you have Location Services set to On, and you lose Internet data for whatever reason (including the phone being in Airplane Mode), the phone continues to log GPS data and will upload it to your account the next time you have a data connection. This isn't nefarious, and it works this way on any device.

If you don't want to be tracked, the thing to turn off is Location Services (duh). Turn that off and the only people tracking you are your carrier (and they DO track you whenever your phone is turned on). But Google or Apple or Microsoft or BlackBerry will not have tracking data during that time.

This is what happens when non-tech people try to write a tech article...

Completely agree with you!
I saw a video someone mentioned the wireless charging pad (the one which is connected to phone battery) as some sort of SPY device! And I just couldn't stop laughing out loud on the video as this one was exactly the same!

Send by my lovely passport silver edition

[Mojarch]

And his carrier still knows exactly where that phone is at all times (that it's turned on, anyway).

Not exactly! They only know the phone is connected to which cell. And that means he is in a circle area with diameter of 8KM!

Send by my lovely passport silver edition

[Dunt Dunt Dunt]

Not exactly! They only know the phone is connected to which cell. And that means he is in a circle area with diameter of 8KM!

Send by my lovely passport silver edition

If the phone only pings one tower... maybe in a rural area.

If it's in range of at least three towers (more developed areas) I think it's more like 5M.

And newer phones can even report your elevation, so if your in a multilevel building they can figure out what floor your own.