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The Visible vs the Invisible Follower

People standing and walking on a subway platform as a train arrives, each person marked with location pins to illustrate how everyday movement can be digitally tracked in public spaces.

Modern technology has made connection simple and so has tracking. Most of us move through our day surrounded by networks that log where we go, what we do, and sometimes even what we say.

In his New Year newsletter, Todd Ariss, CEO of GoDark® Faraday Bags, reflects on how we have normalized a kind of tracking that would otherwise make us recoil.

The Uncomfortable Reality of Being Tracked

As our CEO writes, “ If a person were to track you throughout your day, showing up wherever you go, observing your movements, listening to conversations, and remembering where you have been, most people would feel deeply uncomfortable. You’d call it what it is. You’d leave. You’d call the police.”

The reality is, we consciously accept this same behavior from our devices.

Phones, tablets, cars and wearables “accompany us into our homes, our workplaces, and moments that were once private by default.” They log location, behavior and movement in ways that rarely feel intrusive only because we don’t see or feel it.

The Invisible Follower Is Not a Person

If constant tracking were visible, Todd explains, “it would not look like a single observer. It would resemble a crowd collecting fragments of our lives at the same time. Not one watcher, but many. Not incidental, but systemic.”

Some of these “invisible followers” include:

Cellular network operators

Your phone connects to nearby cell towers whenever it has service. These networks log device identifiers and connection points over time, which can show where a device has traveled.

Wi-Fi access point operators (public and private)

When Wi-Fi is on, your device is constantly looking for networks and is visible to nearby routers. These routers can see that your device passed by or stayed in a certain place.

Bluetooth beacons

Small Bluetooth beacons in stores, buildings, and public spaces can detect phones with Bluetooth turned on. They are used to checking how close you are and how long you stay in an area.

Apps that use GPS location

GPS itself doesn’t track you, but the apps that use it do. When an app requests your location, it can store coordinates and build a history of where your device has been.

Connected cars and vehicle telematics

Many newer cars connect to the Internet and send driving and location data back to the manufacturer or service provider. This can include routes driven, speed, and how you use your vehicle.

Smart environment sensors

Cities, buildings, and public spaces communicate wirelessly to monitor activity in spaces now use wireless sensors to understand how people move through them. These systems detect presence, flow of people or vehicles, and environmental conditions, sometimes linking patterns over time.

These organizations, systems, and technologies interact with the signals your devices constantly emit. They often operate without people realizing their data is being collected or sold, which is why they are frequently discussed in conversations about privacy and digital tracking.

Remembering a Different Kind of Freedom

There was a time when movement did not automatically generate data. The letter recalls “a time before GPS, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi signals announcing our presence everywhere we went.” Back then, privacy wasn’t a chore or a checklist. It “emerged naturally from the limits of the technology at that time.”

You could take the long walk home without your route being saved anywhere. Plans were made on paper, and directions were traced with a map or found with a simple compass. Moments lived in memory or in rolls of film waiting to be developed, not uploaded instantly or stored on a cloud.

That sense of ease came from knowing that your presence wasn’t constantly logged or analyzed. It was simply lived. That stems from the lighter feeling of being unobserved and self-directed. As Todd writes, “That desire for a familiar kind of freedom… is what inspired GoDark®.”

Choosing When You Are Connected

The goal is not rejection of technology but intentionality. “It’s being deliberate about what you carry. Being aware of what you allow.” People deserve “moments that are not tracked, stored, or shared. Moments that feel grounded, intentional, and free.”

A New Year on Your Terms

Todd closes with an invitation: “Here is to a New Year! To choose when to be seen and when to disconnect on your own terms.”

GoDark® is committed to helping people move through the world with greater privacy and intention, and we genuinely appreciate everyone who has chosen to take that step with us.