4 Comments
User's avatar
Luke's avatar

I do not know. I do know most phones these days have NFC (Near Field Communication) for payments and syncing to other devices. If both devices have be "paired" in the past to share something could it be possible there was a link between them? Garmin watches will automatically link to a phone via NFC and if Bluetooth is on, start syncing data. Maybe your devices passed some info between each other? As a default I keep my NFC and Bluetooth disabled. Wish I had a better answer.

Expand full comment
Alan Huffman's avatar

That's certainly possible, I hadn't thought of that. I usually also disable location and Bluetooth but sometimes I forget and leave them on.

Expand full comment
Luke's avatar

I am no expert but the ISP you are using for Wifi or Cell knows where you are and I believe makes that available for a price. While some websites know my location for services, others require that I enter the Zipcode. I have heard the screens on our devices have anomolies that we cannot see and that makes them unique. So out of several million pixels there are a few missing in the matrix, and that correlates to what you are holding in your hand.

Expand full comment
Alan Huffman's avatar

That would explain how my friend's location was identified when he was on his device, but not how or why I was digitally linked to him. I know my cell phone could be used to document my location, but I don't understand why that would have happened in this case. I did not access anything, so why would anyone go to the trouble of recording that I was in the same place as my friend while he accessed the photo? It's bizarre.

Expand full comment