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Ukrainian Protesters Receive Mass Text Message Ordering Them To Disperse

Posted by Unknown on from the remember-when-you-did-that-in-the-80s dept.

schneidafunk writes " Dear subscriber, you are registered as a participant in a mass disturbance.' was the message sent to thousands of protesters as a new law prohibiting public demonstrations went into effect." From NYTimes: "... Protesters were concerned that the government seemed to be using cutting-edge technology from the advertising industry to pinpoint people for political profiling. Three cellphone companies in Ukraine ... denied that they had provided the location data to the government or had sent the text messages, the newspaper Ukrainskaya Pravda reported. Kyivstar suggested that it was instead the work of a 'pirate' cellphone tower set up in the area."

11 of 233 comments (clear)

  1. New laws by schneidafunk · · Score: 4, Informative

    This chart has some interesting tidbits on laws that were just put in place in the Ukraine.

    --
    Some people die at 25 and aren't buried until 75. -Benjamin Franklin
  2. In other Kiev news by gman003 · · Score: 5, Informative

    I've been following this stuff all day, because this just got seriously violent:
    > Police authorized to use firearms, two dead from shooting already
    > Ban on using fire hoses in sub-zero weather lifted
    > Hospitals tending to wounded protesters have been attacked by police
    > Snipers out in force
    > Armored Personnel Carriers already deployed, an Army tank unit is being moved into the city
    > Opposition members of government resigning en masse
    > over 100,000 protesters in Kiev main square

    Things are very bad for Ukraine right now. I don't fully understand the ideological issues they're fighting over, but I can certainly recognize the nature of the government's response.

    Everybody should scan through this - the images alone are powerful: https://twitter.com/Euromaidan...

    1. Re:In other Kiev news by Luckyo · · Score: 4, Interesting

      The mess started with Ukraine basically being forced to choose between economic deal with EU, or economic deal with Russia. Right now, they have a deal with Russia. Problem is that if they also make a deal with EU, it would allow exporters to basically push their EU>Russia exports which are extremely lucrative though Ukraine to avoid tariffs.

      A very large part of Russia's budget comes from these tariffs, so Russia explicitly stated that it will not allow for such an obvious loophole, and that if Ukraine does make a deal with EU, current deal with Russia is off.

      At the same time, Ukraine is effectively divided along the linguistic lines. About half the country speaks russian, and another half speaks ukrainian. Kiev is in the ukrainian-speaking region, so it's always a mess when a pro-russian speaking government is in power and does something that ukrainian speaking leaders don't like.

      There are some other rather nasty issues, like the nature of current protests. Lviv, the home city of the current waves of protests is the home of extreme right movement in Ukraine, borderline nazi movement that wants to purge everyone ranging from russian-speaking minority to jewish and polish minorities. They have about 8% popular support across Ukraine but well in excess of 20% in their hometown of Lviv. They have been a very important power behind mobilizing the current protests, and they also appear to be the ones turning them violent.

      Majority of those protesting just want a more EU-like rule. Less corruption, more wealth to the citizens. This is actually one thing that likely unites both the part of the nation protesting and one that is not - they all agree that government is corrupt and want better rule. It's just that pro-Western leaders that were in power for years before showed to be even more corrupt then current leadership, so options are pretty slim.

      Also Eastern russian speaking part of the country is calm - it's actually industrialized and manufactures a lot of high tech things such as military helicopter engines for Russia's Mil helicopters. They have a very healthy export economy and they need good relations with Russia - Russia proposed an economic union similar to EU which would bring massive economic boon to that region. This is also why most of the Ukraine's oligarchs who own the heavy industries support the moves to approach Russia, and why they are against the EU deal - they need the current deal with Russia so that their heavy industry exports can continue. In light of the mess in Ukraine, Russia has already made some steps to isolate itself from potential fallout and parts shortage that breaking of their trade agreements with Ukraine would cause, such as laying down a new helicopter engine factory near St. Petersburg. This is very worrying for Ukrainian exporters located in the East for the obvious reasons.

