iPhone Giveaway

No I’m not referring to a free iPhone in your near future, but more of an iPhone betrayal. Here’s what I mean.

What it would take to “hide” from your smartphone. I was curious as to whether one could escape the personal tracking that goes with owning an iPhone. Most smartphones can be disabled by removing the batteries, but an iPhone has no removable batteries. So, short of destroying it, how do you “escape” its tracking? You could turn off “Location Services,” but I suspect that it a bit of tease, and you could be found anyway. When I turn OFF the “Location Services” I get a message warning me that I will no longer be able to use the “Find my Phone” service. But as the following tests point out, things are not always what they appear to be. Just because that particular App won’t function, does that rule out other Apps? I know that tracking MUST be taking place or my phone would not work while driving down the road.

I heard that electronic devices could be protected from an EMT explosion by placing it in a Faraday Box, any metal container, would deflect the destructive signals. But now I’m not too sure about that.

Here is my simple test. I placed my iPhone in a metal box, and walked it about 60′ away and placed it on top of my car. Coming back inside my house, I opened my MacBook Pro, logged into iCloud and clicked on “Find My Phone.” It didn’t take 30 seconds for the phone to be found and the map of its location to pop up. I thought maybe, since it was so close to where I had put it in the box, perhaps it was just using the last known signal as the location. To test this I went out side to relocate the box without opening it. I went back to the house and refreshed my search.

The first location was about 12′ off from its actual location, whereas the second location was about 6′ off.

The metal box idea MAY work for EMT, but that would be a far stronger signal than a cell tower signal, so I doubt that a metal container would be protection for electronic devices of any kind.

Next, I repeated the metal box test with the power turned off. It was still located! Obviously, when it is turned “OFF” it  is not REALLY off. I notice however, that the GeoEye map that came up is a brown color, not the full-color maps that was used previously. Any significance? But, as it turned out, all the rest of the tests were a brown hue also.

 My next test was to remove the SIM card. With the card removed and the power “OFF,” the search resulted in a location, but a red flag told me it was an “Old Location.” But when I turned the power back on… without the SIM card, it was immediately located.

Another interesting note or two:
1. The mapping service is “DigitalGlobe, GeoEye, USDA Farm Service Agency”  Hum-m-m-m. The USDA is funneling money to mapping from space?
2. From of the location of my vehicles in the map in relation to my house, I can tell the this image was taken within the last 3 weeks.
3. It seems like the best thing to do when things start to fall apart, is to abandon or destroy your phone if you don’t want to be tracked. Even a phone that is turned OFF is useful to someone trying to locate you. Where is your Big Brother hiding to track you?