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US Pushing Local Police To Keep Quiet On Cell-Phone Surveillance Technology
schwit1 (797399) writes with this story from the Associated Press, as carried by Yahoo News: The Obama administration has been quietly advising local police not to disclose details about surveillance technology they are using to sweep up basic cellphone data from entire neighborhoods, The Associated Press has learned. Citing security reasons, the U.S. has intervened in routine state public records cases and criminal trials regarding use of the technology. This has resulted in police departments withholding materials or heavily censoring documents in rare instances when they disclose any about the purchase and use of such powerful surveillance equipment. Federal involvement in local open records proceedings is unusual. It comes at a time when President Barack Obama has said he welcomes a debate on government surveillance and called for more transparency about spying in the wake of disclosures about classified federal surveillance programs.
...and the police state gears up ...
EFF put together this great debate between Joe Biden 2006 and Barrack Obama 2013
this is about Stingrays... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S...
more importantly, sources and methods
i think the Justice Dept. is trying to keep this tech out of the hands of the general public
they can't, of course
Thank you Dave Raggett
The smartphone: a general purpose computational device with a GPS, camera and microphone, typically carried around on one's person or in one's general vicinity at all times. Most smartphones have built-in functionality below the operating system layer that allows the carrier to execute arbitrary code on the device.
It's the ultimate tracking tool.
The more I hear about them trying to quell discussion about these things the more interested I get. What in the world is so important about them? What are they hiding? I saw a strange object on a power pole when I was out for a run the other day, it looked like tree roots laid out horizontally... I can only assume it was an antenna of some sort. Was gone the very next day, and wasn't there the day before either... I wonder if it was one of these things?
Those spoofed Obama posters that replaced HOPE with OBEY seem more and more appropriate.
the federal government cant keep any secrets they are too clumsy, stupid and corrupt to garner loyalty from that many police officers
Politics is Treachery, Religion is Brainwashing
It comes at a time when President Barack Obama has said he welcomes a debate on government surveillance and called for more transparency about spying in the wake of disclosures about classified federal surveillance programs.
It's pretty easy to welcome "debate" when you've already determined the outcome before a single word has been spoken. It also looks like "transparency" now means the opposite of its traditional meaning. Kind of like how literally can mean figuratively, bad is good, etc.
...the words coming out of these politician's mouths were what they were putting onto paper with their pens, the world would be a much better place. Instead, we have them insisting one thing publicly, while working against that idea in every way possible behind closed doors.
98% of you will still vote democrat or republican, thinking this time things will change. You're right. Things will change... for the worse. And then you will STILL vote democrat or republican again. You have the government you asked for. And quit your bellyaching about lack of choice. I ain't listening. It's bullshit. You decide who is on the ballot.
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
Is why does the Federal government care? That they do begs the question, what are they trying to hide? Are the Stingrays (which are useful as a law enforcement tool -- assuming proper warrants are obtained and appropriate restrictions adhered to) just a smokescreen for other spy technologies being used by the Feds (think parallel construction here) and shared with local LEO? If so, that's a big problem.
If not, I'm guessing that Hanlon's Razor applies here in spades.
No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr
This must be that "transparency" I've been hearing so much about.
Mod me down with all of your hatred and your journey towards the dark side will be complete!
The USA was the first nation to mandate BY LAW that every cell phone sold in the USA had to constantly provide location tracking information, and the laughable excuse given by Congress is that this facility would help locate some 911 callers. This functionality became a requirement MANY years ago, and has absolutely NOTHING to do with GPS.
After the new law, Hollywood modified the plots of its TV dramas to account for the fact that anyone with a powered mobile phone was locatable to within several meters using the cell tower triangulation methods that actually track the position of every cell phone owner in the USA. If the plot required a person to be 'lost', an excuse had to be found for the lack of a cell phone, or the inability of the cell phone to work properly (exhausted battery- not within the range of a cell tower). BUT THEN EVERYTHING CHANGED.
The US Justice Department contacted every major entertainment company, and asked them to STOP informing ordinary Americans that their mobile phones were constantly location tracked. And Hollywood complied- so now TV dramas constantly inform naive viewers that most mobile phones CANNOT be location tracked unless
1) special software has been installed on the phone
2) the phone has a GPS chip
3) AND the phone network company has been informed, and currently has a Human operator attempting to locate the phone.
Hollywood TV shows and films can actually have plots revolving around the use of a mobile phone, and at the same time absolutely denying that the phone has ANY location tracking facility. The US remake of 'Shameless' had a 'genius' 'hacker' character attempting to locate a person trapped in a container on a moving truck, and despite the fact that the 'lost' individual was in the USA, and communicating with the 'genius' 'hacker' by mobile phone, not once did the 'genius' 'hacker' suggest that the phone itself provided the location.
