[maxx]

I have the model 8703e-new from work-rumour is we are now being GPS tracked-"Not that there's anything wrong with it..." just wondering if this is legal and if not, can we be located if our phone is 'off' and how close can they get-withing feet? how often or is it all time tracking? this is sooo weird!! just wondering if I'm stuck in traffic for 2 hours if they can see reason for my delay too, ha! SOMEONE PLEASE ANSWER!!

[wabbit]

welcome to the forums.

vz offers a gps tracking thingy to companies, parents etc, it wont work if the phone is off but then again at work you might have some explain to do. when all calls go straight to voicemail

maybe this will help
Verizon Wireless Fleet Administrator

[ezrunner]

Wirelessly posted (blackberry 8140)

If it is there phone they have every right to track it! Particularly if you are on work time!

On your time doubt they would spend time tracking you but if you are worried about it just turn device off

[pwaugh]

Never ceases to amaze me. Why would anyone care if they were being tracked? If you are doing nothing wrong, then you got nothing to hide. :D

If you are doing bad things, then you shouldn't worry, you won't need GPS where you are going. :D

[FF2]

I guess that some folks, _ME_ included believe in a certain right of privacy - whether I am doing nothing wrong or whatever. I don't need my boss, the police, my spouse, significant other, Vice Pres knowing my every stop, location, route - PERIOD.

[rivviepop]

Read & learn, protect your right to privacy.

http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.c...ract_id=998565

Understanding privacy as I have set forth reveals the flaw of the nothing to hide argument at its roots. Many commentators who respond to the argument attempt a direct refutation by trying to point to things that people would want to hide. But the problem with the nothing to hide argument is the underlying assumption that privacy is about hiding bad things. Agreeing with this assumption concedes far too much ground and leads to an unproductive discussion of information people would likely want or not want to hide. As Bruce Schneier aptly notes, the nothing to hide argument stems from a faulty "premise that privacy is about hiding a wrong."

(warning: not light reading, but you will never use the "nothing to hide" statement ever again if you spend time to read the whole paper and digest it thoroughly)

[JSanders]

I agree, it is not about having nothing to hide. In this case, it is about the device owner being able to know where you are while in their employ.

Trucking fleets, etc., have used this for a while with great success to hinder theft and other illicit activities with their property AND for the driver's own safety.

In the case of the OP's questions, I don't know his employment or job description and it is unlikely they are tracking his every move. But if they have the application loaded for that purpose, it is possible, and legal.

[FF2]

Thanks for the link rivviepop - I will try reading it later but the quote was enough to get me more interested.

I believe that I've already conceded much privacy by using the Inet and the BB. I don't know but suspect that using the PHONE to visit sites provides those sites with more specific info on me that can be traced to the phonenumber in some fashion. My natural curiousity takes me on visits to sites from both the left wing and right wing and places in between - no different than when I would get lost in the dictionary trying to look up a word and take 10 minutes getting there through all the other definitions that aroused my interest.

But this dictionary (the Inet and BB) keep tabs on all of that idle browsing. Oh, my BB is a personal device.

I do agree that certain rights are ceded when using a boss' device and time.

[Sith_Apprentice]

Originally Posted by maxx

I have the model 8703e-new from work-rumour is we are now being GPS tracked-"Not that there's anything wrong with it..." just wondering if this is legal and if not, can we be located if our phone is 'off' and how close can they get-withing feet? how often or is it all time tracking? this is sooo weird!! just wondering if I'm stuck in traffic for 2 hours if they can see reason for my delay too, ha! SOMEONE PLEASE ANSWER!!

boils down to this.
work phone - they can do whatever they want to the phone, including tracking. you are on their time, they have every right to know what you are doing when they are paying . when you are off the clock, turn the phone off. And the common misconception is that you are being tracked. you are not. the phone is being tracked. you do not have to carry it wherever you go, you choose to. you can leave it in the vehicle if you stop anywhere. and if you turn the device off, it has no contact with GPS signals.

