US cell carriers are selling access to real-time phone location data

Re:US cell carriers are selling access to real-time phone lo... by rsync on Wednesday May 16, 2018 @11:35AM (#17083221)

Oh, sweet summer child ...

"Even if there was a separate OS running in parallel with Android, how could it access the wireless-networks-based and satellite-based location data? I thought that access to these things is controlled by Android."

There is a separate OS running in parallel with Android and it is running on the very hardware that makes the network connections to the cellular network that you are speaking of.

In fact there are two - the OS and software stack that run on the baseband processor and the OS and software (java apps) that run on your SIM card, which is a full blown computer with its own memory and processor, etc. In fact, your carrier can upload new java programs to your SIM card without your knowledge at any time.

Your final question is a good one - many (most ?) implementations give the baseband processor DMA to the main, application processor. So you are hopelessly owned. Deeply, profoundly, hopelessly owned.

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Re:US cell carriers are selling access to real-time phone lo... by dude123456 on Wednesday May 16, 2018 @01:17PM (#17084273)

True++ there are at least 4-5 OSes on Qualcomm with direct access to the Internet:

1. Linux Kernel / Android OS, running on main ARM CPU in "normal mode"

2. QSEE or Trustonic OS, running on main ARM CPU in "trusted execution environment" mode, in parallel with "normal mode"

3. OKL4 / REX Kernel + AMSS OS, running on the baseband CPU (modem)

4. SIM card processor, although it is very limited (typically 32k RAM) and acts only as a MITM for SMS's, not cellular data

5. The OS running on the Wi-Fi card

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Re:US cell carriers are selling access to real-time phone lo... by jcfrei on Wednesday May 16, 2018 @08:26PM (#17087575)

Do you happen to know if Apple phones are any better with regards to privacy?

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Re:US cell carriers are selling access to real-time phone lo... by jkepler on Tuesday May 22, 2018 @02:47PM (#17128411)

Does anyone know of any smartphone projects where the circuits are designed to give the user's OS (usually GNU/Linux, but could be anything the user fancies if the bootloader's free) control over power to the baseband CPU, SIM card processor, and OS on the Wifi card? As far as I know, the Neo900 project is the only one attempting to allow the user's OS to control power to all those other ones.

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Re:US cell carriers are selling access to real-time phone lo... by fake-name on Wednesday May 23, 2018 @01:30AM (#17131647)

It doesn't exist. And in the current market, it can't exist.

All the core silicon is wrapped up in huge quantities of NDAs and licensing agreements. You buy a baseband, and the mfg gives you a blob you can either use, or not use the baseband.

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Re:US cell carriers are selling access to real-time phone lo... by com2kid on Wednesday May 16, 2018 @06:43PM (#17087056)

Remember back when people got upset over Intel CPUs having a unique ID in them? Remember when people got upset over tracking pixels?

Since then, things went really bad, really fast, just no one noticed.

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Re:US cell carriers are selling access to real-time phone lo... by Intermernet on Thursday May 17, 2018 @12:55AM (#17088832)

We noticed, but wailing and gnashing teeth doesn't achieve much. Unfortunately, without widespread education and outrage, nothing achieves much.

That's why I don't mind being "that guy" in social situations when these issues are brought up.

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