You see the same thing with 'crime' plots, where Hollywood agrees to NEVER show effective criminal procedures, even to the extent of NEVER accurately depicting something as trivial as lock-picking. But extending this dubious principle to general public knowledge about the true functionality of their electronic devices is despicable- and straight out of 1984.
Such NSA inspired programs join other NSA FUD like:
-the NSA FUD attack against Truecrypt
-the NSA FUD attack against the validity of properly erasing files by over-writing them with new, random data that the OS cannot distinguish from other, valid data. The NSA pays shills to hit forums like these with garbage about 'magic' forensic technology that directly recovers such deleted data from the surface of the HDD platter. The intention is to drive the sheeple to use subverted, corporate deletion tools that actually leave most of the data untouched, making it likely the NSA and others can recover it.
-The Bill Gates/NSA home spy project called Kinect 2. Due to the complete failure of the Xbox One in the marketplace, Microsoft has reversed every Gates/NSA requirement for the original Xbox One launch. No great loss to the NSA, since the Kinect2 was just a tiny part of the NSA grooming project to get sheeple accepting of NSA cameras, microphones and associated computer processing in their own homes. Almost every brand of smart TV has cameras and microphones that CANNOT be disabled, and continuously stream data from these to NSA servers in the so-called 'cloud', if people are dumb enough to connect these TVs to the internet.
Liberties have always been sacrificed to presumably enhance security. Every day we are bombarded with news about how vulnerable we are. Government takes advantage of this. They sell us on sacrificing (what seems to be) trivial liberties to make us safer. Look at how our children don't think twice about being behind a locked fence at school. That is supposed to make them safer. I think that environment will make them quite comfortable in prison camps. I think we need to take security seriously, but not rely on the government (at any level) to provide it. No matter what measures we take, bad things will happen and people will get hurt and killed.
I remember my dad telling me that locks only keep the honest people out. Come to think about it, maybe that is why the government is always able to get in...Even when measures are taken to keep them out.
I would have a sig but I am too busy updating programs and restarting my computer
This is going to come out. Not if, just when.
When it does - lots of local heads will roll. Politically, not literally.
The scope is very large. The level of participation is very large. The value of a leak is huge, so the first leaker wins the lottery - made for life. Do police get paid enough for that to make economic sense? nope.
The blowback for those who administer this outside of "required to cooperate" is huge. The only response of the leaders that gets them off the hook is to pass that buck upward. "The law made me do it" or "the feds made me do it" will save their careers, some.
Eventually it has to break. How is it handled at that point?
Look at the NSA/Cisco/IBM related consequences of Snowden and imagine that at a local level.
That or those who rule by consent of the governed would want to educate and train the people (not serfs) under them so that there is sustainable rule of law AND good quality of freedom enjoyed in the land of the free, home of the brave, place where justice wears a blindfold. Too bad those way up in power are less interested in that quality - they are the ones with the greatest ability to support it.
Spidey is a stingray detector app developed by the ACLU and MIT. This page is a page to get notified when it goes live. The source code is on GitHub. It works by comparing the towers you can see at any given moment against what you've seen before and data from the OpenCellID Project.
Who watches the watchers? I do.
Stop-Prism.org: Opt Out of Surveillance
behind your Canadian brothers will not leave you behind http://www.michaelgeist.ca/con...
Well I was sharpening my pitch fork last night but my neighbors think that I'm crazy.
by TheSpoom (715771) Uncaring Linux user here. I have nothing to add to this but please continue. *munches popcorn*
Not that his opposition was any better but really people were acting like he was the second coming.
Turns out it was the second coming of Richard Nixon.
Anyway it shouldn't surprise anyone that this came out of a big government establishment administration.
When Ralph Nader was running in 2000, he was barred from the debates.
The Democrats and Republicans have a oligarchy here in the States when it comes to political candidates.
We also have a populace that has been programmed by propaganda to fear the "other side" soooo bad, that they'll vote for the "lesser evil".
There are plenty of BS reasons and rationals that people use - "throwing your vote away" is the most idiotic one of all.
So, people, the parent is right. And we DO have the government that reflects the people. And the people are lazy, easily manipulated cows.
But the thing is, just try to go against the flow of mindless walking cows.
I will continue to throw my vote away and listen to people who bitch about how things never change with disgust.
Obama is Bush term 3 &4? WTF did you expect?! That's his campaign rhetoric was the truth?
And if you think Romney would have been better, you are just as delusional and just as much of a sheep as everyone else.
Pathetic sheepeople - ALL of you!
I feel like a Late Show host who's just discovered Dan Quayle and Sarah Palin in the same afternoon.
Don't worry bro, your check is probably in the mail.
Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.
Ernest Hemingway
I am not surprised that any of this is going on and it shouldn't be a surprise to anyone else. We let our governments conduct surveillance on us without any checks or balances. I encourage all of you to take measures to protect yourselves from such intrusions and unwarranted monitoring.
