Cell phone tracking

[monkeyboy]

There's an interesting article over at slashdot today about shopping malls using equipment to track people via the cell phone continuously broadcasting the imei number.
Original article:
http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article3945496.ece
Slashdot thread:
http://yro.slashdot.org/yro/08/05/18/1838222.shtml

In the thread, somebody posted this link about DIY realtime GPS tracking using a $40 pre-paid phone:
http://www.instamapper.com/diytracking.html

I seem to remember a thread here that touched on that very subject?
Was either the armored bobcat or the eye in the sky one, can't remember.

[JohnG]

I am afraid that this may soon become another example of big brother being able to track your every move.

Recently in the local news was an article about divorce lawyers using Ezpass logs, cell phone call history, and personal GPS devices to track where you have been, and when. Originally when Ezpass came to my state, the logs were supposed to be purged every week (excepting the toll violations). I know in London there are hundreds of cameras monitoring city streets, I'm glad it hasn't come to that here yet, but I think of it every time I see a new traffic camera at a street light (around here only about 15-20% for now, all in very urban areas).

The store may elect to sell the info to a marketing company, this is done now with 'shoppers discount cards'. Those cards have been used in supermarkets for more than a decade, and many people use them. Sure some people realize that everything they have bought for the past few years is in a database, but they just don't care if they are saving a couple bucks. With these cell tracking devices they could eventually narrow down what part of the store you were in, and for how long. Perhaps this could lead to personalized ads (ever see 'Minority Report'). Even possible now - if you have a bluetooth phone, personalized ads/offers can be texted immediately to your phone. ('We see you spent 5 minutes looking at the yeast infection cures - buy Vagisil NOW for $1.00 off!!') :p

If the store keeps logs for any length of time, laws could be enacted in time they could be required to turn them over to a central database. (Just in case of coarse!) Do you think the stores would hesitate to turn them over to fedgov agents with even the threat of of a warrant (or the all encompassing 'we are tracking terrorists') who is going to say no to that? (I can just see the news if they refuse 'Local store supports terrorisms!')

[monkeyboy]

China is in the process of doing just that, with technology developed by the US.

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/20797485/chinas_allseeing_eye/print
Pretty chilling stuff, coming soon to a democracy near you.

[Charles Owlen Picket]

Just so there is no misunderstanding here; various agencies can track and pin down a cell communication in about less time that it takes for you to read this.

Listening to the call, recording the call are different matters but tracking it is "four-second-simple".

[JohnG]

Yes it is well known that they can track your cell phone calls & location very easily. But usually this info is while you are actually on a call, what cell towers your signal is pinging off, and the strength of said signals.

What this technology does is track you with just your phone being turned ON, not necessary being on a call. Although I assume cell companies could possibly do this now, I don't think they are currently tracking and recording the movements of every cell user out there. Private companies have alot to gain from recording your activities moving around their stores, and the future abuse of this info is what is concerning to me.

[Barnacles]

I think now they ping cells of those they are looking for. So you don't have to be on the phone to get tracked. if you are a murder suspect you can bet they will be pinging your phone to find you...

I like watching the first 48, it's a show about the first 48 hours of a murder investigation. This show is great and really gives you some ideas of how the police work. The database they have on people and criminals is pretty impressive. I remember looking at the computer screen when they were looking for a guy named T. The data they keep is impressive. I can imagine that in the future should there be a civil war or something of that nature they will use this to collect "evil people" , I was trying to think of a word that starts with a "D" that means non comformist or someone the government considers dangerous
or whatever.

They also use this new technology thats a 3d scanner. It spins around and takes a scan of the area and builds a 3d panorama image of the scene. Police can later go back and look at it for evidence. I remember they noticed some new blood drops while looking that the image. They can also use it to corroborate eyewitness testimony by viewing things from their perception to see if they could've possibly seen what they claim or are liars.

[monkeyboy]

to collect "evil people" , I was trying to think of a word that starts with a "D" that means non comformist or someone the government considers dangerous or whatever.

