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Fake Mobile Phone Towers Found To Be "Actively Listening In" On Calls In UK
New submitter nickweller writes: More than 20 Stingray fake phone towers which can collect data from passing devices and listen in on calls have been discovered operating in the UK. The Metropolitan Police have refused to say who is controlling the IMSI catchers, also known as Stingrays, or what is being done with the information they are gathering. Met Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe said: "If people imagine that we’ve got the resources to do as much intrusion as they worry about, I would reassure them that it’s impossible.”
Translation: "It is important that we be completely transparent on this single fact: we are not transparent, and we will do bad things, because reasons."
"If people imagine that we’ve got the resources to do as much intrusion as they worry about, I would reassure them that it’s impossible."
Sure, we're doing a lot of bad illegal shit, but we don't have time to do as much bad illegal shit as you think we are.
Imagine if that logic were applied by a bank robber: Sure, I robbed the bank, but I didn't have time to steal as much money as you thought I did.
If people imagine that we’ve got the resources to do as much intrusion as they worry about, I would reassure them that it’s impossible.
Based on the fact that there are 20 operating Stingrays I would say that not only is it possible, but you have actually put your resources to good use doing exactly as much intrusion as we're worrying about.
Anyone here can comment on using a cellphone booster to nullify stingrays?
No. Because most Stingrays (IMSI catchers) work on 2G - those that work on 3G and 4G play man-in-the-middle (use encryption to "beat" those). If you mean can I get a better antennae so that when I've set my phone to only use 3G I can still get a signal most of the time - then yes (I just did). If you mean you want to boost the 2G reception then you'd need to find a way to only connect to your own boosted 2G connection - which is problematic to say the least. How do you ensure it is not boosting a Stingray? How do you legally run a booster? (I don't know the relevant law on amplifiers in the U.K. - in Oz we have to buy them from carriers, which is expensive as well as an act of faith). i.e. the way to "nullify" Stingrays is only use 3G and use encryption (if you use encryption then you can use any mobile protocol, which makes your "booster" redundant). Better to get a stronger signal with a better antenna than boost a weak one using an active repeater/amplifier (most mobiles have crap reception). Were you planning on lugging the repeater everywhere?
I'm assuming that their ever-so-coy stance on whether or not the stingrays are their stingrays would evaporate rather quickly if somebody were to climb up, cut one down, and make off with it...
Feds have this funny habit of suddenly getting really possessive of things that previously didn't exist if you start touching them.
"The time France had a king was in the 1800's
How come you guys still allow draconian bullshits in your lawbooks??"
Look who's talking.Did you ever check your own laws?
Here are a few:
It is considered an offense to open an umbrella on a street, for fear of spooking horses. ...
It is illegal to sell peanuts in Lee County after sundown on Wednesday.
It is illegal to wear a fake moustache that causes laughter in church.
In New York, adultery is still a crime.
Citizens may not greet each other by “putting one’s thumb to the nose and wiggling the fingers”.
In Alabama putting salt on railroad tracks may be punishable by death.
It was publicly demonstrated not long ago that it's possible to listen into a given persons GSM calls relatively easily with cheap, consumer grade, equipment. If there's a bunch of these impostor towers knocking about and the police's position is that it's not them using them then I'd quite like them to be making an effort to find out who they do belong to ASAP. Shrugging and saying “we don't have the resources to bother tapping your phones” is not an acceptable response even if it's true.
"Physics is to math as sex is to masturbation." -R. Feynman
It is considered an offense to open an umbrella on a street, for fear of spooking horses. ...
It is illegal to sell peanuts in Lee County after sundown on Wednesday.
It is illegal to wear a fake moustache that causes laughter in church.
In New York, adultery is still a crime.
Citizens may not greet each other by “putting one’s thumb to the nose and wiggling the fingers”.
In Alabama putting salt on railroad tracks may be punishable by death.
That's my plans for the weekend shot to s**t then....
Why should adultery not be a crime. We place such a high importance on marriage rights apparently that being free to enter that institution with anyone you wish is now being considered a basic human right. If that contract is so sacred that nobody should be denied it, than are not those who violate the integrity of harming society?
When prosecuting murders killing the person who was cheating with your spouse generally makes it a crime of passion and frequently is used to justify reducing the charges to second degree murder or even down to manslaughter. So obviously adultery poses a significant danger of triggering of provoking other serious crimes like battery and murder.
Its the frequent cause of dissolution of homes which negatively effects the development of children.
The list could go on. I think there is clear pattern of harm to society at large resulting from adultery. It SHOULD be a crime. If you are concerned about being and adulterer don't marry.
Repeal the 17th Amendment TODAY! Also Please Read http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html