Orwell’s book 1984 turned on alerts about all authorities always watching, yet his fictional piece of work is crawling ever closer to real world. As more cases with GPS tracking involved come into the spotlight, inhabitants are starting to understand what is at risk. Even the Supreme Court of the country appears to be doubtful about what to decide with the liability of a special warrant before starting to track the suspected person.

Justice Is What We Need

The case that lies before the Supreme Court is to decide whether police ought to be ordered to get a warrant before starting to track anyone. It might be enticing to say confident no since our police serves the greater good for all people, but where does legal investigation end and spying begin? Most people think about navigational advantages when it comes to Global Positioning System, but GPS units utilized by the police officers are more like two-way communication gadgets. Those GPS trackers co-operate with cell phone networks to keep the permanent watch on the target’s vehicle. It appears to be in the class of wiretapping, which definitely requires a warrant, but not the simple stakeout.

For You And Against You

Authorities are not the only ones watching us. Electronic gadgets of many kinds have the capability of tracking the location, browsing history and apps activity of the person in question. Manufacturers of those gadgets not only keep records of those data, they sell recorded info to huge corporations in order to develop their business. Companies like Google, Facebook, SmartPhone and Verizon all sell data they collect from their clients to external companies seeking for new source of customers. Even the sinless gathering of traffic information by the GPS navigation company for the sake of aiding its clients may be utilized by police to install speed traps. Medical and financial data may be published, kids may be tracked, and job may be terminated on the basis of incorrect data.

In such country where privacy rights are everything, why do American people allow such severe scrutiny of their motions, purchases, and personal searches? Is it those free apps, open access to data, and navigational devices which are easy to use? How much are we going to let Big Brother get from us? If you think that it has enough already, you might want to stop Big Brother from watching you in any way because you have the right of privacy and no one can take it away!

Share your thoughts on this burning topic in the comments.

Spectrum Bridge Inc. recently declared the introduction of the first non-state TV White Space (TVWS) television network in the Wilmington, North Carolina. The cloud-based frequency range control platform of the Spectrum Bridge Inc. is the central element of modern technology that uses those frequencies released by digital television transfer to furnish wireless bandpass and net access for a bunch of innovational things.

The first net applications support wideband initiatives by furnishing the citizens and city visitors with internet hotspots in local parks along with spectrum for governmental video surveillance. This system furnishes a base for future developments and will serve as the prototype for other local authorities willing to use benefits of TVWS accessibility across the USA. Integrating those innovational “Smart City” technologies may assist in improving local economic condition and make the overall living standards better by creating a better wideband data infrastructure.

“We are really satisfied with the installations of those white space systems at local parks and other spots,” said Chairman of the New Hanover County Ted Davis. “This tech has proven to be absolutely unostentatious, nice for environment way to propose services to our inhabitants and the guests of our city, also giving our personnel more effective ways to administer those places.”

TVWS deployments advantage wireless users along with many industry participants like broadcasters, content providers, various telecom and cordless Internet service providers with equipment manufacturers because of the perfect propagation specifications of the frequencies used. The TV White Space frequency bands in addition have outstanding out of line of sight carrying out that permits the signal to effectively penetrate obstacles like houses, trees and rugged terrain at bigger distances than probably any other unlicensed frequency range.

The frequencies which were released due to the TV move over are the VHF and UHF bands between 54MHz and 806MHz. If this start at Wilmington be successful then soon enough whole country will start deploying such wireless networks using low frequencies for governmental surveillance over each city, not centralized at first, but locally managed and very effective. So you may want to prevent US government from using white spaces against your privacy if you are living in Wilmington, North Carolina, or if you are not but afraid that this technology can reach your hometown too.

What do you think about it? Will this new technological advancement bring development and bonanza to the country, or become a starting point for the mass surveillance across the US? Express your thoughts in the comments!