Democrats?:p


They also use this new technology thats a 3d scanner. It spins around and takes a scan of the area and builds a 3d panorama image of the scene. Police can later go back and look at it for evidence. I remember they noticed some new blood drops while looking that the image. They can also use it to corroborate eyewitness testimony by viewing things from their perception to see if they could've possibly seen what they claim or are liars.

Really!:eek: I gotta see that!
What show is this? first 48 Ahh, looked it up. I'm going to have to see if I can find a copy. Any Idea which episode that was in?

/Don't watch TV, if I can't download it, I ain't watchin' it.

[Barnacles]

Ok sorry I must've got my shows confused, or they use the technology on both shows.

I found the title of the episode that I am thinking of "Final Call" on the show Crime 360.
the description of this particular episode http://www.aetv.com/listings/episode_details.do?episodeid=277917

[megalomania]

An over reliance on technology to solve crime can lead to an investigator becoming complacent and sloppy. For example, I do not have a cell phone, I never use them, I don't carry one around. I don't intend on getting one if I can avoid it, but I am a phone phobic, which is why. I am not a trained rat that leaps to attention when the little bell goes off :)

If an investigator was trying to find someone who did not have a cell phone, but the investigator assumed he did, how many hours would he waste in vain?

A hat, a hood, glasses, a scarf can all easily thwart a camera. Surveillance cameras have terrible resolution to boot. Also, the more cameras there are, the more watchers there must be see the footage. This is why most cameras are just there to help after something happens.

With advances in technology will come advances in ordinary surveillance. Imagine if you will HD quality mini cams all over the mall networked to a multi exabyte archive that permanently stores the video footage, and the cams are interfaced with a facial recognition system.

The facial recognition software is purchased and maintained through a subscription service of private companies, so they don't violate any laws since they are not fedgov or law enforcement. The database contains the records of all known criminals, as well as a blacklist of known and suspected shoplifters, and even your credit record and employment record. The store knows how much money you have, if you are in debt, if you are employed, and by reading the RFID tags on all your clothes, what brands you wear, and if you need to change your underwear.

You can't violate a right or freedom if you are a private individual, and since companies are deemed to be the same as private individuals, the company can do whatever they want to you. How would you like a restaurant to refuse to serve you steak because they know your cholesterol count based on your buying habits? How about your employer using medical diagnostic toilets to test your urine for diseases so they know how healthy you are?

The cell phone is only the tip of the iceberg. Imagine once cities install RFID readers into curbs to accurately assess how much roads get used, at least that will be the reason they give initially. Once every pair of shoes has an RFID tag in it, they can track where every human being is in the country once they leave their home. Even bums wear shoes.

And don't think you can just wear someone else's shoes. Through a combination of data collected from the other RFID tags in all your clothing the fedgov knows belongs to you, along with compiled video surveillance using facial recognition that knows your height and weight, even your walking gait, breathing rhythm, and the volume of air you exhale as seen by infrared... the computer knows you are you.

Naturally all this is for your own good. We are all so stupid and accident prone that we would set ourselves on fire every day if it were not for the fedgov to protect us. We all need to be told what to eat, what to wear, when to sleep, who to talk to, what we should say, and who to vote for.

[Charles Owlen Picket]

I also don't like cell phones, don't use them, etc. I just find them annoying as shit. Also I was not raised up on talking to a little bar of soap, so the whole thing feels ridiculous....but I agree -> I think cell phones make it much too easy to gather information -FAST! Additionally I just read about a damn tough conviction that rested on the cell tower of the caller (receiving a call) during the time of a supposed alibi.....bad joo-joo....Those Cell Phones.

[Jacks Complete]

Someone up there said "hundreds of cameras in London"... Try hundreds of cameras in most of the streets in London! There is a ring of hundreds of cameras ringing the city ("The ring of steel" brought in to stop the IRA a long, long time ago, which is still there today.) Every car is scanned for tax collection (congestion charge) and the new cameras use a form of LIDAR to determine how much pollution you put out, in order to determine your charges!

