Before I begin, let me say that I worked for one of the major Cell Phone companies in a support position at the time that the E911 initiative was begun.
This is the first time I have ever seen Snopes get their details flat out wrong. When you call in to a 911 centre that has E911 capabilities, and you are using a modern phone, it will include your GPS data. This is required by Federal Law, and is the reason why every new phone sold in the U.S. now had a GPS function. However as long as E911 Only is selected on your phone, the only time that this data should be available is when you dial 911.
If you select Location On, your data is available to be requested through the Cell Phone company. This allows for a number of interesting possibilities like delivery comapnies using GPS tracking programs via phone. Policies on how location on is handled varied from comapny to company. In some cases if you have Location ON, anyone can input your cellphone number into an appropriate prgram to track you. In most cases, you have to specifically subscribe to a service for your phone that allows them to query your phone and track your GPS system. In all cases if you select E911 only, no tracking program will be able to follow you.
no subject
This is the first time I have ever seen Snopes get their details flat out wrong. When you call in to a 911 centre that has E911 capabilities, and you are using a modern phone, it will include your GPS data. This is required by Federal Law, and is the reason why every new phone sold in the U.S. now had a GPS function. However as long as E911 Only is selected on your phone, the only time that this data should be available is when you dial 911.
If you select Location On, your data is available to be requested through the Cell Phone company. This allows for a number of interesting possibilities like delivery comapnies using GPS tracking programs via phone. Policies on how location on is handled varied from comapny to company. In some cases if you have Location ON, anyone can input your cellphone number into an appropriate prgram to track you. In most cases, you have to specifically subscribe to a service for your phone that allows them to query your phone and track your GPS system. In all cases if you select E911 only, no tracking program will be able to follow you.