On Wed, 22 Nov 2017 05:40:42 +0000 (UTC), harry newton
wrote:

At this point, I see no evidence (yet anyway) of firebase services on my
Android 4.3 phone. Do you?

I dunno and don't have the time to check. Since it's probably buried
the application code, I doubt if I'll find anything.

However, all this begs another question. Assuming that Wi-Fi is also
turned off in Airplane mode, what the hell is Google doing
TRANSMITTING anything? Unless its buffered, to use the phone for
location tracking would require transmitting the tower ID's when they
are heard. I would think that the airline companies would take a dim
view of this as Google's transmitting anything in an commercial
airliner in flight could interfere with aircraft navigation, which is
the purpose of having the Airplane mode. If some airliner falls out
of the sky due to a navigation error, Google's tracking trickery could
easily be deemed responsible.

Incidentally, there's quite a bit more information available that
could be used for location tracking than just the tower ID. The big
one is the propagation delay (ping time) between the handset and the
cell tower, which defines a location radius. Two or three such delays
would obtain your location quite accurately. However, Google could
just as easily transmit the GPS location or the individual satellite
delays in order to obtain a location. It's odd that they would
transmit only the tower ID's, as there so much more available.

I should probably fire up the spectrum analyzer, turn off the wi-fi,
and see if my Samsung S6 is belching anything in Airplane mode.
However, tomorrow is the Day of the Turkeys and I have other plans.

Happy Day of the Turkeys.

--
Jeff Liebermann
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558