Friday, March 26, 2010

Praxis: "Ping!" -- The latest from our Federal Imperium's surveillance state.



Anonymous said...

If you get lost and don't have OnStar, just say, "Restore the Constitition! Liberty! Jefferson!" into your cellphone and the DHS will dispatch a nice air-conditioned van to your location.


PioneerPreppy said...

Ya know the article states that agents have to get a court order etc. Yet in some cases I have read about within the last year or so (I am thinking some missing person and the Ala. Prof shooting thing etc.) the news reports mentioned GPS phone locating sometimes within hours of the "event".

Makes one wonder if some of this isn't covered in the Patriot Act or if these agents aren't writeing their own warrant type affairs.

So anyone with a cell phone is basically walking around with a location transmitter the whole time... Nice!!!

Anonymous said...

bbbbbbbut - shredding the constitution! Privacy! NAZISSSSS!!!!!

Oh, Obama did this?

Never mind.

Anonymous said...

I'm not crazy... I always at least power off, if not remove the battery from my cell, whenever I have a meeting with the faithful.

I don't even want to be on the same cell tower as the faithful, make it a little hard for them gents, make then "earn" those stolen tax dollars.

Carl Bussjaeger said...

Nothing new here; a lot of us expected it when GPS/location systems began to be required for cell phones for "911". On general principles, I keep my phone off unless I really need to use it. Be aware that using a pre-GPS phone is little help; thee is a second tracking system called TDOA, which is a time based (versus directional) triangulation system.

In a hypothetical tactical environment, I'd pull the battery, if I had to have the phone along. Think OSEC and SIGINT.

Another location risk is a little more personal. Apparently some group cell plans include an option that let's group members see each other's location in real-time. And there are smart phone apps you can install on someone else's phone to do the same thing.

Yet another cell risk: Plant a cheap prepaid phone in someone's house, with ringer off, and auot-answer on. Call it when you want to listen in, preferably from another anonymous prepaid phone.

OnStar can be (and already has been) remotely activated to serve as a listening device. Since that system is a glorified cell phone, expect more conventional devices to be susceptible. Pull the battery.

Thomas Jefferson said...

PING! Unintended consequences...

Anonymous said...

#1 If you want to be absolutely, positively sure you're not being electronically tracked via your cell phone, either pull the battery, or leave it at home. I've heard of people wrapping their cell phones in aluminium foil or buying "Faraday cage" carriers (damps/blocks all signals), but I cannot verify their effectiveness.

#2 Thomas J - what was the rest of that web site? I don't think it went where you meant it to.

B Woodman

Anonymous said...

How do I disconnect the onstar in a 2000 GM SUV?

Unknown said...

Is this your house?

Unknown said...

" enforcement agents have to obtain a court order for the data, except in special emergency circumstances."

"Emergency circumstances" are defined pretty much however the officer defines them. A friend of mine who drives for a living once happened upon a downed power line. He called the police to notify, but wasn't exactly sure where he was. He was about to drive a bit to get the street, etc., when the officer said, "Hold on a sec.... You're in front of 123 ABC Street. We'll be there momentarily."

jon said...

GPS jamming: so easy, you can do it by mistake.

idahobob said...

Again....another one of those excruciatingly obvious reasons that we never have had or will we ever have one of those damned cellphones!!!!


Anonymous said...

A word to the wise...

It is possible to determine all of the cell phones in any localized area at the time of an incident after the fact without a warrant. And during other incidents, too, after the fact.

So, if the same cell phone number turns up in the sweeps of all local cell phones at two or more separate incidents, the single cell phone identity common to the incidents jumps out of the woodpile.

Having the cell phone turned off is not necessarily enough to prevent it from being pinged, either. Either remove the battery, or, if the battery is not removed, turn the phone off and double-wrap it in tinfoil to create a Faraday cage.

This method, of sweeping through all cell phones present at the time of incidents in the vicinity of incidents has been successfully used to find bank robbers after a spree of bank robberies.


Anonymous said...

I've seen the time frequency plot produced by a microwave spectrum analyzer placed in a metal office cabinet, in an office crowded with WiFi devices and cellphones.

Pretty impressive dB drop. Still, I'd pull the battery. Don't want the damn thing recording and transmitting later, even if immediate comms are down.