Why Your Cellphone Could Be Called A ‘Tracker’

Your cellphone is a tracking device collecting a lot more information about you than you may think, says ProPublica investigative reporter Peter Maass.

“They are collecting where we are — not just at one particular moment in the day, but at virtually every moment of the day,” Maass tells Fresh Air’s Dave Davies. “They are also taking note of what we are buying, how we’re purchasing it, how often we’re purchasing it.”

Maass says cellphone companies collect some of this information — such as location data — to monitor patterns of phone use and ensure that their networks operate properly. But while some cellphone providers eventually delete this data, other providers retain it for essentially “indefinite periods of time,” he says.