UK News: Police to Track Mobile Phone Users

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Police to track mobile phone users

Antony Barnett, public affairs editor

Sunday July 30, 2000

(The Observer)- Police are to be given new powers to track people using satellite technology that can pick up signals emitted from mobile phones.
In a move denounced as sinister by civil liberties campaigners, software being fitted into the new generation of mobiles will enable police to pinpoint the exact whereabouts of a person whenever the phone is switched on.

But privacy campaigners fear the police could use the new phones as homing devices that will allow them to carry out mass surveillance without those targeted knowing about it One campaigner likened it to putting an `electronic tag' on large swathes of the population.

The Government and the police say the powers are needed to fight certain crimes, including drug trafficking. They believe the technology will guide paramedics and firefighters to the locations of emergencies.

These unprecedented powers are part of the Regulatory of Investigatory Powers Bill which received Royal Assent on Friday. They will allow the security services to intercept private emails.

Privacy campaigners and Opposition peers urged the Government to ensure that the read-outs of physical location produced by the new mobile phones should be made available only after a warrant is obtained from a judge. But the appeals were rebuffed. The police will be able to track somebody's movements on the authority of a police superintendent.

Caspar Bowden, who runs the Foundation for Information Policy Reseach, the internet policy think-tank which brought these concerns to light, last night expressed alarm over the move.

`Anyone using the new phones will be able to be tracked with pinpoint accuracy at the click of a mouse, for very broad purposes,' he said. `It's like putting an electronic tag on most of the population.'

John Wadham, of the civil liberties group Liberty, said: `This technology is of great concern, and the legislation is simply not keeping up with it. It is frightening what the police will be able to do without having to go before a judge. Under the Act, the only authority overseeing these capabilities will come from an Interception Commissioner, who does not have to be notified pro-actively of their use, or whether tracking data is passed between government departments once acquired.

Currently, police can obtain information about where a call was made from a specific mobile, if they can satisfy telephone operators there is sufficient evidence for their suspicions. Under the RIP Act, the authorities will be able to bypass the phone companies.

The mobile phone companies believe these new location facilities in their products will be hugely popular because they will allow users to find the nearest bank or Indian takeaway, and then get precise directions to the restaurant. The companies also believe it will give callers greater security knowing that the emergency services can track them down in a crisis.

A spokeswoman for Vodafone said: `It is true that under this new Act the police will not have to get our approval to access this information any more. But we believe the new software in the phones will bring many benefits to our customers and will be warmly welcomed.'

The National Criminal Intelligence Service denied that the new technology would mean the age of mass surveillance in this country .

A spokeswoman said: `We will not speculate about how police will use technology that does not yet exist.

But we will still be governed by Data Protection Act and believe the RIP bill has strengthened the rights of individuals, not weakened it.

antony.barnett@observer.co.uk


Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2000
 
George Orwell was very perceptive and knew his people (the Brits) quite well

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"Quis custodiet ipsos custodes" RKBA!
 
You beat me to my comment on this one, DC.

How long before they do away with any pretense in the UK and just implant the government-required tracking chip at birth?
 
Luckily, GSM phones can be equipped with anonymous prepaid cards. I
have one, and I'm happy to have one in case we get it as bad as the
Brits.

I mourn these folks, but unless they stand up now, they deserve their
fate.
 
Basically, the cell phone companies already log this info. Your phone transmits an ID# whenever it is turned on. Each towers coverage is mapped out in segements like a cut up pie. You can be pinpointed down to which area of the towers coverage you were in when you were on the phone. This data is stored in huge data banks.

Whenever you turn your phone on it's like a beacon that says "here I am !" You don't even have to place a call.
 
Have to agree with Nukem. Put your mobile (cell) phone near your car radio and you actually hear the "beeps" as your phone is being interrogated. If you have (for example) a Nokia, it can be programmed to show you each "cell" as you drive into it. You'll hear the "beeps" as you're passed from one to the next.

B
 
Localizing a phone to a particular "cell" would seem to be fairly straightforward, but even in a crowded urban area, a "cell" will probably be several city blocks in extent. If something more sophisticated (GPS?) were to be incorporated, for "pinpoint" location, I see a potential for techno-geeks to create a cottage industry, disabling - or better yet, scrambling - this "feature," so it will randomly offset location data when interrogated.
 
Tis somewhat of a lie.

