The Data Dot: Wireless Communications & Location Tracking — Part I

6 min readNov 28, 2022

When you hear Wireless Communication & Location Tracking — the first thought that comes to mind, at least for most people, are mobile phones, the benefits, and possible implications that they may have concerning our privacy. Practically anything from location-based data to camera and microphone records is accessed illicitly. Or maybe everyone is not ultra privacy-focused to be tuned in to such details. But it does go deeper than that, much deeper. First things first, we need to establish a good foundational understanding of the topic before diving into the issues that it may pose to privacy as a whole.

What is Wireless (Communication)?

Wireless communication today is practically any media for the exchange of information that does not involve a physical (wired or cable) connection between two or more points. Looking back on our history, mankind has always implemented some form or another of wireless communication. From its humble beginnings with smoke signals, flags, and flashing mirrors to the revolutionary development (in its rights) of the Wireless Telegraphy by Guglielmo Marconi in 1897 which was able to send electromagnetic (EM) waves over a distance of approximately one hundred meters.

Since then, wireless communications have revolutionized how we live and interact with each other within the digital and physical worlds. Technologies such as Bluetooth, WiFi and GPS, to name just a few, have generated countless opportunities for innovation removing the redundancy of the need for wired connections between devices.

There are some security concerns nonetheless, as there always are great innovations when it comes to these newfound means of communication. For example, having WiFi and Bluetooth enabled simultaneously on a device, opens up a decent-sized gap for a malicious actor to gain access to the device and ultimately the network that you are connected to. Now consider this network being your home WiFi and you have your smart appliances connected to the network. Having an intruder acquiring control over this network and the numerous devices that are operating on it, could pose a serious threat as real as any physical break-in, or worse.

Location Tracking — A Brief History

So how does location tracking fit in here? Before we dive into this topic, let’s take a step back and look at its roots in history because there are so many sub-topics linked to this idea alone, it can easily fill a book.

Dating back to the days of the Cold War, with inspiration from the leading innovation of the launch of Sputnik in 1957, the global positioning system (GPS) technology dates back to 1978. While it primarily relies on satellites orbiting Earth to determine the position of a tracking unit, in those days there were too many limitations barring the technology from public use ranging from a lack of sufficient satellites to insufficient interest by citizens. In 1996, however, President Bill Clinton identified a use case for the technology by the public and issued a policy to make it readily available to the everyday citizen.

Fast forward to today, we have tracking devices that are implemented by fleet managers, especially in the logistics industry, which enables organizations to optimize their fleets, track down lost or stolen vehicles, and speed up recovery operations in case of an emergency.

But our means of transport are not the only things being tracked daily. If you used Google Maps before, you most likely have noted that it offers you alternative routes based on the number of traffic congestion that you may encounter. This data is measured in real-time based on — for the most part — the mobile phones that are carried by the road users along that route. A high number of slow-moving mobile phones that can be tracked based on their location, indicates traffic congestion to Google and is indicated as such on the map for the end-user. To prove this, Simon Weckert — a Youtuber — took a handcart filled with mobile phones and slowly walked it down a pleasantly peaceful street; effectively tricking the Google Maps algorithm into thinking that there is a major traffic jam.

One viewer commented:

“Just goes to show how we are the source of all their information,”

A Google spokesman said:

“Whether via car or cart or camel, we love seeing creative uses of Google Maps as it helps us make maps work better over time.”

Both comments ring true to this topic, but at the end of the day, it is up to us to decide how much privacy we have and how much we are prepared to sacrifice for convenience in our day-to-day routines.

Network Service Providers & Triangulation

Triangulation used to be the state-of-the-art technology for tracking down the location of an individual through a mobile call by measuring the signal strength from mobile masts as so glamorously illustrated by the early 2000s Hollywood movies. The reality is, however, that GPS tracking has long since replaced this method of tracking down the location of an individual with all modern smartphones sharing their physical location in one form or another as long as it is switched on. Outside of mobile devices, we have all types of Internet of Things (IoT) devices that we carry wherever we go that contribute to the ease of location tracking.

The summary here is that our network carriers have, for the most part, a continuous stream of real-time location data about us.

Location Data — Where does it go?

By now it is fair to say that we have established that our location data is being tracked, whether we like it or not and there is unfortunately only so much that we can do about it. Ranging from mobile applications requiring the device’s location to be enabled and built-in GPS controllers in vehicles to intrusive tracking devices attached by bad actors such as stalkers looking to gain more insights into your movements. But the question is, does our privacy outweigh the security risks and options to ‘socialize’ a bit more?

If we break this down somewhat more and relate it to our daily routines, having access to the location data of your brand-new laptop or mobile might come in very handy if you forgot it on the train that you just got off. Or if you are in an emergency, the location of your vehicle could help responders to locate your quicker and more effectively, decreasing the response time which may in some cases save lives.

But there is always the flip side of the coin to look at. We also need to consider what happens to the location data after its being collected to help you to outweigh the pros and cons for yourself.

Data brokers, which we covered in a previous article, collect, process, package, and sell numerous data points about consumers and location data is in no way exempt from this. Ranging from the resale of data to marketers who aim to send you location-based targeted advertisements to law enforcement, your location could be shared with more people than you are comfortable with.

Many businesses base their marketing on location to better relate their products to consumers and for some individuals, this is ideal in terms of convenience. The fact remains though, just as these datasets could be sold to innocent third parties, there is no telling who is on the paying end of these transactions. This is especially true when it comes to mobile applications sharing location and other information about users as was the case with the recent incident that Flotracker experienced — a period and fertility tracking application for women — more on this in the next article.

Closing Thoughts

Taking a step back, we established the foundation of the ideas that link wireless communications and location tracking in our modern-day society to the collection and distribution of our personal information, alongside the possible implications to our privacy. In next week’s follow-up article which will form the second part of this three-part series, we will dive into means of location tracking, health applications and wearable devices. So stick around for our next update because it gets really interesting real fast.