Just in a movie, he takes out the SIM card, chucks the phone so he cannot be traced.
But... I thought it was through the SIM card you could be traced???
Anyone?

The SIM itself cannot be traced. The phone without the SIM cannot either. The two together, on, and with proper settings enable can.

Once that phone hit the water, SIM card or not, it's done. Dead, kaput, over.

No tracing.

http://myphonelocater.com/2019/08/02/how-to-track-phone-without-a-sim-card-5-simple-ways/

Thanks! All quite interesting :)

The SIM card contains your account info and permissions. Basically, the cell tower has a bouncer and your SIM is your ID to get in and tells them what you can and can't do. Because of this, it's able to track you and your activity.

Your phone can be traced via the GPS and wifi as well.

If the phone is dead, it's not traceable. Powered off, not traceable. Without sending out a signal, it's not traceable. Take the battery out and it won't be traced.

Unrelated but possibly significant to privacy invasion.

My sister was telling me she thinks someone is listening to her conversations at home. She has a smart TV and a fire-stick. plus cell phones and a laptop.

She was telling me she and her husband were talking about buying him a couple trail cams. She said over the next few days she was bombarded with advertisements for trail cams.

Then they were discussing buying a gaming system for their grandson. Lo & behold they were bombarded with ads for PlayStation and X-Box.

They think their smart TV has a microphone in it.
I laughed and told her they were being paranoid.

Then I got a new computer with Windoze 10.
While tweaking it, I found Cortana turned on by default.
Cortana is voice recognition software and windoze 10 is set up to communicate online with Microsoft.
I also found remote sharing turned on by default.
I don't have a smart TV but with what I found in my windoze 10 system, I can believe anything with a mic could now be transmitting.

Cell phones have microphones and connect-ability. Its not a stretch to think someone might be listening.

Unrelated but possibly significant to privacy invasion.

My sister was telling me she thinks someone is listening to her conversations at home. She has a smart TV and a fire-stick. plus cell phones and a laptop.

She was telling me she and her husband were talking about buying him a couple trail cams. She said over the next few days she was bombarded with advertisements for trail cams.

Then they were discussing buying a gaming system for their grandson. Lo & behold they were bombarded with ads for PlayStation and X-Box.

They think their smart TV has a microphone in it.
I laughed and told her they were being paranoid.

Then I got a new computer with Windoze 10.
While tweaking it, I found Cortana turned on by default.
Cortana is voice recognition software and windoze 10 is set up to communicate online with Microsoft.
I also found remote sharing turned on by default.
I don't have a smart TV but with what I found in my windoze 10 system, I can believe anything with a mic could now be transmitting.

Cell phones have microphones and connect-ability. Its not a stretch to think someone might be listening.