Can a phone be privately tracked by its gps signal?

[TechnoCorruption]

With the inclusion of gps in most phones now it got me curious as to whether people could privately track other peoples locations.

I know phone companies can do and it would be beneficial in emergency situations but can it be done privately?

I don't really like the thought of people being able to track you via gps. Imagine pulling a sick day off of work only for your boss to track you at weatherspoons or telling the missus you have a headache tonight only for her to find out that your out with your mates.

 

[TechnoCorruption]

It could only be done if the GPS receiver was switched on without the user knowing, and I'm not sure how you'd pull that off... The hit to the battery life would also be quite a giveaway.

As for phone companies tracking phones - that would be done by triangulating the mobile signal, not the GPS.

Thats good to hear then, I really don't like the thought of people knowing where you are at all times.

I think I am getting more and more paranoid as I get older lol

 

[TechnoCorruption]

it can be done, i've written an app that does just that.

log into website, click 'track' and it sends an sms to the phone, which posts its location back to be plotted on a googlemap as marker/trail

How would it do that if the gps is turned off though or is that tracking via something else, like gprs?

 

[TechnoCorruption]

just wondering what prompted the question...

I am not really a fan of the big brother generation that we are evolving into. Cameras popping up in lots of streets, government looking to track phone calls and internet usage.

I was just paranoid I guess as to whether you could be tracked by someone that knew your phone number. Call me old fashioned but I like a sense of privacy, though that seems to be lost on a generation that feels the need to tweet to the world that they just ate a couple of jaffa cakes.