One of the great myths about surfing the Web is that no one knows who
you are. But as many a malicious Web or email user has learned, law
enforcement (or even a determined tech-savvy individual) can indeed
track down who they are.
An even more prevalent myth is that on the Internet no one knows where
you are at any given moment. But that too is a fallacy -- there are lots
of ways for others to pinpoint where you are.
One of the easiest is for your browser to reveal it via something called
the Geolocation API, which is part of the latest web standards. But you
can exercise some control over that: See, for instance, the Mozilla
Geolocation page, which explains what Mozilla’s browsers (such as
Firefox and SeaMonkey) do with geolocation and what you can do about it.
But even without that, there are other ways your location can be known
by others. If you Google something via your smart phone, for instance,
Google knows where you are by triangulating your position based on
nearby cell towers your phone is using. It won’t pinpoint you, but it’s
accurate within a few hundred feet. That’s why when you search for
restaurant via Google Maps on your mobile, the list you get is of
restaurants nearby.
If you have a GPS-equipped phone (almost all newer phones are) and you
have GPS enabled, the position Google and others get can be accurate
within a few feet, right down to which house you’re in. But even if you
turn off your GPS positioning, your cell provider and law enforcement
will still be able to read your GPS position and pinpoint you within a
few feet. (I should note that not all law enforcement and 911-response
agencies have the means to use this -- at least not yet -- but the
capability is there.)
These can all be beneficial things: A store can send you a coupon when
you walk by; emergency responders can find you when you place a 911 cell
call.
But as with all good things, this can also be misused. For example, in a
recent conference presentation cheekily titled “How I Met Your
Girlfriend,” hacker/researcher Samy Kamkar demonstrated how to use
Google’s geolocation data to poinpoint someone’s location -- a stalker’s
dream. It gives new weight to the concerns about the wireless data
Google is collecting when they drive around taking street-view photos
because that’s the data Kamkar’s method uses to find “your girlfriend.”
So what should you do? Start by checking your browser’s geolocation
settings (see link to Mozilla above; other browsers will have similar
controls) and your phone’s GPS settings. You can also use an anonymous
proxy (such as TOR) to make it much harder for others to trace you. But
most of all be aware that a lot of very clever people and groups want to
track who and where you are, and there are many ways by which they can
do it.
Ref:
http://www.technewsdaily.com/surveil...identity-0994/
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