      On the other hand Western ukrainian speaking half is mainly agricultural, and of those exports, they want to send as much as possible to EU as it's a very lucrative market. Right now, tariffs keep that trade low, while on Russian market they have to compete with EU companies AND Asian ones. Russian agricultural market is very lucrative, but also extremely competitive and Ukraine doesn't really have the ultra-efficiency of EU competitors, nor extremely cheap labour of the Asian countries. The deal with EU would bring at least some potential prosperity to that part of the country as Ukraine would be able to supply cheap labour-based agricultural products to EU. It's highly unlikely that any of the high-tech exports would be allowed in EU however.

      So there you have it. A country split among the linguistic, economic and ideological lines. And split is fairly even, right now it's something around 55% pro West and 45% pro East. No matter who wins in the current political struggle, half of the country will feel it lost. It's a mess. And in addition to that, no matter who it chooses economically, half of the country will likely get economically hit.

      On a final note, t

    2. Re:In other Kiev news by gman003 · · Score: 4, Informative

      Already saw that one. Yes, you can find footage of police being attacked without any apparent activity on their part. But you can find the same in reverse - police snipers shooting people who are not fighting back, or bashing people's heads in while they're already on the ground.

      This is combat. Not everyone is going to be 100% in control - you're going to have some people throwing molotovs at police because "fuck the police", just as you're going to have police brutality because "fuck protesters".

      But you know what? The protesters aren't looting buildings or destroying public property (with the exception of digging up some streets for rocks to build walls with, and one statue of Lenin). They aren't stealing TVs or clothes the way rioters did in England. They're organizing defenses, shelter, and medical aid. They're listening to speeches. They're attacking the police who have been attacking them for months. They've given the whole "peaceful protest" thing a go, and the government's response was to step up the attacks and basically start building a totalitarian regime. If they keep trying the peaceful protest route, they're just going to end up dead or in a dictatorship.

      Who are the ones hiring street thugs as muscle? The government. Who are the ones destroying hospitals or forcing doctors to not treat patients? The police. Who are the ones kidnapping and murdering people? The Berkut. Who's calling in a goddamn tank division to suppress the revolt?

      I'm listening to the protesters because, while there's always some shades of gray and no conflict is black and white, this is maybe 0xDDDDDD against 0x222222.

  3. Ability to do this was there for a while... by sinij · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Every time advertising industry develops a new way to track you, every time you unquestionably surrender your data in exchange for some trendy app you invite and enable this kind of abuse. The only defense is strong privacy laws and consumer push-back against tracking.

    Why this technology exists? Because people accepted invasion of privacy from pioneers like Foursquare, so it was feasible to commercially develop this technology to the point where any totalitarian government can purchase 'turnkey solution' for a couple millions. Now every Banana Republic dictator can deploy it against unwilling citizens.

  4. Re:Remember how the NSA is worse than the Stasi? by weilawei · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Aren't especially friendly? What do you call all their fusion centers and data sharing agreements? The NSA is the intelligence arm. Those other agencies are tasked with enforcement.

  5. Re:Remember how the NSA is worse than the Stasi? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    the NSA is, on pro rata of the population, 20 times smaller than the Stasi.

    Translation: It's okay, as long as we do it more efficiently.

    they don't have any enforcement arm

    Translation: Outsourcing is the new black.

    they don't systematically create files on their citizens

    Translation: It's not a file if you never look at it! And it's not systematic because... we... uh... use computers to do it!

    Nor to they hire informant among the public.

    Translation: Paying people is SO 1980. We have Facebook now.

    they don't seem to be politically active

    Translation: Outsourcing is the new black.

  6. issues they're fighting over by Katatsumuri · · Score: 5, Informative

    I don't fully understand the ideological issues they're fighting over

    A quick summary:

    The protests started small and peaceful when president Yanukovich bowed to Russian pressure and reversed the political course away from signing the association agreement and trade deal with EU. Many people had high hopes for that and got disappointed. Still, the protests were in 10,000 people bracket, demanding to keep the EU course, and were almost dissolving in a few weeks, except for a few die-hard fans.

