Keep watching the skies
qThe tabloids were full of reports of how “Internet Girl” and ”Chatroom Monster Marine” were tracked using mind-boggling Hollywood-esque
Spy Tech.
The Mirror’s report being, I imagine, fairly typical:
“The satellite net can follow a mobile with stunning accuracy all over the world. The phone does not even need to be in use. As long as it has power it can be located.”
The system uses 24 communications satellites to target a mobile’s microwave transmissions.
Microwave, you say? 24 satellites, you say? Is explicitly referring to
GPS considered too mundane or too technical?
Or had the Mirror’s man not heard of this technology? I mean, it’s only been around for over 20 years now…
It can pinpoint a phone to a few metres and was even able to turn on Studabaker’s mobile when it was switched off.
For some unusual values of “switched off”, I suppose. I’m guessing Studabaker, as a former Navy man, owned a satellite phone (not unusual for members of the US Forces posted overseas). I can’t see any related stories currently. Maybe the Mirror got it wrong, and it was the tri-angulation from the base stations of a conventional GSM phone that was used?