The Department of Homeland Security is into a cam package that may peek in on nearly 4 square miles of American territory which is protected by Constitution for very long time period. Homeland Security does not bear a specific system in mind to be used. Right now, it is just wangling for industry response on the official call for this Wide Range Surveillance System. But it is the up-to-date indication of how influential military surveillance technology, created to find outlandish rebels and terrorists, is moving to the home territory.

The Department of Homeland Security also says that it is curious about a system that may see between 5 to 10 square kilometers — that is between 2 and 4 square miles, approximately the scale of Brooklyn in New York — in its ceaseless mode. By ceaseless, it signifies that the cameras ought to gaze at the territory beyond question for an indefinite number of recorded hours to gather what the armed forces like to refer as “pattern of life” information — that is, what usual actions look like for this given region. Perseverance typically relies on how long the flying vehicle carrying the cam kit may remain on high; DHS wishes something that may be attached to the P-3 Orion spy airplane or the Predator drone. When not in ceaseless mode, the cams should be capable of seeing much, much farther: “long straight regions, tens to even hundreds of kilometers in extent.

If it is beginning to sound remindful of the secret agent devices the armed forces has utilized in Iraq or Afghanistan, it ought to. Homeland Security wishes the video gathered by this system to transmit in almost real time — no more than 12 seconds — to the control room and preferably to the BLOS (beyond line of sight) high impact mobile receiving system on the ground, exactly as military spy equipment does. The cam ought to move to IR mode for the darkness hours spying, and include the automated real-time movement detection ability that notifies an observer imager for goal recognition. This system will take the tests at special location in Nogales, Arizona.

As you can see, when this system start its work, it will monitor the activity of the biggest cities at first, spreading to the smaller ones stepwise. Honestly speaking, you can do nothing with this system because those drones or manned aircrafts will fly really high for common signal jammers to reach them. Still you are probably aware that there are many stationary surveillance cameras in those cities and you are definitely able to deal with them effectively. Although you can’t affect the cameras flying high above you, you can prevent yourself from being spied by street cameras in New York and other cities where those cameras have been installed.

What are your thoughts about this new DHS surveillance system? Share them here!

If you are an employee of some company, your boss can now absolutely legally place GPS tracker on your car and track your location during the working time. Want to say something about the violation of your privacy rights and the 4th Amendment? Forget it!

Two courts, New York Appeals Court and Missouri Court, solved two different cases, both in favor of the employers. They have decided that there was no privacy breach and the placement of those GPS trackers to the vehicles of those employees (who were both fired from their jobs after the courts) was absolutely legal.

They explained that their conclusions are based on the facts that it was non-invasive installation of the tracking devices. As long as GPS trackers were attached to the defendants’ cars using magnetic fixation on the external side of the vehicles, there were no search or intrusion into their cars. Despite the fact that vehicles which were tracked are not the working ones but the personal cars of those ex-employees, the courts ruled that it was legal to track them because it was done during their working hours.

As long as installing of the GPS tracking devices and using information provided by them revealed only the public locations of those vehicles, and because there were no violations of the 4th Amendment, the courts have considered those tracking cases absolutely legal. In addition because of the fact that GPS tracking was implemented during the working hours of those two people, it was totally constitutional to track their locations.

Still there is one question left: do you really want to make up your mind with this outrage that is fitted to look-like-legal? If they have the right to track you then you have the right to block their GPS trackers on your car thus not letting them know where you are.

There is an immense trouble with working out things that have yet to be figured out: when, exactly, do our workout clothing become too worn and bad to wear it anymore? Apple knows that we cannot be squandering interminable minutes seeking those tears and holes in our pants and shirts, so it is just got a patent for method to let you instantly know when your clothes used the time they had.

This patent asserts sensor-equipped habiliments that may track how you utilize them, report that information back to the database at the central server and alarm you when your clothes has achieved its critical condition, telling you that it is time to purchase some recent, without doubts more expensive clothing. This up-to-date technology does not just cover clothes either.