There are police powers being brought on line every damned day - the power to harass suspects being one odious measure, along with indefinite detention on the street, scanner systems in railway stations and malls, and more. How fitting that this over-bearing police state is now run by the UK's brand new "Ministry of Justice"! :eek: How third-world dictatorship is that?

[JohnG]

The rolling stone article (monkeyboy's link) quotes there are about 500,000 surveillance cameras currently operating in London. Not sure if that is accurate (I haven't been to London in about 10 years) but yikes! That is disturbing. How many thought police are monitoring those cameras? I'm also curious how long do they keep the surveillance footage?

[megalomania]

What exactly are those cameras watching FOR? What Jacks said about cameras being used to stop the IRA is a common misconception, cameras don't stop crime, they help solve it after the fact, but that is of little comfort when you get murdered at the Kwicky Mart late at night trying to buy some gas.

All those cameras can't just be for traffic. Why don't they just tax all the cars like everywhere else. I know England has heard of taxes, the US would not be here if not for English taxes.

Some of those cellphones do keep a record of where you have been. They can be useful for plotting running routes, or finding out how far you drove, but they are far more likely to be used by suspicious lovers, stalkers, overbearing bosses, and the fedgov criminals. I think they call this feature a "world line" and some phone services even let you make your current GPS location and worldline visible on the web so your friends know where you are. At least that's the story marketing uses because I have seen the commercials.

[JohnG]

Six or seven years ago a car rental agency wouldn't rent me a car when I refused to sign a GPS tracking waiver. Apparently this same company, (a few months before I tried renting from them), "caught" someone speeding in their rental using GPS tracking technology. They tried to "fine" him, and he countersued for invasion of privacy, which ultimately turned into a release waiver for them. I'm not sure how the lawsuits eventually worked out. This same technology is present in the OnStar system, this is a tracking system that they make you pay a monthly fee for. :rolleyes:

Today all cells have GPS tracking technology (under the guise of if you ever need to call 911, they can find you). Obviously the need for pinging your phone from cell towers may soon be outdated. My phone has the option of turning off the tracking feature (excepting if you call 911), but if they can get around the off feature for 911 calls, this is a technology that may soon be abused.

[thelasttrueone]

Would it be possible to disable the GPS tracker in your phone? The GPS feature can actually be quite useful if your phone has a built in navigator like mine, but the tracking ability is something I do not trust my overlords, corporate and government, to have.

In my county I know that the police have the ability to scan all cell phone conversations as they are going on. This is quite the annoyance because me and my friends have to use codes when talking about anything less than legal

[Anformula]

My objection to cell phones is not really the potential for governmental abuse (which is real), but just the fact that they are freaking annoying....

For many people, simply being employed now brings with it the assumption on the part of the employers that the person will be reachable 24/7. It is cell phones that made this possible, nothing else. It used to be that time away from "work" was free time, private time. Cell phones bring with them the potential of intrusion into our private lives at all hours. Not to mention, the now complete lack of ability to enjoy some time away from the pressures of an annoying spouse.......:D Time on the road away from home used to be sort of a private solace. No more...

And for what? What have cell phones really given us? The ability to tolerate an array of brainless teenagers chatting/texting endlessly with other teenagers, to whom they would not have a word to say face to face.... I think the only real value of cell phones is use as an emergency device.....if lost in the woods or involved in an accident...whatever. And to be reliably usefull in those circumstances, you really need to have a satellite phone anyway. Technology marches on, but I think the sum effect of the cell phone explosion to the society we live in is overwhelmingly NEGATIVE.

I think many of you are overlooking a critical reality when you express fears of the "information age" with video and cell phone monitoring everywhere. Yes, it would be possible for the fedgov or whomever to set up video cameras and record EVERYTHING that happens. But how can all that data be used? The more data that is acquired, the more old fashioned man hours are necessary to sort through it and decide what is useful and what is not. Not to mention, storing it for any length of time and cataloging it. The same basic principle is true for the millions of cellular phones floating around.

