The news about the NSA collecting information on pretty much everyone was bad enough right? So you decide to lay off the Skype and send snail mail to friends instead; maybe you even go as far as turning the old cell off to make sure that the invisible umbilical is severed. Think again; turning your cell phone off to thwart any tracking that might be associated with your phone is futile at best.


RT says that a mobile phone can double as a tracking device, which identifies the owner’s location in real time through a mobile network’s communication with the device, through spy software operating on the phone, or by some other means, this is hardly secret. But it is widely considered that a phone that is turned off cannot emit signals and is thus untraceable.

Some privacy-cautious people suggest removing a battery as an extra precaution but phones can contain a micro battery that enables location transmissions when the main battery is removed. More hardline privacy activists, like software freedom activist and founder of the Free Software Foundation Richard Stallman, don’t use cellphones at all, saying that they can be not only used for tracking, but also converted remotely into listening devices with specific spyware.

The NSA is currently the focus of much criticism after former contractor Edward Snowden leaked secret documents revealing that the agency is involved in massive worldwide collection of personal data. The agency is accused of trawling phone communications, emails, financial transactions and other records concerning hundreds of millions of people who are not suspected of any crimes or considered a threat to any country’s national security. Critics call it a gross violation of privacy.