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Silly Question

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R P

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Nov 24, 2009, 9:32:47 AM11/24/09
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Cell phones have GPS installed in them? I lost my cell phone,I don't
care about the phone but the pics I took and didn't get to unload.Is
there any way to track the phone using the GPS signal ?

Sunshine

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Nov 24, 2009, 11:20:28 AM11/24/09
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By law enforcement, yes. By you, not that I'm aware of. In the
meantime, try calling your phone. If someone found it, perhaps they'll
answer.

Andrew

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Nov 24, 2009, 6:14:36 PM11/24/09
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re."By law enforcement, yes.". How would THAT work? Is there some
undocumented means whereby the phone TRANSMITS it's location with the GPS
information encoded so 'law enforcement' can find it THAT accurately?

I am just curious, never heard that was possible with run of the mill, out
of the box, phones. (My Blackberry has such a GPS application, but I didn't
know one could find it from the 'outside'.)

--
-------------------------------------------------------------
Regards -

- Andrew


Steve Calvin

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Nov 24, 2009, 8:29:06 PM11/24/09
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I never really researched it but I believe on my phone that only comes
into play if I dial 911

--
Steve

Peter H. Coffin

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Nov 24, 2009, 10:23:14 PM11/24/09
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Yup. Plus there's the opportunity for cell-tower triangulation, but that
requires coooperation of telcos, which also requires stuff like court
orders...

--
"Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another,
'What! You too? I thought I was the only one!'"
--C.S. Lewis

Happy Trails

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Nov 24, 2009, 10:27:09 PM11/24/09
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On Tue, 24 Nov 2009 18:14:36 -0500, "Andrew" <and...@jkl.com> wrote:
>I am just curious, never heard that was possible with run of the mill, out
>of the box, phones. (My Blackberry has such a GPS application, but I didn't
>know one could find it from the 'outside'.)

The Motorola "Mike" phones my ex-employer used had gps, and if you
wanted, as a company, to subscribe to a service, you could track where
everybody was all the time by having the gps position transmitted at
intervals from the phones and displayed on an internet-linked computer
in the office. We didn't worry about it because the company was too
effing cheap to pay the rate for that service, but the gps position
could be viewed on the phone itself. That model of phone had the
push-button walkie-talkie function - was used by many construction
companies for onsite as well as between site voice comms. The gps in
the initial models was quite insensitive - never got a fix if it was
in your pocket facing toward your body, and slow to fix when held to
your ear to talk. We developed a habit of holding it with our thumb
over the gps antenna part of the case, so nobody at the office could
track us if they wanted too!

Davoud

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Nov 24, 2009, 10:45:34 PM11/24/09
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Andrew wrote:
> re."By law enforcement, yes.". How would THAT work? Is there some
> undocumented means whereby the phone TRANSMITS it's location with the GPS
> information encoded so 'law enforcement' can find it THAT accurately?
>
> I am just curious, never heard that was possible with run of the mill, out
> of the box, phones. (My Blackberry has such a GPS application, but I didn't
> know one could find it from the 'outside'.)

<http://www.apple.com/mobileme/whats-new/>

Davoud

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I agree with almost everything that you have said and almost everything that
you will say in your entire life.

usenet *at* davidillig dawt cawm

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Andrew

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Nov 27, 2009, 10:36:22 PM11/27/09
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Joel wrote:
> And do you want serious or silly answer for your "Silly Question"?
>
> The answer is yes, as they have been using the GPS signal to track
> criminal, missing person, or person in danger etc..

Not unless the GPS unit in the cell phone has the ability to be able to
TRANSMIT the received location signal, perhaps by OTHER functions built into
the phone and activated upon some demand signal or regular function.

That's exacly why I asked the follow-up question. Just because my unit
(phone, watch, standalong unit, etc.) 'knows' where it is, unless there's
other logic besides a GPS *receiver* in it (like, say, a transmitter!), it
can't tell anyone else where it is! A lot of people seem to think that just
because one has a GPS, one can use it outside of that receive function for
other purposes, like tracking from abroad, etc. Not without additional
function!

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