Cupertino’s asserting the same tech for running shoes, in addition. The footwear is also furnishes real-time feedback which compares your personal running style to the created profile to instantly keep your workouts optimal – helpful function, that probably hard to imagine like those iShoes which would make all people from Nike very glad. I am sure that Apple means to make the required garments fitted with built-in electronics, so you can read this really huge patent legalese describing the system that will make you purchasing them.

And here comes the dangerous part. As the AT&T’s exercise apparel with built-in GPS tracking, new gear from Apple can have the same nasty trick inside of it. You can say that it is great, or you can say that it might endanger your privacy and safety. Those of you who choose the second answer probably want to wear Apple clothes and will not be tracked by GPS sensors inside of it. So be it! While this system has a lot of advantages, the price to have them may be too high.

So tell me what you think about this technological break-through in the comments!

My dear friends! Today’s article won’t look like few ones before, and you know why? Because today I want to ask you one thing: do you believe in all news that you read on the internet? I hope not, and here is why. This ridiculous nonsense was published at The Columbus Dispatch:

The company desiring to set up a 4G cordless network has been stalemated by opponents who fright that this network would block GPS signals, posing a menace to business and to the protection of those people flying in airplanes and struggling in the armed forces.

Global Positioning System is utilized by almost everybody — in cell phones, automobile navigational devices and almost each probable means of business. Commercial airplanes utilize Global Positioning System to ground airplanes safely, especially during times of extremely low visibleness. Delivery companies count on Global Positioning System to bring products on time. Farmers utilize Global Positioning System to define exactly where to bring fertilizers and pesticides, utilizing the technology to upsurge productivity and steer clear of waste. The armed forces utilize Global Positioning System coordinates to keep their troops protected and to assault the right targets.

Other people who count on Global Positioning System say they are watching LightSquared company that wishes to set up an immense nationwide 4G cordless network with satellite coverage integration. LightSquared says that it has had special permission to utilize a piece of frequency range — the airwaves, essentially — for almost a decennary, and now it wishes to utilize it. Basically, LightSquared says that it has had the vacant spot for years, but now it is prepared for construction. All it wants is the permission from the FCC.

The trouble is: That frequency range is next to range utilized for Global Positioning System signals. Opponents of the LightSquared’s intentions compare it to having the heavy-metal music band move next door from you. They say LightSquared’s strong network would overwhelm Global Positioning System signals and this can become a disaster with economic and even life-threatening consequences.

Don’t make me laugh!

Civilian GPS system uses L1, L2 and L5 with 1575.42MHz, 1227.6MHz and 1176.45MHz frequencies respectively. Military forces use L3 band (1381.05MHz) and L4 band (1379.913MHz). 4G wireless networks use 1710-1755MHz and 2110-2155MHz as 3G plus 2496–2690MHz frequency in its work. LightSquared was granted the spectrum between 1525MHz and 1559MHz that is close to the GPS L1 band but not interferes with it. The tests have shown that only 1% of total GPS used frequency range may be sometimes slightly affected.

Thus it’s up to you to believe The Columbus Dispatch or not. In any way, if you want to keep the GPS safe from possible interference of the new 4G network, you can use 4G jammers to block LightSquared wireless network. You know, just in case.

And don’t forget that your opinion on this case is important to us so you are welcome to leave some comments here. Oh, one more thing. Watch this video before you write your comments:

Zonar Systems is the company that provides transportation companies with fleet management systems. Those systems are made for real-time truck tracking and not only for that. The system they have been developed is the complex system that allows operators of the fleet management center to get the most reliable data about the fleet whereabouts in real time. But let’s talk about one after another.

The main electronic device that does the biggest part of the work is called V2J. When it is in the truck, it provides not only the GPS location data (latitude, longitude and time) but also the odometer data. Can you imagine that? And that is not all! This small device also reads all data from truck subsystems and sends them to the operator. So the company you work for will know all about what, when and how you do anything in your truck.

