You really like your GPS navigation, right? Or maybe just the feature on your phone that pinpoints you on a map. Well, there are many other people and organizations who also would very much like to know where you are. GPS (Global Positioning System) devices have become cheap and plentiful. They are also quite small. Several companies sell GPS tracking devices that can be hidden in or on your vehicle. They can transmit coordinates of where you are and where you have been for weeks at a time. Court order? Don't make me laugh, it hurts.
- Rental Cars: Sometimes (often?) there are GPS devices to verify you don't speed or abuse their vehicles
- Cellular phone companies
- Trucking companies
- Private Investigators
- Toll-roads
- Aircraft
- "Protect your Child" programs
Yes, GPS is darn useful and all applications of it are not nefarious. However, don't you want to decide?
WHAT YOU CAN DO
**** Please note: I am not advocating that you, the reader, or anyone else deliberately thwart or otherwise disobey the applicable laws in your location. You are responsible for your actions.
You can buy a GPS jammer on eBay for about $25. Or so I am told. If you want to be a bit more private about it, you can build one. Not too long ago a hacker website called Phrack published complete instructions and a schematic for building such a device. Here is the link CAUTION: If you build this, and turn it on, you may be liable for prosecution for violating FCC rules and who knows what Federal, State or Local laws. This device works by adding noise on the L1 GPS frequency and is effective against spread spectrum-based radio receivers. It has no effect on the Precise Positioning Service (PPS) or on other GPS-related signals, but it will work against the majority of consumer/OEM GPS receivers (unless they have special anti-jamming electronics, just sayin’). It also will not work against military grade GPS. Here is the same File for educational purposes and fun only!