As much as I hate cell phones, they are actually more secure than wire phones. Any moron can tap in and listen to a wire line, but to monitor a cell phone is a massive technological exercise that is damn near impossible without the cooperation of the cell phone company. Yes, fedgov can do it, but if that is your fear you can swap cell phones every day anonymously and for nominal expense. How do they know what phone to listen to?

The inclusion of "On-Star" GPS type devices in vehicles does consitute a massive invasion of privacy, no question. But we have the option of not purchasing these services, or disabling them if we drive a car that has them.

IMHO, the most disturbing goverment over-stepping of bounds in the last 50 years is the proliferation of automatic red light and speed "enforcement" cameras that are appearing everywhere. These amount to nothing more than blatant governmental revenue generators, and yet I seldom hear a peep of objection to them. They have nothing to do with "safety", despite what their proponents will claim. The day is coming when every intersection will have a red light camera, and every stretch of road will have speed cameras, the fines will be outrageous, and you will be found guilty of every "violation" since there is no cop or witnesses to be cross examined. The time is coming when the bulk of revenue for local governments will be generated by these devices, and by that time nothing short of violent revolution will remove them. It amazes me how passively people seem to accept this trend. You might as well have "checkpoints" at points where you are forced to pay the local government a large sum of money in order to proceed.

OK, done ranting.

[JohnG]

thelasttrueone:
In reference to disabling the phone's GPS, many phones allow disabling via software (still works for 911 calls!), but actually disabling the hardware itself is another matter; whether you might render the phone unusable is probably a phone by phone case. Since you say the police can monitor your calls: your phone has a navigator feature, don't you think it is possible the police could download and/or monitor the GPS? I use a standalone GPS navigation device, no uploading/downloading involved. (Thankfully the days of printing maps off mapquest are long gone).

Anformula:
As far as cell records go, I have about 5 1/2 years of cell records in excel format, I do use my cell daily, but not excessively. That data file is less than 2 MB. I just checked online: My cell company has all my calls available online going back to August 2002. I think that even with 200+ million cell phones out there (in the US) a handful of terabyte drives would very easily store years and years of cell data. Might they store the tower data too? (What tower[s] you were connected to). I'd have to say that is a good possibility.

I think you may be underestimating the sophistication of software available now. I have a stepbrother who has worked at a Connecticut casino for about 12 years. The security camera system might shock you. The software system has a database of known cheats and unwanted/banned people (shared among all the US casinos), using facial recognition software it automatically notifies a surveillance officer when a hit is made on the casino floor. No manually checking photos for the surveillance people; the system does it for you. Since one of his coworkers (if you work there you can't gamble there) got busted for gambling there, it was rumored that there is also an employee database the system uses.

The same technology can very easily be adapted for street use. First it will be a terrorist database, then a gang member database, sooner or later it will be anyone with a warrant, and known felons/troublemakers. Cameras can be made to automatically track a suspect without any human intervention. This is a technology that's available NOW.

If you haven't already, you should read the rollingstone link provided by monkeyboy, it goes into a very high tech citywide surveillance techniques (long article, but quite interesting).

[Anformula]

At the end of the day, I don't really think the fedgov cares about terrorists, or gang members, or people with warrants, or felons/troublemakers. I think they are mainly interested in making sure they get everyone to pay their taxes!:p

They care about people who might threaten their ability to stay in power....

Seriously though, you make good points. I was mainly talking about the ability to categorize and store video surveillance footage. That is an exponentially greater problem than storing cell phone records.

I know facial recognition software exists, but I suspect it is very imperfect and easily spoofed.

