On: Facebook, Ray-Ban debut picture-taking smart glass...

[SturgeonsLaw]

> By September 2004, a new NSA technique enabled the agency to find cellphones even when they were turned off. JSOC troops called this “The Find,” and it gave them thousands of new targets, including members of a burgeoning al-Qaeda-sponsored insurgency in Iraq, according to members of the unit.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/nsa-g...

The NSA has had the capability to track switched-off phones since 2004, so it's fair to assume that a number of actors, nation-state and otherwise, can also do it now

Edit: changed to a better source

[rixed → SturgeonsLaw]

Very interesting indeed, and cast a new light on the trend to solder batteries in place.

I was able to find this article about how this could work: https://privacyinternational.org/blog/1357/tech-companies-re... Apparently this relies on a software hijacking so that the phone is not really off.

Another, actually better article: https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130723/12395923907/even-... also points to malware injection.

This corroborates what I've heard here and there while working in the GSM industry: you could trust a phone that's turned off, if only you could trust it being actually turned off.