this post was submitted on 28 Mar 2024
39 points (100.0% liked)

Android

17681 readers
49 users here now

The new home of /r/Android on Lemmy and the Fediverse!

Android news, reviews, tips, and discussions about rooting, tutorials, and apps.

🔗Universal Link: !android@lemdro.id


💡Content Philosophy:

Content which benefits the community (news, rumours, and discussions) is generally allowed and is valued over content which benefits only the individual (technical questions, help buying/selling, rants, self-promotion, etc.) which will be removed if it's in violation of the rules.


Support, technical, or app related questions belong in: !askandroid@lemdro.id

For fresh communities, lemmy apps, and instance updates: !lemdroid@lemdro.id

💬Matrix Chat

💬Telegram channels / chats

📰Our communities below


Rules

  1. Stay on topic: All posts should be related to the Android OS or ecosystem.

  2. No support questions, recommendation requests, rants, or bug reports: Posts must benefit the community rather than the individual. Please post to !askandroid@lemdro.id.

  3. Describe images/videos, no memes: Please include a text description when sharing images or videos. Post memes to !androidmemes@lemdro.id.

  4. No self-promotion spam: Active community members can post their apps if they answer any questions in the comments. Please do not post links to your own website, YouTube, blog content, or communities.

  5. No reposts or rehosted content: Share only the original source of an article, unless it's not available in English or requires logging in (like Twitter). Avoid reposting the same topic from other sources.

  6. No editorializing titles: You can add the author or website's name if helpful, but keep article titles unchanged.

  7. No piracy or unverified APKs: Do not share links or direct people to pirated content or unverified APKs, which may contain malicious code.

  8. No unauthorized polls, bots, or giveaways: Do not create polls, use bots, or organize giveaways without first contacting mods for approval.

  9. No offensive or low-effort content: Don't post offensive or unhelpful content. Keep it civil and friendly!

  10. No affiliate links: Posting affiliate links is not allowed.

Quick Links

Our Communities

Lemmy App List

Chat and More


founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
top 11 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] shortwavesurfer@monero.town 35 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

This is disingenuous as to be connected to a cellular network means that you can be found, especially with the cell tower grid getting tighter and tighter due to higher and higher frequencies.

Edit: This definitely helps, but thinking it will stop the carrier from getting your location is not accurate. Your phone has a very weak radio transmitter and therefore only very nearby towers will be able to hear it and respond to it. The higher the radio frequency, the closer these towers must be to you in order to hear your phone. So the carrier can easily triangulate which three towers can hear your phone and draw your location from that.

[–] h3ndrik@feddit.de 7 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

They address that in the last paragraph. I wonder however if this does much. I mean it's just one of several modes and then certain requirements must be met, too. What would carriers send such requests for in non-emergency scenarios anyways?

[–] shortwavesurfer@monero.town 5 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Yeah, I did see that last paragraph. I'm not sure if people realize just how accurate a location can be gotten just with that method though.

[–] h3ndrik@feddit.de 5 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

Sure. In urban environments the cell tower should be able to determine your location down to a few meters or at least tens of meters. They know the angle from which antenna is in use. And I think I read an article or paper that newer technologies also compensate for the signal delay introduced by the speed of light and your distance... So the phone can hit the slot in the multiplexing correctly. So distance from the cell tower should be known to both parties somewhat precisely. No "active" positioning requests needed. I think requesting the location during an 112 / 911 call has also saved some lives already. I'm not sure if it pops up automatically for the dispatchers, though.

[–] independantiste@sh.itjust.works 9 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Couldn't they just find out via triangulation (which is a way that high precision location things work already, by using 3 points of a known location like antennas and looking at the connection strength to each tower)

[–] wizzor@sopuli.xyz 8 points 7 months ago

They would already know to a very high degree, because the device associates with a specific cell tower, and the cell size is quite small for 5g networks, especially in cities. I don't see why they would need a more accurate info.

[–] sovietknuckles@hexbear.net 5 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Starting in Android 15, radio vendors will be able to add support for Android’s new location privacy HAL, which can tell the radio not to share location data for any non-emergency requests.

A request not to share it is not control, it's just a request. So any law enforcement seeking your location would receive it anyway

[–] bobs_monkey@lemm.ee 1 points 7 months ago (1 children)

So any law enforcement seeking your location would receive it anyway

Seems like it would just be easier for LEOs to get your location from your wireless carrier with tower triangulation.

[–] shortwavesurfer@monero.town 1 points 7 months ago

That can get you close, but there's still errors. This one, if I'm understanding correctly, actually gives your full GPS location with distance above ground (for apartments, etc).

[–] MyPornViewingAccount@lemmy.world 3 points 7 months ago

Press X to doubt this makes it.

[–] Anticorp@lemmy.world 1 points 7 months ago

Is "never" an option?