Tracking People and Devices

[Mpegger]

what are you talking about, they can all track you, and pretty easily. If your business wants to provide you with a cell phone, and they want to track you, they're allowed.

How do you ppl know the OP isn't looking for a cheaper alternative to what he is currently using to legally track his employees lets say. Its not really a whole lot of your business why he wants it, he's interested, and its not illegal...

Anyways...

Businesses who provide such devices to thier employees and law enforcement/government agencies can easily track you. Individuals cannot randomly track anyone they wish, as those services are not available to them, unless it is a special plan such as a Parent/Child setup so that the parent/guardian of said child can keep aware of the childs location. In this case, both parties have agreed to the tracking process. This isnt just looking up someones last known address/public phone record of a random person or without said persons knowledge or consent.

And since we are assuming/guessing some legitimate reasons for his needs...

For all you know, the OP may not even have a business where he wishes to track his employees during working hours, but may just be trying to track down some ex-girlfriend that finally called it quits and moved away for him being an egotistical, control freak, psycho, abusive boyfriend and wants to be left alone and never hear from him again.

There are illegitimate reasons that one could use such services for as well (as my example above), which is why such services are unavailable to the general public. Need to track someone down because of a real emergency? Call the cops, not Verizon.

 

[gangaskan]

There is when it's an individual asking who cannot or will not verify a valid reason.

i totally agree with you oldskool, when the OP in a way said "don't worry about why i need it" kinda raises a flag in my book and i sure wouldn't want to be responsible nor involved in any illegal activities.


but really, if you want to track cell phones from a company, you will have to contact the provider I'm fairly certain they have all the tools needed in order to accomplish the task.

 

[OldSkool]

How do you ppl know the OP isn't looking for a cheaper alternative to what he is currently using to legally track his employees lets say. Its not really a whole lot of your business why he wants it, he's interested, and its not illegal...

Anyways...

We don't know and to provide that information to a possible criminal is irresponsible and ignorant. Notice yet that he hasn't posted again? If it were for a legal and legitimate reason, why not say what it is for? It is our business and our responsibility to ask these questions when the information may potentially put a life at risk. And for the record, No, not everyone or anyone has the right or ability to legally do this.

 

[CGR]

For all we know he wants to find a way to stalk some woman who rejected him

 

[gangaskan]

We don't know and to provide that information to a possible criminal is irresponsible and ignorant. Notice yet that he hasn't posted again? If it were for a legal and legitimate reason, why not say what it is for? It is our business and our responsibility to ask these questions when the information may potentially put a life at risk. And for the record, No, not everyone or anyone has the right or ability to legally do this.

and as ive stated previously, the cell providers have this software, we at work have some gps tracking for various reasons (police use this for various activities) verizon has tools that you use + a key fab that locks it to your username / pass that can only be used on one machine at a time.


any other provider should have either a.) the capabilities of doing this. or b.) implementing them very shortly

 

[CGR]

and as ive stated previously, the cell providers have this software, we at work have some gps tracking for various reasons (police use this for various activities) verizon has tools that you use + a key fab that locks it to your username / pass that can only be used on one machine at a time.


any other provider should have either a.) the capabilities of doing this. or b.) implementing them very shortly

Sure they all have the ability, but you cant just go and say to a providor "Hey I want to know where this person is, please tell me"..

 

[gangaskan]

Sure they all have the ability, but you cant just go and say to a providor "Hey I want to know where this person is, please tell me"..

well, obviously lol


you do have to have some sort of ties to that account and more importantly, you have to i think be a business or child / guardian type deal as some others have mentioned before

it goes case by case i guess ?

 

[CGR]

well, obviously lol


you do have to have some sort of ties to that account and more importantly, you have to i think be a business or child / guardian type deal as some others have mentioned before

it goes case by case i guess ?

Exactly. The problem is Ascii2 doesnt seem to want to share why he was asking about it, so obviously people are concerned about that

 

[gangaskan]

Exactly. The problem is Ascii2 doesnt seem to want to share why he was asking about it, so obviously people are concerned about that

see post #22 i'm aware

 

[OldSkool]

Lol, it seems like we are all in agreement here. Yes, the technology does exist and No, Ascii2 has not provided a valid reason for requesting direction to this sensitive information.