Yet the V2J system had one huge disadvantage – it was vulnerable to harsh conditions and worked not always with the maximum efficiency or even stopped its work at all. So Zonar Systems created Wombat – the advanced real-time GPS tracking device for truck fleets that has the original V2J system inside of the rugged case developed to withstand even the worst environment like snow, dust, dirt, water and even salt. And it can be easily attached to the vehicle due to the magnetic mounting kit.

As you can see, the huge amount of data collected by Zonar V2J is going directly to the operators of the fleet management center. They use Ground Traffic Control Application to analyze all of it and be aware of your every move and what is going on with your truck. So the system is really nice and works with enviable reliability. Still its tracking mechanism can be stopped.

In most cases companies use V2J system in the Wombat case due to its advantages mentioned above, thus you cannot reach it in a simple way. So the sure-fire way to get rid of this system is to block the signal of the Zonar V2J Wombat directly and for sure. By the way, you can watch how the device that allows you to do that is working in this video:

Oh, and don’t forget to leave your comments on this article below!

For all the disapproval and recent lawful bans, texting when driving just keeps increasing, particularly amongst younger automobilists. About half of all American drivers from 21 to 24 say they have thumbed messages or e-mailed from the seat of the driver. And what is more, multiple drivers do not think it is dangerous when they simply do it – only when somebody else does. At whichever given moment of 2010 on various streets and highways of America, approximately one among every 100 automobile drivers was texting, talking, e-mailing, surfing the Internet or differently utilizing the handheld electronic gadget. And those actions spiked 50% over the 2010, even as USA tries to ban those practices in all states.

In November 2011, Pennsylvania became the 35th state to prohibit texting while driving this state. In 2010 there were 3,092 crash deaths affected by a broad range of various driver distractions, from having a meal to thumbing e-mail. That number was obtained utilizing a recent methodology pointed at receiving a more specific description of deaths due to distracted driving and cannot be compared to the data from past years. While electronic gismos are in even greater usage by drivers, automobilists are completely contradicted about it, as the NHTSA survey made among over 6,000 drivers established.

Among those drivers more than half said that making cell phone calls made no difference towards their driving quality, and quarter of them said that texting or e-mailing made no difference too. But 90% said that in case they are car passengers they feel extremely unsafe if their driver is texting or e-mailing. There were really few situations when drivers said they’d never talk via mobile phone or type texts. Bad climate was the most cited reason. Some drivers said they’d never make a phone call or type text message if they had seen a policeman, had a kid aboard or were driving in the marked school zone or in dark night conditions.

Still not all drivers are conscious about careful driving and avoiding additional distractions on the road. Talking, texting and e-mailing behind the wheel, no matter where you are, is the actions endangering you and your passengers regardless of how confident you feel yourself as a driver. So you need to prevent mobile phone distractions behind the wheel to have full control of the situation on the road.

What do you think about texting bans? Will they have the effect they suppose to have? Or people must think about it by themselves?

GPS triangulation and cell phone location finding may aid us to make our way anywhere — or to aid somebody find us quickly. If you occur to be a missed pet, the patient with Alzheimer’s disease or a little kid, that’s a great thing, yet what about all the rest of us walking around? Where do we actually stand legally regarding being shadowed by cell phone carriers, smartphone apps or the authorities?

Tracked By The Government

You might suppose that there is a federal legislative act preventing authorities tracking you, at least when they have no warrant. But you would be wrong. Few court decisions in past months have made uncertain messages about the legitimacy of GPS tracking and cell phone location finding by the authorities, and the problem has just started in the US Supreme Court. Earlier in August 2011, the federal judge of New York enacted that police have to have a warrant to legally track any person utilizing cell phone tower triangulation. In October 2011, the federal judge of Washington, D.C., enacted that police should not have the warrant to utilize the same procedure to track the cell phone of the person suspected in armed-robbery.

