Tracking, consent and the law
Some of the most searched questions here are asked by people who think they are being tracked rather than by people who want to track. Those deserve a straight answer, so that is how they are answered below.
Can someone track your location without you knowing?
Technically a device can be fitted to a vehicle without the driver noticing. Lawfully, that is a different matter. Tracking an identifiable person without a lawful basis breaches the GDPR, and covertly tracking a partner, family member or employee is not something Yipii supports or supplies. Employers must tell drivers that vehicles are tracked, what is collected and why. If you believe a vehicle you use is tracked without your knowledge, you have the right to ask the controller what data is held about you.
How can I tell if my vehicle has a tracker fitted?
Check the OBD port under the dashboard for an unfamiliar plugged-in device, which is the most common covert fitting because it needs no tools. Beyond that, a hardwired unit is concealed and is realistically found by an auto-electrician rather than by eye. If it is a company vehicle, the simplest route is to ask your employer directly. They are required to tell you.
Do I have to tell employees their vehicles are tracked?
Yes. Drivers must be told what is collected, why, how long it is kept and who can see it, in terms they can understand. A clause buried in a contract is weak evidence that you did. Where the system identifies individual drivers, systematic monitoring of employees is among the categories for which Malta's Information and Data Protection Commissioner indicates a data protection impact assessment is likely to be required. Doing the DPIA before deployment is far less work than reconstructing your reasoning after a complaint.
Is vehicle tracking legal in Malta?
Tracking vehicles your business owns or operates is lawful when done for a specified, legitimate purpose and limited to what that purpose needs. It becomes more demanding once the system identifies drivers, because the data then concerns an identifiable person and the full GDPR framework applies. Narrow configurations are easier to justify than broad ones: recording during working hours rather than continuously, and attributing trips without scoring behaviour, are both easier to defend. This is a description of the framework, not legal advice.
Can someone trace my location from my phone number?
Not by any service you can lawfully buy. Sites offering to locate a phone from its number alone are generally scams or malware. Mobile operators can locate a handset on the network, and law enforcement can compel that through legal process, but it is not available commercially. This has nothing to do with vehicle tracking, which requires a device physically fitted to the vehicle.
Sources
- Regulation (EU) 2016/679, General Data Protection Regulation · EUR-Lex, European Union · checked 2026-08-13
- Information and Data Protection Commissioner · Government of Malta · checked 2026-08-13
Last updated .