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Anti-theft kill switches in smartphones just got a little less creepy

Adam 1

> allow owners who so desire to disable some or all of those options if they don't like the idea that their smartphone could be remotely tracked or accessed.Accessed? OK, I grant you that this is at least technically possible. There is that tiny problem of about 2/3s of active phones can be pwned by a malicious MMS, and let's not even get into the vulnerabilities inside the baseband chips. But is at least on paper achievable if security is taken seriously.Remote tracking though? Uh do they know how a mobile phone network operates? The operator knows damn well where your phone is because your phone talks to its towers, negotiates handovers and so on. That is why your phone actually rings when your number is called. The network isn't blindly broadcasting to every tower around the world to make your phone ring on the off chance that you are there. They actively track you (technically you dob yourself in). So you can't opt out of tracking. You can minimise the number of parties who track you but not opt out totally. Oh and if the tracking worries you, it might be an idea to switch off your WiFi. Even if your iPhone randomises your MAC address, you can still be tracked by your ssid hello messages.

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