My advice to you Ascii2, take this topic elsewhere as you will obviously get no answers here without explaining the nature of the request. You may not think you need to justify it but the fact remains, this is sensitive information and the members here will not, knowingly, compromise the safety of anyone, for any reason, which is what the information you are requesting, may lead to.

 

[Mother Goose]

any other provider should have either a.) the capabilities of doing this. or b.) implementing them very shortly

Oh certainly. Not only in terms of GPS, but also in terms of just regular cell signals: remember there is a big question of given a customer standing in a certain location with several overlapping cell-phone regions -- which cell tower should he be using given the distances and/or topographies involved.

All cell-phone providers use some sort of tracking to ascertain the best tower to use given certain conditions.

 

[Breakin Newz]

Let the man do what he gotta do!!!!!

 

[Ascii2]

Sorry for the delay in my posting. Hereafter delays should not be as great.

I am compiling my responses, and posting them.

 

[Ascii2]

I am seeking information on how to track people cheaply.

I shall narrow this to only include the tracking of GPS-enabled mobile handsets in the country of United States of America.

Regarding "cheaply":

One time costs may be discarded from consideration if their sum is less than or equal to $250 U.S. Dollars. However, recurring costs (like incremental monthly wireless data costs) should not be discarded. Absolute precision is not necessary.

The initial post to this thread shall be updated to incorporate the adjustments.

 

[Ascii2]

if you want to track cell phones from a company, you will have to contact the provider I'm fairly certain they have all the tools needed in order to accomplish the task.

The provider should have the tools, but their terms may not be desirable (notably, price).

 

[Ascii2]

tracking assets both human and material is nothing new. A lot of businesses do it to their employees. Parents can do it to their children and law enforcement can triangulate a cellular phone in times of emergency or for criminal investigations. Nothing secretive involved here.

Indeed.

It is notable that now, since before 2005, mobile phones for the United States of America market have been sold with GPS location beacons. That technology appears to be a separate way of tracking a mobile device; a phone's regular wireless radio need not function, but its GPS beacon may still identify position.

 

[OldSkool]

You have failed to provide a reason still and as such are still trolling for information you WILL NOT receive.

 

[Ascii2]

It appears that tracking GPS-enabled devices (exceeding the scope of mobile phones), without using the wireless service provider for that purpose, requires the mobile handset device to have software installed (like an application) or special firmware to access and use the GPS beacon.

Services like that offered by Mologogo ( http://www.mologogo.com/ ) require installing its application onto the mobile device to be tracked. It transmits its location via the GPRS (not the GPS component) of the mobile handset.

 

[MRD]

That mobile locator you linked is for businesses who need real time contact with their employees. For instance, a company that sends out techs to work on equipment, needs constant contact and the ability to see where the tech is

Its not meant for non business people, unless a parent wanted to give it to a child or something like that.

You just cant locate cell users like that without the user knowing its possible as in the business example

You cannot track people without their consent. You CAN track any mobile phone you are the primary account holder for. For example, If GE has an employee, and they give said employee a cell phone, they are paying for it, and they have a right to track it. A parent can track a child's cell phone because the parent is the paying account holder.

If you want to just track some random number, you cannot do so under US law. Not only is it illegal, it's not possible without some serious hacking. That information is private and is only available to the cell phone carriers (my dad worked in telecom for years and was actually involved in the design of our current cellular system. especially digital telecom - he couldn't even figure out how to do it except through the telecom company).

So basically, is your question, "how do you track someone whose number I know AND whose account I pay for or who has given me permanent, written consent to track him/her?"

or

"How do I track someone simply based on the cell number without their consent?"

The answer to the first question is: pay the phone company. I have seen a few websites where people let you track them via their cell phones. You click a link and it shows you where they are. I do not know exactly how this works, but it's their own phone, so it's legal if they really want to give that info out.

The answer to the second one is that you cannot, it's neither legal nor technically possible.

 

[CGR]

The answer to the second one is that you cannot, it's neither legal nor technically possible.

Its possible, just not legal without a warrant.