Location tracker that doesn't reveal location?

Selfbondage software and other kinky developments

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tormenta
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Location tracker that doesn't reveal location?

Post by tormenta »

There are many location sharing apps that will share one's location on a map with trusted partners. I'm wondering if there exists or could exist an app that will show a phone's location relative to some point known only to the phone's owner? That is, something that could be used for play with a casual long-distance partner so the partner could tell
from your movement pattern when you were you were at home, when you were at work etc, but wouldn't know where those were? Does that sound possible even theoretically?

Apologies that this isn't strictly a self-bondage question, but I hope it's not too wildly off topic for this group.
T.
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Shannon SteelSlave
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Re: Location tracker that doesn't reveal location?

Post by Shannon SteelSlave »

You came to the right place, as well, I can see its relevance to bondage. Anyway, we are here to help with a wide variety of member concerns. :)
Are you asking for a location tracker that gives the location statics only to the owner/operator of the telephone? I don't think I would trust such a beacon if personal privacy is a concern.
I though I saw a tracking device on "Breaking Bad" that was attached to a car. The guy removed it a week later and uploaded its location history. I still think that any GPS data could be farmed up by any modern equipment, though maybe a unique signal beacon might be a possibility for the government or military, just don't see it as practical for civilians.
Anyone else feel free to weigh in.
Bondage is like a foreign film without subtitles. Only through sharing and practice can we hope to understand.
A Jedi uses bondage for knowledge and defense, never for attack.
I am so smart! I am so smart! S-M-R-T!....I, I mean S-M-A-R-T!
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Vladimir Lem
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Re: Location tracker that doesn't reveal location?

Post by Vladimir Lem »

My understanding is that we are looking for a location sharing service like Google maps allows, but without revealing the actual location. So instead of giving the real coordinates relative to Null Island the coordinates shared would be e.g. relative to the user's home, i.e. 0°N 0°E would refer to the user's home instead.
That way common travel patterns like commuting to work could be made out, as well as distance from home or walks around the block, all without ever revealing the user's actual location.

I don't know of any service that does this, but it would be trivial to set something like this up.

Of course this does not 100% guarantee your privacy. With enough data your movement patterns could probably be matched with map data, add to that other bits of information that you may share and that could hint to your location (nearby businesses or landmarks, timezone...) and a person determined enough may still find it where you live.
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Shannon SteelSlave
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Re: Location tracker that doesn't reveal location?

Post by Shannon SteelSlave »

I hear that the US government used cell phone data to view movement and gathering metrics for the pandemic research last year. No identifiable information was received, they said.
I use a Faraday Bag when I don't want to be tracked, but in your case, if your "dot" disappears from the map, you would have some explaining to do.
Bondage is like a foreign film without subtitles. Only through sharing and practice can we hope to understand.
A Jedi uses bondage for knowledge and defense, never for attack.
I am so smart! I am so smart! S-M-R-T!....I, I mean S-M-A-R-T!
👠👠
tormenta
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Re: Location tracker that doesn't reveal location?

Post by tormenta »

Vladimir Lem wrote:My understanding is that we are looking for a location sharing service like Google maps allows, but without revealing the actual location. So instead of giving the real coordinates relative to Null Island the coordinates shared would be e.g. relative to the user's home, i.e. 0°N 0°E would refer to the user's home instead.
That way common travel patterns like commuting to work could be made out, as well as distance from home or walks around the block, all without ever revealing the user's actual location.
Yes, that's exactly what I meant. Thanks for expressing it so clearly.
I don't know of any service that does this, but it would be trivial to set something like this up.
Your definition of trivial may differ from mine :) , but it does encourage me to at least try looking at some open source code from an existing tracker. Although I suspect that my limited history with Fortran isn't going to be much help.
Of course this does not 100% guarantee your privacy. With enough data your movement patterns could probably be matched with map data, add to that other bits of information that you may share and that could hint to your location (nearby businesses or landmarks, timezone...) and a person determined enough may still find it where you live.
Noted.
Vladimir Lem
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Re: Location tracker that doesn't reveal location?

Post by Vladimir Lem »

I could probably create a simple prototype tomorrow or in a couple of days.

Here's what I have in mind.

You have two PHP scripts (I believe PHP hosting is still the most widely available, cheap / free option).
First script takes lat, lon and a secret key only known to you as query parameters. If the key is correct, the coordinates are changed to the home-relative coordinate system (e.g. based on a local config file) and added together with a timestamp to a list of location reports (e.g. a JSON file).
Second scripts takes another secret key (known to the person you are sharing with) as query parameter. If the key is correct, the location history is displayed on a "map" without any map data. Basically a blank map with just the movement on it.

Everytime the first script is called another point is added to your location history.

If you have an Android phone you can use Tasker to periodically (every x seconds / minutes / hours / days ...) get your location and call the first PHP script.
I'm not familiar with iOS so I don't know which app would work there.
tormenta
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Re: Location tracker that doesn't reveal location?

