Math for Security

8 Tracking People in Physical Space with Digital Information

Let’s continue our discussion of computational geometry with a somewhat controversial topic: tracking people in physical space using digital information. It’s no secret that law enforcement agencies across the globe rely heavily on cell phone tracking to locate and apprehend suspects. You might think this requires them to get a warrant and then subpoena the GPS records from a wireless provider, but this isn’t always the case, nor is it strictly necessary. Using publicly available information and basic geometry, you can (somewhat) accurately place a phone in a given area, even if ...