I shut off the GPS feature for general use, only turning it on when I want to use something for which my location is a required bit of information.

I carry a shitty flip phone.

>> I carry a shitty flip phone.

Me too- mine's about 5 or 6 years old, still works great. The kids in our neighborhood all have the newest i-phones, and replace their working phones as soon as the next generation of phones comes available.

my cynical prediction: the security state will soon require all cell phones to be GPS enabled in order to "keep America safe", and our flip phones will be gone.

> kids in our neighborhood all have the newest
> i-phones

Yeah, listen, we're not rich but we're probably richer than a lot of the people around us, right?

And every time I see a teenager in a taco place with an Iphone, I think "TCO = $3K".

Somebody loves these kids more than I possibly, possibly could.

> my cynical prediction: the security state will
> soon require all cell phones to be GPS enabled
> in order to "keep America safe", and our flip
> phones will be gone.

Roz, I like you and would NEVER discourage the kind of cynicism you're pursuing there.

But the truth is that cell phone are tracking devices by their very nature. Every three or six seconds, the cell phone in your purse wakes up and checks in with the local cell tower (just to make sure no one's calling), then goes back to sleep. Tracking your movements is trivial, even with the cheapest cell phone you can buy.

oh i get that, crid. i just think the security state contractors need to justify their existence and budgets by hoovering up as much info on us as possible to fill up their shiny new data centers, and forcing us all to have internet-enabled phones will greatly enhance this goal and their profits.

"I carry a shitty flip phone."

I figured you were a Droid guy. OK. No wonder you're so angry.

Anyway. If you place your cellphone next to an AM radio, you'll hear a "Boop!" every few seconds. It's a signal test, not a GPS locator, but yeah, they can tell what tower you're near.

...but yeah, they can tell what tower you're near.

That's all the so-called GPS in your phone really is. It pings a nearby cell tower for signal strength, location, and time. The GPS locator triangulates your approximate location using nearby cell towers.

It's not always dead-on. When I'm at home, mine consistently puts me in the house across the street. I figure that will buy me a few seconds when the government goon squad comes for me.

One reason I don't use an iphone (the UI is nice) is that the battery is not easily replaced/taken out. Take the battery out of your phone so it doesn't ping towers.

"but yeah, they can tell what tower you're near"

And THIS is DH's biggest complaint about Dexter-he's all anti-forensic-measues, but carries and uses his cell wherever he is, crime scene included. Come on, even I know not to carry my cell with me if I'm killing someone!

I hate GPS. I don't have it in my car, or on my cell. Hate it hate it hate it!

> No wonder you're so angry.

It's important that you monitor my emotional condition at all times! Keep a log book!

You can use a computer database as well, if you like... The important thing is that you take the information down in an accurate, legible form. This data will mean a lot to you later, I promise.

Your grandchildren will want to know that you had a piece of The Miracle, if only through this ephemeral, misty context.

I carry an awesome flip phone. Awesome, because it doesn't do shit except phone calls and basic messaging and costs me only $30 a month.

* * *

>>That's all the so-called GPS in your phone really is.

For most phones, yes, but newer phones really do have a GPS chip inside of them. A lot of radio chips now including the GPS receiver in one package.

> I figure that will buy me a few seconds when
> the government goon squad comes for me.

They have dogs. And flashbombs. And rifles. And drones.

You're doomed!

It's how they found OJ, you know... And we all know how THAT turned out.

A lot of radio chips now including the GPS receiver in one package.

Well then. I am doomed.

Look, Dood, I didn't say your fear was misplaced... I just wanted to make fun of it anyway.

One of the things I hadn't predicted from the rise of authoritarianism since 9/11 has been the violent tumescence of local constabularies... See Amy's nearby post about reckless police searches in New York City.

This stuff is only going to get worse. People have basically handed over their lives to law-enforcement authorities local, regional and national.

The problem is that the cops are as pissed –and clueless- as anyone else.

I'm 53. If the actuarial tables are correct, I'll be checking out at almost exactly the right time. I feel bad, but recent history in the United States and elsewhere is the best possible expression of why I never had kids... It saves me the trouble of putting it into words. Human nature, of which so many people are inexplicably fond, is the largest part of the problem.

Dood-

You are either drunk or stoned, both of which I've been often whilst visiting the blog, but this Jim Morrison \ Nietsche shit just won't do.

> You are either drunk or stoned

Neither! Belly fulla Mex food.

(I always thought the Doors were incredibly overrated, but I dated their producer's daughter for awhile. Lovely woman... Cheerful and unpretentious. She didn't walk around humming the bassline to Riders on the Storm or anything.)

Seriously now, since things fell apart in 2008, we've all heard and read a lot of reports from people all over the world... Certainly, all over the Western world. Every sector has checked in. The food people, the transportation people, the communications people, the medicine people, the manufacturing people, the education people, the inner city people, the suburb people, and of course the money & political people. (It's easy to interview those last two at the same time because they stand right next to each other.) All of these sectors are demanding more support from other people, not less. Now more than ever, they say... ALL of them.

ALL of them have the same complaint... The complaint is with policy. None of them have any humility about how things got fucked up. Every last motherfucker I've read in the last three or four years has spoken about the problem with with POLICIES. Particularly the policies of others.

In the last four years, I haven't heard ANY FUCKERS talk about the way they want to work harder to create more-valuable things. That's not on ANYONE'S radar, with the possible exception of Silicon Valley... And only for selected firms therein. Everyone else thinks the thing that'll make them rich is a government handout, whether of revenue or of assistive regulation of market rivals.

These generations do not comprehend humility. Humility is for suckers, right?

Well, I can imagine the modern world getting hit so hard by these crises, and people being so stunned by the poverty, that they rediscover the importance of thrift, stoicism, and attention to the needs of those around them.

After which life might again broadly and quickly improve for large populations... Until next time.

Takes time, though. Maybe people have to literally grow up in a depression before the insight sticks.

I'll be dead by then! You kids have fun, 'K?!

"... violent tumescence of local constabularies ..."

I can honestly say I've never read a phrase like that before; why, the imagery alone is priceless, though a bit disturbing. Which is why I enjoy your comments, Crid, even when I think you're full of baloney.

For the record, I got a phone with one of those little keyboards so my fat fingers can send a simple text in less than ten minutes. I guess it has some web capability, too, although I'd have to pay for it, and the screen's too small to be of much use. My car has one of those GPS gizmos integrated into the dashboard, so I guess if Big Brother wants to find me, it wouldn't be difficult.

I'm right about everything; there are no exceptions.

(There used to be a few misjudgments, but they've been corrected through stupendous effort, punishing sacrifice, and star-glowing virtue.)

I need to point out one thing here. The GPS system, by itself is receive-only. Your Tomtom does not send anything back, and even if it did the GPS satellite does not have any ability to receive it. It's when GPS capability gets integrated with a two-way device like a phone that it becomes capable of broadcasting your location.

Crid: "One of the things I hadn't predicted from the rise of authoritarianism since 9/11 has been the violent tumescence of local constabularies... " Well, the federal government sets the example for them.