    But then the rulers decided they could simply "clean up" the remaining protesters at night using riot police. They beat up the poor guys (mostly students) badly. Dozens of people were heavily injured and had to stay in hospital. A few have gone missing. Extreme unjustified brutality was filmed on multiple cameras.

    That's when the protests scaled up to 500,000 people at some points. They also formed militia troops from ex-military to keep them safe. And the demands shifted from the EU topic to the replacement and punishment of the police minister, prime minister, and possibly the president. Still, the protests were largely peaceful, they were just not going to dissolve this time. And the president chose to ignore them completely and wait it out. It's winter, after all.

    After two months of waiting, seeing people won't go home, they decided to criminalize the protests, free speech in press and social media, and a whole range of other common freedoms, giving more power to the police at the same time. Bypassing all due procedures (not even counting votes), a 10-pack of corresponding laws was passed. Then everyone with a brain saw it was sliding towards a dictatorship, and disagreements with the riot police got hotter and hotter, until it eventually came to tear gas on one side and Molotov cocktails on the other side, and now also bullets.

    If you want more detail, browse the BBC new archives, their coverage is generally good. The only common mistake in Western press is that they still call these protests "pro-EU", when in fact now it's more "anti-Yanukovitch and his party". The most active protesters are from the nationalist right wing and are strongly against any union either with EU or with Russia. And the bigger, more peaceful crowd is also more concerned about overthrowing the oppressive government right now, and discuss the foreign policy later.

    1. Re:issues they're fighting over by Katatsumuri · · Score: 4, Informative

      There are two things more to explain the occasional over-reacting with the police force.

      1. President Yanukovich comes from the east-Ukrainian criminal clan. He has served two terms in prison (IIRC for street robbery), which were later officially discarded with some help from his high-standing friends, allowing him to take high posts and even become a President. He received financial and other support from other ex-clan members (now respectable businessmen) and from Russia, who saw him as a better alternative to the nationalist candidates. East Ukraine voted for him and his party because they are easterners and they speak Russian. He has a deadly mix of "never give in" mentality and unconditional arrangements with his backers, so he generally doesn't like to negotiate with anyone. He also has full control over the Parliament majority and the court system, making him a de-facto dictator, so he also seldom has any need to negotiate.

      2. Not everyone is happy with Yanukovich's heavy and greedy rule, even in his environment, so there is an off chance someone occasionally mis-informs him, provoking controversial situations.

  7. Re:Remember how the NSA is worse than the Stasi? by ZouPrime · · Score: 4, Interesting

    > FUD. Pure and unstrained. You might consider that if we didn't shoot/bomb/torture so many people and left them the fuck alone, they might not hijack a plane and crash it into our buildings.

    Those two things are not mutually exclusive, so I don't really know what's your point.

    > Why have it in-house? What do you call an organization that prepares material for the Commander-In-Chief and supplies data to lawenforcement agencies? Do you imagine the the NSA operates in a magical box, all alone, cut off from the rest of the US government, and the US government has no desire to use their information?

    I never said that they were completely isolated. But there clearly was a willingness to enforce a separation of dutie on this matter (which makes a lot of sense), this separation of duties has clearly influenced the relationships between these organisations, and this is also clearly a difference between the NSA and the Stasi (and I'm kind of surprise to see people jump on THIS difference in particular).

    > Fucking jackboot licking shill

    Three persons called me shill on this thread; the three were AC. Now, I'm sure it must feel very edgy from your POV, but trust me, you guys don't sound edgy at all. You guys sounds like excited dicks who would say anything for a reaction, and can't handle a real discussion when faced with someone calling your ignorance.

  8. Re:Article completely misquotes NYT by M0HCN · · Score: 4, Informative

    OpenBTS, some SDR boards, a bulding overlooking the site, total cost maybe $5K or so and a week or so of codesmithing.

    The trick is to jam the 3 and 4G services so as to force the phones to fall back on basic GSM with its notoriously broken authentication and crypto. For someone who can afford a handful of Ettus research products this is not a big deal to pull off.

    Of course the other trick is to not get caught by the powers that be, unless of course you are the powers that be....

    73 Dan.