[megalomania]

I read a news article recently about how traffic cameras are working TOO well! In a few jurisdictions where the city was depending on the revenue, drivers have been so cautious that the number of red light violations dropped to almost zero. These cities pay a daily access fee that amounts to something like $15,000 a year if I recall that figure right. They have begun shutting the cameras down so they don't have to pay. They make a big to-do when they shut the cameras down so everyone knows it; the hope is people will resume their bad habits in time for the cameras to go back online.

Serves the cocksuckers right :) Heavens forbid people actually followed traffic law, what a disaster that would be.

On cell phones, if you don't want to be tracked, remove the battery from the phone. You can't get incoming calls this way, of course. One could remove the battery only during those times you do not wished to be tracked.

The cell phone is a wonderful invention, now you can get solicited any time, anywhere. There is nothing better than giving money to some random stranger on the phone for a product you never knew you wanted. I got me some free cruise tickets, only $500 each, what a deal, and they were free! Oh, wait...

[iHME]

...by that time nothing short of violent revolution will remove them.

Around here some people had driven around shooting traffic cameras with a shotgun. 50k eur in damages, and they ware not caught,
It its worth noting that there is a camera in only about 1 in 10 "traffic cameras around here, they just cost too much and they change the camera unit between 'em. The systems without cameras have a confiscated pirate cd playing the role of camera optics to fool people :p

[carbon13]

I was approached at work recently by a telecoms company that was selling mobile phone tracking to us as general consumers.

The offer was simple: We could track all of our fleet of mobile phones with an accuracy of 50m guaranteed - in reality this came down to a couple of metres in most areas with multiple cell towers for triangulation. We were given a login to a HTTPS site, and we could then filter based on individual phones or groups of phones.

To add a phone to the list to be tracked, all we did was notify the company and within a few hours the new phone number was trackable. Although a SMS was sent to the phone notifying the user it was now being tracked - but what is stopping your employer deleting this message before they give you the phone (ie. company phone to new employee)?!

If this technology is now available to consumers, particularly over the very public internet, then it lies open for abuse and also has many privacy issues. I'd suggest that with a bit of social engineering it would be possible to track just about any phone.

[Anformula]

"V for Vendetta" (one of my favorite movies of the last 10 years) is a believable and terrifying portrayal of a government out of control. The technological means of oppression are merely a step or two beyond what is available and in use now, which combined with the even more believable corruption and thirst for power the movie portrays.....scary stuff.

I imagine you have all seen the film, but if you haven't, do it. Entertaining also.

[Barnacles]

That is one of top 25 of my movies. I love the vichyssoise of verbiage ( my old spelling bee days actually got me to spell that word right the first time without checking oMg lol) The V speech, when I quit pot I made it a mission to test my new memory by memorizing that V speech as I call it.

"Voila , In view, a humble vaudevillian veteran, cast vicariously as both victim and villain by the vicissitudes of Fate. This visage no mere veneer of vanity is a vestige of the vox populi, now vacant, vanished. However, this valorous visitation of a by-gone vexation, stands vivified, and has vowed to vanquish these venal and virulent vermin vanguarding vice and vouchsafing the violently vicious and voracious violation of volition.

The only verdict is vengeance. A vendetta, held as a votive, ( I actually wrote up to here from memory, been almost 1-2 years since I have even thought of it!!!) not in vain for the value and veracity of such shall one day vindicate the vigilant and the virtuous. Verily this vichyssoise of verbiage veers most verbose so let me simply add that it's my very good honor to meet you and you may call me V."

[Anformula]

Hahahahaahah.....

Yup. I loved the dialog.

Even better, I loved his "Good Morning, London..........." speech that was piped into the emergency broadcast system.

".....I thought we could take this opportunity to sit down and have a little chat. Of course, there are those who do not want us to speak. Even now, I suspect orders are being shouted into telephones and men with guns will soon be on their way. And yet, while the truncheon can always be used in lieu of conversation, words will always retain their power.........."


Something like that anyway. Cool stuff......:)

[-=HeX=-]

I think now they ping cells of those they are looking for. So you don't have to be on the phone to get tracked. if you are a murder suspect you can bet they will be pinging your phone to find you...


