Newsgroups: comp.society.futures
Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!uupsi!sugar!jasona
From: jasona@sugar.hackercorp.com (Jason Asbahr)
Subject: Cellular phones
Message-ID: <1991May19.174655.23044@sugar.hackercorp.com>
Keywords: tracking
Organization: Sugar Land Unix -- Houston, TX
Date: Sun, 19 May 1991 17:46:55 GMT


Re: info on phone "polling"
 
Interesting!  Where can I find out more about the specifics of this
cellular protocol?  
 
Avoiding tracking still seems simple to me -- just turn the phone off.
With the older models, that means unplugging it from the cigarette lighter
(or the power regulator if you're using it indoors) and plugging it in
whenever you need to use it.  I don't know if the newer handheld models
can be so easily disconnected.  (This doesn't solve the problem of being
tracked while using the phone, of course!)
 
I have as little to hide as any other good citizen :), but shadowy
"invasion of privacy" possibilities like this always disturb me. 
Preventing newly manufactured scanners from receiving 800MHz range may
soothe some cellular users, but all that really amounts to is preventing
the general populace from listening in.  Are government agencies similarly
blocked?  (DEA, FBI, IRS :)
 
-- 
 
          -Jason Asbahr
           jasona@sugar.hackercorp.com
           jasona@nuchat.sccsi.com