... you complaining while he plugs his ears and yells LA LA LA LA LA. XD
Don't just stand there, get that other dog!
It's odd how the article keeps saying Obama Administration, especially when you know that the whitehouse isn't wasting it's time on local stuff like that.
They should specify which departments or people are actually making these demands for the locals to not release the info.
They do state specifically in one case, and that was the FBI. You know, one of those three letter agencies that happily lie to Congress, the Senate, and the Whitehouse.
" who are they really targeting?" Let's just assume everyone until we confirm otherwise.
Talking out both sides of his mouth. Or delegating all the offensive stuff for cronies to pass on so he can pretend his hands are clean...
Not saying anyone else would be any better.
Just making an observation.
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
Bushitler wouldn't be in office forever. Hoping for a change, we finally have a real chance of electing a President, who is both technologically savvy and committed to open government!
Oh, wait...
In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
let's see it!
show me the money!
i'm going to have to contradict your theory...see, I set my hair on fire on these /. boards gratis
call me crazy (again) but I actually think what I"m saying is right...and I may be abrasive but I'll always return kindness w/ kindness and discuss anything as long as it's an honest conversation
Thank you Dave Raggett
There are many many people in Texas named "Jody Williams". If you consider that Jody can be short for Joseph, there are even more. Nutjob, indeed.
If you want a vision of the future, imagine a youtube comments section scrolling - forever.
Politicians saying one thing and doing another? I am totally surprised about this!
No doubt these devices operate by exploiting security vulnerabilities in the cel networks. If info got out about how it works, they'd have to upgrade every cel tower in existance at crushing expense. "Can you hear me now?"
I wonder if criminal trials or civil suits are taking place while the state or federal governments withhold information from lawyers or courts. Innocent men could be in prison due to withheld evidence.
America (USA) was a democracy, democracy died long ago at the hands of the Roman Catholic Church driven defense industry mafia in what they did in the 50's and 60's, and they cannot even create the illusion of it anymore. Washington is nothing more than theatrics now and they know it. The path back to a democracy was removed by what they did to the Mason's, the only people that were genetically driven to care for the people. What you are all seeing now is the product of these actions with the screwed foreign policy creating enemies all over the world that are circling the US now and so many years of uncontrollable deficit spending and printing money just to make ends meet these other countries are smelling blood. There's really only one way it can go now, and is exactly why the brain trust in the US has already left or in that process, the intelligent tend to prefer to live in a democracy. With problems like that, do you really think they care about Gitmo?
Just in case, the answer is no, the US has been reduced to a closet case communist country by a religion, and for me it is rather ironic that I seek safe harbor in Germany, my country of origin. So much for the new world...
Not from this Prez. Obama is a traitor to the cause!
Texas is a large state. It has more land than any state but Alaska and more people than any state but California. It also has one of the highest growth rates by percentage.
"Williams" is the third most common surname in the United States, behind just Smith and Johnson.
"Jody" is pretty regularly in the top 1000 most common given names and during the 1960s and 1970s was among the top two or three hundred for newborns of both sexes.
I happen to have an uncommon last name (fewer than 2 people per 100,000 in the US) and have run across a number of people with the same given name and surname in the US. At one time I lived in a city of about 120,000 people and there was another with the same first and last name across town who was, as far as I know, no near relation. I had moved from well outside that area.
>> Gitmo is that it was attempted to be closed but was blocked via procedural means. Only certain penitentiaries can accept prisoners from outside of US soil and in order to do so they must have authorization from the (state) Governor...all of the penitentiaries that were able to take the prisoners had Republican governors. All of them were asked in turn by the administration, and all of them said no.
Pretty sure your facts are wrong here. For example, Illinois, an all-Democrat state, had exactly the kind of prison needed, and was proceding down this path. Long story short, there's no "blocked via procedural means" argument here, and if there were, do you really think Obama would hesitate to break the law (again) to get this done?
A quick Google search may help you...
https://www.google.com/webhp?s...
Why would Local Law Enforcemnt embrace that which is wrong?
wow, I'm a bit surprised that a few other /.'ers have tried checking up on "jody williams"
I still think "jody williams" is a paid commentor, based primarily on the Twitter account...freinds, posts, followers, following...all indicate a fake profile
thanks for the interest everyone...paid commetors are a major problem on /.
if you've been around here for awhile, you know that b/c of /.'s chosen font, the capital "I" and lowercase "l" look virtually identical
scammers use this similarity to create several profiles that appear to be the same name, but vary a capital "I" and lowercase "l"
"jody williams" would be great for that
one correction, the other Paid Commentor I encountered was not "jody williams" but a different "jody" with a similar twitter profile
it was the super-high user# and the twitter accounts of both "jodys" that tells me these are Paid Commentors
Thank you Dave Raggett
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