Damn right they ping it, see below...

Cell phone tracking, my personal experience.

In june of this year, I ran away from home. I was caught. The details of this will be written in another thread at a later time. The police got involved because I am a minor, and they took it seriously.

After they raided/ no warrent searched some of my friends houses, they decided to try to track my mobile phone. They called my mobile network but the network didnt give any data for 12 hours.

When they did give in, the data was 23 hours old, and no activity on my phone from that time on. So they began to 'Ping' my phone, to see its location.

This too failed, and they said that the phone had been disabled. The police asked if that meant it was switched off. Here is the main point: the network said they CAN track it, even when 'switched off' because IT STILL EMITS A SIGNAL. I had removed the battery so no power was available to do this, so they no longer could track the phone. They still kept pinging it just in case. But I had effectively 'Disabled' it by removing the battery and SIM card.

That is the main point. If the battery is removed, they CAN NOT TRACK YOU. For extra security, REMOVE THE SIM CARD, IT WORKED FOR ME.

I had already aquired a clean phone via an associate, but I was later caught because a cop spotted me. Upon my capture I was allowed to see how they were trying to find me. They were about to begin datamining for a new number off my friends phones, but seeing as the group of friends is very large, and still growing, they admitted that even that supposedly 'Failproof' method would definately fail.

Even so, I would only bother calling like 3 friends anyway, one who would arrange places to stay, another who was going to get me pyro supplies, and a third who I could not live without.

This leads me to summarize the main points of the (true) story.

1. THEY CAN TRACK A PHONE THAT IS SWITCHED OFF VERY EASILY.

2. THEY CAN NOT TRACK A PHONE THAT HAS BEEN DISABLED VIA HAVING THE BATTERY REMOVED.

3. DATAMINING WILL USUALLY FAIL MISERABLY BECAUSE OF THE RAPID GROWTH OF THE GROUP FRIENDS THAT WILL NATURALLY OCCUR.

4. DO NOT USE YOUR OLD PHONE WITH A NEW SIM CARD BECAUSE THE IMEI CODE IS WHAT ALSO ALLOWS THEM TO TRACK YOU.

5. IF YOU SELL YOUR OLD PHONE TO A SECOND HAND DEALER, THE PURCHASER WILL BE (UNWITTINGLY) ACTING AS A FALSE TRAIL BECAUSE OF THE IMEI CODE BEING TRACKED.

[Hirudinea]

Damn right they ping it, see below...

This leads me to summarize the main points of the (true) story.

1. THEY CAN TRACK A PHONE THAT IS SWITCHED OFF VERY EASILY.

2. THEY CAN NOT TRACK A PHONE THAT HAS BEEN DISABLED VIA HAVING THE BATTERY REMOVED.

3. DATAMINING WILL USUALLY FAIL MISERABLY BECAUSE OF THE RAPID GROWTH OF THE GROUP FRIENDS THAT WILL NATURALLY OCCUR.

4. DO NOT USE YOUR OLD PHONE WITH A NEW SIM CARD BECAUSE THE IMEI CODE IS WHAT ALSO ALLOWS THEM TO TRACK YOU.

5. IF YOU SELL YOUR OLD PHONE TO A SECOND HAND DEALER, THE PURCHASER WILL BE (UNWITTINGLY) ACTING AS A FALSE TRAIL BECAUSE OF THE IMEI CODE BEING TRACKED.

If you want to avoid datamining just use payphones, they're less likely to find you that way, see not all old technology is obsolete.

[Kaydon]

Only problem is in some area payphones are pretty rare these days. At least here. I know of only 2 in town, one on each side.. I wouldn't hike that far to make a phone call.

[Anformula]

In june of this year, I ran away from home. I was caught. The details of this will be written in another thread at a later time. The police got involved because I am a minor, and they took it seriously.



