Move comes after immigration agencies ceased buying some location data during Biden administration after inspectors found they abused privacy protections

In a redacted acquisition document obtained by the tech news site 404 Media, the immigration agency proposes entering into a contract to buy “all-in-one” tools from a company called PenLink that will allow agents to “compile, process, and validate billions of daily location signals from hundreds of millions of mobile devices.” The document also mentions payments for services involving “face detection,” “advanced face search,” and a “dark web data feed.”

    • xav@programming.dev
      5·
      15 hours ago

      GPS doesn’t send anything - except maybe a ping to some server to get the first fix quicker of you didn’t use it for a long time, but this is completely optional.

      • IceFoxX@lemmy.world
        3·
        15 hours ago

        Good that all roms and cell phones that should be usable as a phone are dependent on SS7… Nice that there are also silent sms and other crap stories…

    • YoSoySnekBoi@kbin.earth
      2·
      15 hours ago

      I’m a bit confused by your question…GPS definitely requires communication between your phone and a satellite (i.e. can’t track you if your GPS unit is off - maybe you’re thinking of satellite imaging?). EDIT: This is actually incorrect, see comments below

      With wifi calling, yes, data is being sent to the carrier, but not via a signal that can be triangulated, so the most accurate location data they can gather is your IP address, which a VPN can easily hide.

      Or do you mean in terms of generalized location tracking? In which case yes, highly accurate location data is shared by your phone with your carrier by default, just by way of how cellular networks function; no GPS required.

      • RFKJrsBrainworm@sh.itjust.works
        7·
        15 hours ago

        My understanding of GPS is your phone uses satellite positions to figure out it’s location. The satellites are not receiving info from your phone/Garmin.

        • chicken@lemmy.dbzer0.com
          3·
          14 hours ago

          iirc phones supplement satellite GPS with other indicators to be more accurate and reliable, maybe distance from cell towers is one of those

        • whosepoopisonmybuttocks@sh.itjust.works
          2·
          14 hours ago

          I think the problem is that once your phone knows its location from GPS, google and apps can access this data. The data is then shared with advertisers and also, you know, government agencies.

          Unfortunately, even just the names of nearby WiFi networks and Bluetooth connections can be used to determine location. If apps and google services have access to this info, they still have location data on you, even with your cell and GPS radios disabled.

          Supposedly GOS doesn’t allow google or apps to access the location data unless you allow it, which is nice.