[rivviepop]

Yup, I wasn't disagreeing with the "it's a work phone" and all those reasons - that's obvious to most of us. I just dislike the spreading of "if you have nothing to hide" argument as it's a huge, big fallacy in logical thinking.

If I had nothing bad/wrong to hide, why don't I post my entire name, address, income tax returns, root passwords and everything else "hidden" in this post, right here and right now? It's not about hiding anything wrong, it's about protecting your personal privacy (and in some cases safety) from those who would abuse it.

But anyways, I digress.

[kjjb0204]

Wouldn't turning off the gps location option disable the ability to track the phone or can the vz app use tower triangulation just like google maps to determine an approximate location? I'm in a situation where I paid for the phone, but the company reimburses for my service every month and I'm on the corporate BES. I don't care if they know where I am during the week, but there's definitely a privacy issue if they can do this all the time, any time, including when I'm on vacation and on the weekends.

[ezrunner]

Rivvie

thanks for the LINK fantastic reading very eye opening and makes sense

[Sith_Apprentice]

Originally Posted by kjjb0204

Wouldn't turning off the gps location option disable the ability to track the phone or can the vz app use tower triangulation just like google maps to determine an approximate location? I'm in a situation where I paid for the phone, but the company reimburses for my service every month and I'm on the corporate BES. I don't care if they know where I am during the week, but there's definitely a privacy issue if they can do this all the time, any time, including when I'm on vacation and on the weekends.

this is one of the very many reasons that it is not recommended to activate a personal device on a BES. If the company wants you to have a device on the BES make them pay for it. using your personal devices gives them access to everything from GPS tracking to extremely restrictive IT policies.

[rivviepop]

Originally Posted by Sith_Apprentice

this is one of the very many reasons that it is not recommended to activate a personal device on a BES. If the company wants you to have a device on the BES make them pay for it. using your personal devices gives them access to everything from GPS tracking to extremely restrictive IT policies.

It's a little sticky when you're a contractor, though - my company has many. I don't understand the legal parts of it that well (we have people for that, I turn screws ;) ) but a lot of times they must own their own gear yet plug it in to a corporate (think your own laptop, but having to install the Cisco VPN client to connect to the place you're contracting at) workplace. I could see the same things happening for a BB device... but I think at that point if you're worried (as per the OP's concern about GPS tracking) you'd have to tackle this through legal means ("we will not track you on non-work hours, signed _The CompanyLawyer_").

[Phranc]

Originally Posted by kjjb0204

Wouldn't turning off the gps location option disable the ability to track the phone or can the vz app use tower triangulation just like google maps to determine an approximate location? I'm in a situation where I paid for the phone, but the company reimburses for my service every month and I'm on the corporate BES. I don't care if they know where I am during the week, but there's definitely a privacy issue if they can do this all the time, any time, including when I'm on vacation and on the weekends.

There may be an IT policy loaded that restricts it.

[tsac]

The organization I work for has GPS tracking in all vehicles to allow constant monitoring of location. The basic reason is simple, you work for them and they need to know where you are while on the job. We also have use of the vehicles off the job and it is understood the cars are or can be tracked then. One can reason this is for security of the employee and if they need xxx8220;assistancexxx8221; it makes it easy to find them. We also carry blackberrys and those are tracked not by the GPS in them , rather the triangulation of the cell location. All sounds reasonable if your not doing something you should not be. I find it funny people worry about the xxx8220; boss xxx8220; tracking them when every day we do things that allow a very detailed tracking to be known if someone wanted to and I donxxx8217;t mean the paranoid people who think the government listens in on their cell calls. Think about it, credit card use, purchase gas, food , internet use, video cameras in stores. The list goes on. As stated above, get your own BB and keep if off the company systems.

[FF2]

Right on time:

The Sat night NBC news had a report on gps and cellphones and the issue of privacy. Of course, it was a very short segment and focused on a new app called "loopt" I believe.

[southwestcomm]

Funny they would mention Loopt which is a social networking app and not an enterprise app.