“Right now, there’s struggle in all circuit courts. We do not have the countrywide policy,” said Rhode Island attorney Robert Ellis Smith who is the editor of Privacy Journal, the monthly newsletter, and who aided to write the advising briefing to the Supreme Court on this case. The true question asked by those cases is: In modern digital age, how will the Supreme Court construe the Fourth Amendment’s forbidding on excessive searches and property seizure? Is location tracking of all people by the authorities bad? Well, that relies on the situation.

Tracked Not By The Government

But if the authorities can track individuals utilizing their cell phones, so can plenty of other folks. Tracking software may be installed by anybody with access to your smartphone. And quite often the inventive person does not even have access to your mobile phone. “The type of your cell phone, the name of your carrier and the number of your cell phone” are frequently all that is required,” said Jodi’s Voice (New Mexico online anti-stalking advocacy group) founder Angela Daffron.

Some firms even sell tracking apps that permit any spouse or caring parent to monitor both communications and location of any smartphone. It is not illegal. Earlier last year, the appellate court of New Jersey enacted that it wasn’t an intrusion of privacy for the first spouse to install small tracker on the car driven by the second spouse but jointly owned.

Your Safety Is Above All

If you wish to minimize the capability of others to intentionally track you, you have some options.

First of all, say no to any smartphone app that wish to track you. Search for “location services” or some settings like that on your cell phone, smartphone or tablet. Google is mapping all Wi-Fi hotspots around the planet to help in its well-known location data thus if you do not wish the wireless network of your house to be included, you have to add “_nomap” at the end of the name of your home network.

To avoid tracking software anyhow installed on your smartphone, Daffron recommends keeping your smartphone with you all time, and in addition limiting people who know your cell phone number. You may in addition install nice anti-virus software, Norton for example, on your smartphone to keep away all spyware.

If you wish to make absolutely sure that your smartphone isn’t being tracked by any means, even for E911 aims then you have to use anti-illegal tracking jammers which prevent all possibilities of tracking your cell phone illegally.

What do you think about your smartphone tracking and its legality or illegality? Tell us what you think in the comments!

Lockheed Martin has started the implementation of the $5.5 billion upgrade to the GPS satellite system in its testing complex located in Colorado. The main goal of this upgrade is to make Global Positioning System to transmit more powerful and reliable signals which would be easier to tune up at for the GPS gadgets and navigators and in addition harder to block by means of GPS jammers. This upgrade will affect not only the civilian GPS enabled devices but military GPS gadgets as well. By the way, when Block III be launched it will operate many various satellites including American, European, Russian (like GLONASS system in iPhone 4S) and maybe even satellites from other countries of the world.

Engineers and scientists have already started working on the project because the first prototype of the new Block III satellite has already arrived in Colorado at the Lockheed Martin testing facility. It is also worth mentioning that this prototype is not the flying model thus it would not be launched to the orbit. The first model capable of flying to the orbit will arrive to this complex only next year, but it also needs a lot of tests so the launch is planned at May 2014. This Block III satellite would not be alone because there are 32 units planned to be launched in total.

Because of the fact that new GPS Block III satellites work with civilian GPS devices too, common people will receive the possibility to get more precise coordinates and position tracking from their GPS navigators and GPS enabled devices like smartphones. Actually, the accuracy of the location tracking will increase from 100 feet to no more than 3 feet, thus increasing it in three with something times.

Yet along with the advantages there are also some disadvantages. You see, when the bad guys would like to know your location, they would be using this new Block III GPS system thus their dirty deeds would be even more effective and accurate. Still you can prevent them from spotting your location because our company can grant you the ability to jam the GPS Block III signal in the future by means of our GPS jammers powerful enough to deal even with improved satellite systems!

So what do you think about Block III GPS and the future of the satellite navigation? Share your opinions in the comments!