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Secret Study: Most Cell Phone Users Are Homebodies
All Headline News ^ | June 4, 2008 | Ed Sutherland

Posted on 06/04/2008 5:01:02 PM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin

New York, NY (AHN) - A university study is raising eyebrows after researchers disclosed they secretly tracked the movement of 100,000 cell phone users outside the United States.

Researchers at Northeastern University for six months sifted through data from cell phone towers allowing them to track the movement of mobile phone users in what they only describe as an "industrialized country."

Such research, which included the cooperation from an unknown company, would be illegal in the U.S., an FCC spokesman told the AP.

The study, to be published Thursday in Nature, found most people stick close to home, despite the freedom which comes from a mobile phone.

Researchers said more than eight-in-ten people stay within a 37-mile radius with nearly half of cell phone users they tracked keeping within a six mile circle.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society
KEYWORDS: cell; cellphone; fcc; nature; northeastern; phone; privacy
Hmmmmm....a "study" like this coming to an "industrialized nation" near you? ;)
1 posted on 06/04/2008 5:01:03 PM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
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To: Diana in Wisconsin

BS!!! JUST DRIVE DOWN MY STREET OR GO IN ANY PLACE...


2 posted on 06/04/2008 5:02:27 PM PDT by devane617
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To: Diana in Wisconsin

Heck, my wife and I use cell phones to call and talk to each other within our own home. It’s often we are on a different floor. Rather than yelling, we just call each other.


3 posted on 06/04/2008 5:03:57 PM PDT by KoRn (CTHULHU '08 - I won't settle for a lesser evil any longer!)
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To: Diana in Wisconsin

This just in. Most people live at home. Details at 11.


4 posted on 06/04/2008 5:06:14 PM PDT by FMBass ("Now that I'm sober I watch a lot of news"- Garofalo from Coulter's "Treason")
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To: Diana in Wisconsin
The study, to be published Thursday in Nature, found most people stick close to home, despite the freedom which comes from a mobile phone.

A cell phone doesn't give me any more freedom. It just makes life a little easier by not having to stop at a phone booth.

5 posted on 06/04/2008 5:09:51 PM PDT by AlaskaErik (I served and protected my country for 31 years. Democrats spent that time trying to destroy it.)
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To: Diana in Wisconsin
Researchers at Northeastern University for six months sifted through data from cell phone towers allowing them to track the movement of mobile phone users in what they only describe as an "industrialized country."

Sure sounds like "domestic spying" to me, and without a court order even! Where is the Dems outrage at this, ehhh ?

6 posted on 06/04/2008 5:11:58 PM PDT by Mr_Moonlight
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To: Diana in Wisconsin

It is common, well documented knowledge that the number of people who give up their land lines in favor of cell phones grows every year. There have been lots of articles about this trend.

So what is the purpose of this study, and why is this conclusion worth reporting, other than the appalling invasion of privacy that it documents?

A suptid, intrusive study like this gets reported as if it’s presenting some shocking new data. Meanwhile, 31,000 scientists sign a petition rejecting the anthropogenic global warming hypothesis, and it gets virtually zero coverage.

THe world has been going nuts for years, but it seems that in the last year, the deterioration has gone into warp drive.


7 posted on 06/04/2008 5:13:03 PM PDT by Maceman (If you're not getting a tax cut, you're getting a pay cut.)
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To: Maceman
It is common, well documented knowledge that the number of people who give up their land lines in favor of cell phones grows every year. There have been lots of articles about this trend.

Yep. That's the wife & I. Plus, being retired, and the wife working within 24 miles of home, we fit the profile. Nothing new here as far as I'm concerned.

8 posted on 06/04/2008 5:16:28 PM PDT by bcsco
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To: KoRn
Heck, my wife and I use cell phones to call and talk to each other within our own home. It’s often we are on a different floor. Rather than yelling, we just call each other.

The cell phone has replaced many other forms of electronic communication within our society ... the CB and/or walkie-talkies, in your case the in-house Intercom, and for some even the land-line based telephone. I know several ppl who move quite frequently (usually within NYC) and the only phone they have is a cell-phone, because their number is always constant wherever they move to, and they don't have to mess with installation and activation of new phones all the time (or new numbers and area codes).

Sometimes I'll use mine when going to see a show and have to meet someone at the theater ... one of us will call the other to give their current location, and sometimes we're standing only a few feet away from each other when the call is made, unaware that the person we are talking to is right there within shouting distance! /laughs

9 posted on 06/04/2008 5:22:26 PM PDT by Mr_Moonlight
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To: Diana in Wisconsin

The company I work for has replaced business band radios with cell phones as we can reach the farthest out (multi-state) of our delivery drivers and keep up with the movement of personnel and equipment taking care of customers within a 40 mile radius. Nothing earth shattering here...


10 posted on 06/04/2008 5:39:58 PM PDT by Dust in the Wind (Fund A Red Meat Eatery Regularly)
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To: AlaskaErik

There are no more phone booths anymore except at the airport.


11 posted on 06/04/2008 6:07:26 PM PDT by weegee (In 1988 Lenora Fulani was the 1st black woman to appear on presidential ballots in all 50 states)
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To: Diana in Wisconsin

They actually expected people to travel farther from home because they had a cell phone? Why?


12 posted on 06/04/2008 6:43:56 PM PDT by Right Wing Assault ("..this administration is planning a 'Right Wing Assault' on values and ideals.." - John Kerry)
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To: Mr_Moonlight

I’ll be out with the GF, we’re at a store, and we’re there to buy a specific thing and leave, and we’ve done that, and were heading back out to the checkout. I walk faster so I’m in front. Next thing I know she’s gone. I have to call her on the phone to find out what shiny object caught her attention, and what aisle she’s in.


13 posted on 06/04/2008 7:30:17 PM PDT by AFreeBird
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To: Diana in Wisconsin

This reminds me of the poor Fermi scientist that had to stand there with his radiation meter while the infobabe had him wave it and proudly declared that radio waves were....

wait for it....

Strongest near the antenna.


14 posted on 06/04/2008 7:31:52 PM PDT by festus (Tagline removed.)
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To: Diana in Wisconsin

Being spied on . . . nothing new.

This is new:
Study: Cell Phones Could Be More Dangerous Than Cigarettes
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,343335,00.html


15 posted on 06/05/2008 7:04:46 AM PDT by hripka (There are a lot of smart people out there in FReeperLand)
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