When we want to look at things that give away your location data in every day life you should be looking at where government get this information when they need evidence for a crime.
When you look at court cases local police departments have a wide range of things they can pull data from that can help them with evidence. Now this data they have to manually get from the things you own is not transmitted online but it is most likely stored in that object for a certain period of time.
Car
One example is any new car with its own navigation system, they keep data on the most important things like frequently visited places, most recent place, and where you last were. This isn’t done for any malicious intent but to allow for ease of use when you are trying to use your maps to get somewhere. But if a government entity really wanted to know your location data then your car could tell a good story of where you’ve been.
Cellular Companies
While we all know that our phone tracks us where we go every day based on gps. But the cellular companies also keep location of what cell towers your phone has connected to which gives rough estimate where you are. This is based off the range of that cell tower. But if you are in a cross section of two or three towers that your phone might be roaming through then the location can be a lot more exact.
Many police departments also employ a tool that forces your cellular data to a device they have called the StingRay and take every single bit of information you may be transmitting through your signal and they keep it for use for themselves. If you are the target of the government and they are tracking a device that they don’t know the user then they would first track the cellular tower that device is using. They would go to that area and use the StingRay to figure out the exact location based on strength of signal. This tool is mostly employed in setting where there is a large gathering of people like a protest so police can track peoples phones. While probably not entirely legal they stand by the use of it.
Cameras
Cameras are being used more than any time ever. Companies are employing lots and lots of cameras for cheap and easy security. They are using it for safety features. They are also using them to track people. Now when I say track people I mean everyone. US government already has cameras on many highways this could be used for a different purposes but they are employed to find cars that they would like to keep track of. Kind of like finding a needle in a hay stack it would be very hard to look for their intended object. And of course Ring cameras around the country are being used to keep homes secure but also being used to capture any evidence that might not happen on their property.
There are a lot more objects that track your location data but aren’t being used as much as the things just stated. This isn’t meant to be skeptical of car use, cellular use, or cameras. Its meant to just keep you on your toes and know what you are surrounded by.
Interested in your own Virtual Private Server?
Here is an article about what to do with your data when flying out of the country
