[ExI] Location Tracking Risks

[BillK]

There is a huge industry involved in mobile phone location tracking.
Mostly selling the data for advertising purposes. But governments,
police and three letter agencies are also involved. There appear to be
no restrictions on government or official tracking of mobile phones.
You can try to turn off location tracking, but almost every app will
request access to your location. Not just GPS routing or mapping apps.
Even if turned off your approximate location can be tracked by the
mobile stations used to access the network.
You may be at risk if you are recorded as visiting some locations,
such as abortion clinics, demonstrations, drug dealing locations, etc.
Even just being near to where a crime was committed can get you
investigated by the police as the police are allowed to request a list
from the phone companies of all the devices in the area around the time
of the crime.

It is an interesting question whether government use of location tracking
is forbidden by the Fourth Amendment, which is intended to protect citizens
from unreasonable searches and seizures by the government.

BillK