The cops went to all this trouble to find you because you ran away from home?:confused:

I eagerly await your full report, there must be untold parts of the story. Where I live you could have killed someone, and the cops would have yawned and gotten donuts, and never gone to that much trouble......

[akinrog]

just use payphones,

In my case, they are not only rare but also majority of them are being replaced with either magnetic phone card varieties (which can be traced to you if they find the magnetic phone card on yourself) or mostly with smart card / credit card varieties, so pig and intelligence butchers may easily trace the calls to you easily. Regards.

[James]

Heh, checkout p.72-3 chapt. 7 of 'The cat who walks through walls'. for the rarity of coin fed pay phones. Heinlein did not appear to anticipte cell phones though or embeded tracking devices in our era though.

[Hirudinea]

Yes coin pay phones are going the way of the dinos, shame though they did give some vestige of privacy.

[London_Dungeon]

Why bother with all the sidesteping? I have a Net10 phone from WallyWorld. It's pay as you go, so there is no contract. As long as I pay with cash I'm pretty untraceable. Wearing a disguise when paying would be foolproof.

The phone is also cheap enough to toss in the river if neccessary. Brand new ones with 300 minutes sell for $20, including the phone. After that it's $15 a month. Works for me.

[TheSavageHyena]

With all of the surveillance out there I'm sure technology exists where we can spy on them.

http://www.spyshops.ca/phonesecurity.htm

Who knows....tap a known politicians phone line and see what kind of dirt you can kick up. Almost nothing is left of our privacy all in the name of 'security'. Does anyone have experience using any of these devices and their effectiveness? I've used a police scanner and had endless hours of fun listening to their calls :D

[Kaydon]

Interesting thought.. They tap ours, we should tap theirs. It would be a battle of wits.

[Alexires]

That is a tactic from the 48 LoP. Mirror your opponents actions, like in chess. Frustrating as hell too.

Law 44 - Disarm and Infuriate with the Mirror Effect.

Judgement: The mirror reflects reality, but it is also the perfect tool for deception: When you mirror your enemies, doing exactly as they do, they cannot figure out your strategy. The Mirror Effect mocks and humiliates them, making the overreact. By holding up a mirror to their psyches, you seduce them with the illusion that you share their values; by holding up a mirror to their actions, you teach them a lesson. Few can resist the power of the Mirror Effect.

[Bugger]

http://www.spyshops.ca/phonesecurity.htm
(cut) I've used a police scanner and had endless hours of fun listening to their calls.
Did you overhear any Pigs boasting on air about the bribes they collected or solicited, or the innocent people whom they shot or beat up, or the false evidence they planted at alleged crime scenes to frame innocent people on false charges in order to obtain promotion and increase their clearance statistics?

[waveguider]

A Family member of mine happens to be a member of the police force and confronted me two months ago with a ''carbon copy'' of my text messages going back to April of this year.
The messages contained a fair few drug slang names, Chemical names of illegal substances and a lot of fictitious drug names (from an old show called Brass eye) like ''triple sod'' and ''rustle dust''.
Apparently they have this new monitoring system which scans messages for certain key words and my messages came up a lot. Somehow my right to privacy was then voided because I used certain words and an unknown number of operates of this monitoring system read all my messages (not limited to the ones containing ''key words'') and took notes on there contents.

From my understanding my family member in the police force got wind of this and showed me the carbon copies under the belief that they were proof that I was dealing drugs (I wish I was, that's good money i hear!). I have ceased talking with this family member because I do not trust him and I believe he may have been involved in this monitoring system.


I think I was lucky because I have a overzealous family member in the Police force who told me a little too much about this systems, apparently it started off as a method to catch child porn distributors and recipients which sent picture messages to each other and the police force could track the images sent because of how the image is converted to binary for transmitting.

Now the new system works very similarly to this like say the word ''horse'' is converted to 101100 for example and they have a filtering system which logs any messages with this string, if a lot of logs come from one sender, like me, I am led to believe that this red lists my number and thus makes it okay for a third party to view the messages, to ascertain if I am explaining illegal activity.

