I can’t believe I’ve never thought about this and that no one is really talking about it. GPS is a system that everyone uses everyday on there phone and is constantly tracking your location.
Many people here (including myself) use airplane mode to block mobile data signals so that mobile data companies cannot track your location and sell it to data brokers. But airplane mode doesn’t block GPS (I just tested this now on my phone, maybe your phone works differently). Is GPS somehow designed in a way so that it’s private?
GPS itself is a one-way technology. On a basic level, the GPS satellites broadcast their precise location in space, and a very accurate timestamp from an onboard atomic clock. By comparing the difference in timestamps from a few satellites, you can determine how far away you are from each, thus deducing your own position. User devices only receive broadcasts from the GPS constellation; they don’t transmit. This is by design; GPS originated with the US military who wanted a navigation system usable anywhere in the world passively. You can use GPS without giving away your position by transmitting radio waves.
The privacy nightmare is when you mix a GPS receiver in with all the other sensors, storage and radios found in a smart phone. How many apps on your phone have GPS privileges? Why does it want that?
GPS is not the technology, it is only the US implementation of the technology which is called GNSS.