For the Defense - Vol. 5, Issue 2 - 32
Cell Phone Technology and
Kyle McArdle
Cell Tower Triangulation and Ben
McCollum
What You Need to Know
I
f you are a criminal defense attorney, there
is a good chance you will have a case that
involves determining where your client was
at a particular date and time. Assuming your
client was carrying a phone, it will be important
to understand the basics of cell technology and
the reliability of Call Detail Records (CDRs). You
may also need to understand how to obtain the
right information from cell providers and when
to solicit the use of a certified digital forensic
examiner to interpret or plot location data for
triangulation.
Cellular phones and mobile devices are
everywhere. Nearly every single American
engages daily in some form of mobile
communication. Whether it's an Apple iPhone
11, Samsung Galaxy S20, Microsoft Surface,
or a Motorola flip phone from 2001, devices
communicate and "phone home" to their
respective motherships several times a second.
The mothership is the mobile carrier, which in the
32
For The Defense l Vol. 5, Issue 2
United States often is AT&T, Verizon, or T-Mobile,
the so-called "Big 3" that utilize most cell-phone
towers and provide data and mobile voice
communication services to end-users.
"Gas Station." "Chinese Food." "Auto-repair."
If you have ever typed any of these keywords
into a search engine or application on your
phone, it is likely the results were local to you.
Location is the difference between showing a
user a gas station in their neighborhood and
Sunoco's corporate website. Furthermore, if you
dial 911, the "E911" service is used to instantly
triangulate your location and provide it to
emergency services. All of this happens behind
the scenes via automatic processes in a fraction
of a second.
Location Data in Today's Cell Phone Technology
There are a few ways in which the location
of cellular phones can be determined, the most
For the Defense - Vol. 5, Issue 2
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of For the Defense - Vol. 5, Issue 2
Contents
For the Defense - Vol. 5, Issue 2 - 1
For the Defense - Vol. 5, Issue 2 - 2
For the Defense - Vol. 5, Issue 2 - Contents
For the Defense - Vol. 5, Issue 2 - 4
For the Defense - Vol. 5, Issue 2 - 5
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