I tried to strike back by conveying what I knew to the Data Protection Commissioner here in the same country as Hex, The Republic of Ireland. The last correspondence I received from them was over one month ago telling me that they are going to approach my mobile phone service provider to see if there is any evidence of this Orwellian activity, as all I have is my word and the carbon copies. I tried to contact them last week as I was concerned about the status of the investigation and I didn't get a reply.

I know this sounds like something from a paranoid schizophrenic with delusions of grandeur who has read too many books on Echelon but I give my word that all that is above is the truth.

[Anformula]

I believe every word of it....

If one thinks about it, coming up with software to scan any sort of text communication, and even verbal communication, to search for certain words would not be difficult at all.

With very slightly more sophistication, it could analyze certain combinations of words and establish a sliding scale of "risk level" of various communications. They could then be evaluated manually, based on the perceived level of "risk".

Orwell had it all pretty much right, he should have just called his book "2004".

The internet is certainly a two edged sword. While an outstanding means of communication and information sharing, it also spells the end of privacy and true anomynity.

[-=HeX=-]

Hey Waveguider, our country is becoming more facist by the day, but at least we still have handguns. I remember you telling me of the incident, and today I had a 'chat' with a certain ceargeant in the police, who briefly mentioned that the monitoring is now fully in place, EXCEPT on a certain network, whose offices are not in Eire and therefore not in the gardai jurisdiction, however they ARE slowly forfeiting their clients privacy (like they did to me) so trust no network.

My tale of escape and evasion will be online in several days, albeit heavily edited and abridged to protect the identities of my loved ones and fellow 'conspiritors'. So those who know details I do not publish online, please for the security of those I love DO NOT divulge any of the data I gave you in confidence.

[sbovisjb1]

The cops went to all this trouble to find you because you ran away from home?:confused:

I eagerly await your full report, there must be untold parts of the story. Where I live you could have killed someone, and the cops would have yawned and gotten donuts, and never gone to that much trouble......

AKA rich white kid, with affluent parents. Don't run away from home. Wait untill your 18 and find a way to support yourself. If your parents bothered to raise you properly, but they as people are assholes you could dislike them still. Abused kids often love their parents, but that could still have been you as you seem to be intelligent enough to psychoanalyze yourself.

[-=HeX=-]

AKA rich white kid, with affluent parents. Don't run away from home. Wait until your 18 and find a way to support yourself. If your parents bothered to raise you properly, but they as people are assholes you could dislike them still. Abused kids often love their parents, but that could still have been you as you seem to be intelligent enough to psychoanalyze yourself.

Lets get a few things straight.
Rich? no, I certainly am not rich.
White? yes.
Affluent parents? nope. One practically unemployed, one self employed but still fuck all income.

Now, it's a small city, I come from a small town, and everyone knows everyone else. People here still CARE. Unless you are an immigrant, a beggar/ wino or a member of the travelling community (nacker) the police ACTUALLY GIVE A SHIT. If you are one of the above mentioned minorities, they are trying to charge you with SOMETHING. However if you are a 'normal' lower to middle class person, they will do their best to track your ass down, especially with a record like mine. They know me for various reasons, but I try to leave those days behind me.

When my name and photo appeared in the system they apparently saw it as a high risk case and took appropriate measures, knowing EXACTLY how intelligent and resourceful I could be. They initially underestimated me but once the cell phone technique failed, they knew what they were dealing with. I am also quite a distinctive person, who stands out in a crowd (with a mop of ginger hair its hard to blend in) and is well known.

When a 31 year old immigrant drowned they sent sniffer dogs, helicopters, search teams, and a SCUBA unit to search the river (and that was for a IMMIGRANT). Look at the widely publicized case of Robert Holohan from Midleton in Cork, look at the police effort there. The seargeant also mentioned that they didnt want a fiasco like THAT to happen, because the press would eat them alive.

Understand Irish people, then you will understand it.