Post by tormenta »

Vladimir Lem wrote:I could probably create a simple prototype tomorrow or in a couple of days...
That sounds like a lot of work to do in two days. I honestly wasn't expecting anyone to do any actual coding for this, but if the project is of interest to you, then, of course, any help would be greatly appreciated. Even some skeletal pseudo code outlining the various required steps would be of much assistance as I have zero experience of coding for android (that's what I use) or indeed in anything other than fortran and some basic linux shell scripting. (But I do find kinky stuff an excellent incentive to learn.)

Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this.
T.
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Shannon SteelSlave
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Re: Location tracker that doesn't reveal location?

Post by Shannon SteelSlave »

Vladimir Lem wrote:I could probably create a simple prototype tomorrow or in a couple of days.
Send me a Private Message when you get a chance, Vlad. Might have something to interest you.
Bondage is like a foreign film without subtitles. Only through sharing and practice can we hope to understand.
A Jedi uses bondage for knowledge and defense, never for attack.
I am so smart! I am so smart! S-M-R-T!....I, I mean S-M-A-R-T!
👠👠
Vladimir Lem
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Re: Location tracker that doesn't reveal location?

Post by Vladimir Lem »

Here we go.

https://github.com/LenAnderson/SecretLocation

You'll need a basic server with Apache/PHP. A free hosting service may work. I tried a couple and found https://www.000webhost.com/ to be fairly easy to use and fast to set up (don't know how well it works long term). You can see a demo here: https://secretlocation.000webhostapp.co ... =demo-read
Write key is "demo-write" so you can go to https://secretlocation.000webhostapp.co ... -15&lon=-3 to add location reports (just replace the values for lat and lon).
The custom center / null island is St Helena at lat = -15.9587411 and lon = -5.785443
tormenta
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Re: Location tracker that doesn't reveal location?

Post by tormenta »

Vladimir Lem wrote:Here we go.

https://github.com/LenAnderson/SecretLocation

You'll need a basic server with Apache/PHP. A free hosting service may work. I tried a couple and found https://www.000webhost.com/ to be fairly easy to use and fast to set up (don't know how well it works long term). You can see a demo here: https://secretlocation.000webhostapp.co ... =demo-read
Write key is "demo-write" so you can go to https://secretlocation.000webhostapp.co ... -15&lon=-3 to add location reports (just replace the values for lat and lon).
The custom center / null island is St Helena at lat = -15.9587411 and lon = -5.785443
Thank you so much for that. I'm amazed by how much you have done, and how quickly you have done it. You've written the code faster than I'll be able to figure out how it all works and get it up and running, but that demo figure is exactly what I had in mind when I posted my initial query. It's a big surprise to be seeing it two days later :)

Thanks again, I'll report back in due course with my own progress.
T
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Shannon SteelSlave
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Re: Location tracker that doesn't reveal location?

Post by Shannon SteelSlave »

tormenta wrote:
Thank you so much for that. I'm amazed by how much you have done, and how quickly you have done it. You've written the code faster than I'll be able to figure out how it all works and get it up and running, but that demo figure is exactly what I had in mind when I posted my initial query. It's a big surprise to be seeing it two days later :)

Thanks again, I'll report back in due course with my own progress.
T
That's why we're proud to have Vlad as our newest addition the the Developer Crew.
Bondage is like a foreign film without subtitles. Only through sharing and practice can we hope to understand.
A Jedi uses bondage for knowledge and defense, never for attack.
I am so smart! I am so smart! S-M-R-T!....I, I mean S-M-A-R-T!
👠👠
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kinbaku
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Re: Location tracker that doesn't reveal location?

Post by kinbaku »

Shannon SteelSlave wrote:
tormenta wrote:
Thank you so much for that. I'm amazed by how much you have done, and how quickly you have done it. You've written the code faster than I'll be able to figure out how it all works and get it up and running, but that demo figure is exactly what I had in mind when I posted my initial query. It's a big surprise to be seeing it two days later :)

Thanks again, I'll report back in due course with my own progress.
T
That's why we're proud to have Vlad as our newest addition the the Developer Crew.
Hip hip hooray for Vladimir Lem. :worship:
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tormenta
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Re: Location tracker that doesn't reveal location?

Post by tormenta »

tormenta wrote:
Thanks again, I'll report back in due course with my own progress.
Hi Vladimir
Back again to report that it all works like a charm :) Rarely have I encountered such well documented software. Following your step by step guide worked pretty much at the first attempt. The most time consuming part was getting tasker running properly on my phone. For my own use case, I've added some markers at fixed spacing on the base 'map' to give a sense of scale and am going to have a go at tweaking add.php to discard existing locations and start afresh if the time interval between the current and last recorded location is too large.

Thank you.
T
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