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>
In a move denounced as sinister by civil liberties campaigners, software being fitted into the new generation of mobiles will enable police to pinpoint the exact whereabouts of a person whenever the phone is switched on.
[/quote]


A friends brother was an engineer for Motorola, and he informed me once that having the phone "turned off" won't do it. The battery has to be removed for some time before the unit stops emitting RF data bursts to the local cell site, due to an internal storage capacitor that acts like a small battery itself.
If at any time the battery is connected while charged, it'll announce it's whereabouts periodically to the predominant cell tower determined by signal strength, and arbitration logic in the server for the respective cell sites.

While I can't prove what he said is true, or otherwise. He was an engineer for Motorola and should have a good idea of what the characteristics of the units were. So I'll have to give credibility to what he told me.



[This message has been edited by Donny (edited July 30, 2000).]
 
HankB -

Installing GPS chips into new mobiles is EXACTLY what they're talking about. Nowadays, you can very easily get position down to the cell, and using a directional antenna can get you into the same room. Fortunatley, using a DF antenna for tracking a cellphone signal is fairly complicated and unreliable.

GPS transmitters are very reliable. And a LOT more accurate. Keep in mind, though, that a GPS transmitter won't work inside a building.

No warrant needed, either?? Scary.

Later,
Chris



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"TV what do I see, tell me who to believe, what's the use of autonomy when a button does it all??" - Incubus, Idiot Box
 
Donny, your friends brother is probably correct. I have a Motorola phone that you can do a battery change right in the middle of a call if you want to. (you must be fast)That must be how it holds the connect.

HankB,
You are not only identified as being *somewhere* in a cells 360* circle, but which segment of the circle you are in. This data can be used as an overlay on a regular map.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Donny:
Tis somewhat of a lie.

A friends brother was an engineer for Motorola, and he informed me once that having the phone "turned off" won't do it. The battery has to be removed for some time before the unit stops emitting RF data bursts to the local cell site, due to an internal storage capacitor that acts like a small battery itself.
If at any time the battery is connected while charged, it'll announce it's whereabouts periodically to the predominant cell tower determined by signal strength, and arbitration logic in the server for the respective cell sites.[/quote]


I will be the first to admit that I am not an electronics engineer, but I do know something general about radios and such:

Point one: it would seem logical to me that if a storage capacitor, located in the unit was indeed sending locale information, that it would not have much power to do it for long,nor powerfully, particulaly if one was out of range, such as hunting/camping in remote locations,ect.

Point two: What would be the purpose in this, beside the "Big Brother" aspect, to the cell phone company?

Point three: If the capacitor becomes discharged, through continued use sending useless locale update signals to the nearest cell-site, this would also cuase the phone itself to lose it's stored number/memory locations eventually, is that not correct?

Any comments/ further information welcome.
 
Cellphones do frequently broadcast a signal to their base stations. This allows the operating company to direct an incoming call to the correct base station.

If motorola incorporates a "hot swap" feature with a buffer capacitor, this will only be charged when the telephone is switched on. When switched off, it will only be monitoring the power key, and not keeping contact with the base station (otherwise it would be easy to incorporate "incoming call power on" software...)

An easy way to test such a feature would be to switch off the phone, change cells (i.e. drive some distance), and then switch on. If the phone is already connected to the network, calls should be immediately possible; if not, time for exchange of information would be required.

I use only prepaid cards for cost control reasons anyway...

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If the priority of the archive over witnes accounts is given up, history ceases to be a science and becomes an art.

http://www.ety.com/tell/why.html
 
I am an EE, and you've gotta understand the power requirements of these digital phones and cell phones. They use VERY little power when transmitting, it is digitizing your speech that takes most of the power. A cap inside there could quite easily supply enough power for 45-90 seconds of simple big brother broadcasting, probably a lot more. If all it is sending is simple location signals at long intervals it's not hard to supply it.

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I twist the facts until they tell the truth. -Some intellectual sadist

The Bill of Rights is a document of brilliance, a document of wisdom, and it is the ultimate law, spoken or not, for the very concept of a society that holds liberty above the desire for ever greater power. -Me
 
I notice the author of the article forgot to mention "it's for the children" and "if it saves one person's life". They must be saving those for the followup.
 
Actually, aren't cellular companies required to provide this "push-button" wiretapping to the FBI sometime shortly? Like in a few months? I'd post a link or two, but I don't have them readily available.
 
This stuff is already being "demanded" by the public in the US on the premise that police are unable to pinpoint a cellular 911 call. I have read that within a year, law enforcement will be able to pinpoint your cell phone within a hundred yards or so.
 
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