The Down Range Forum
Member Section => Down Range Cafe => Topic started by: twyacht on October 08, 2010, 07:34:17 PM
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Still think the Bush wiretapping plan was bad?
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39583860/ns/technology_and_science-security/?GT1=43001
FBI busted tracking student, demands GPS spy gear return
After Web uproar, feds reclaimed magnetic tracker found under car
Several days ago a 20-year-old student discovered a GPS tracking device hidden on his car. After his friend posted a picture of it online, speculating about its ties to a secret FBI investigation, the feds themselves came a-knockin', according to Wired.com. They wanted their toy back.
Based on the discussion with the six FBI agents who arrived at his doorstep, Yassir Afifi believes he'd been under surveillance for three to six months. When Wired asked an FBI spokesman about the case, he did not acknowledge ownership of the device, but said that there was an "ongoing investigation."
Afifi says that he cooperated with the FBI and, according to Wired, "did nothing to merit attention from authorities." He is a U.S. citizen who lives in Santa Clara, Calif., where he attends Mission College.
Afifi's father, an Islamic-American activist, died a year ago in Egypt. It is not clear what the circumstances of his death were, or if this was the reason for the FBI's investigation of Afifi.
The gadget itself — a GPS receiver identified as a police-issue-only Cobham Orion Guardian ST820 tracking system, connected to a battery pack and radio transmitter — was magnetically attached to the car. A shot of it made its way around the blogosphere on Monday, after appearing on the community news site Reddit. After Afifi spotted an antenna sticking out during an oil change, the garage owner offered to yank it out. It apparently popped off quite easily.
The question of whether or not sticking a GPS on a car is legal is actually in the middle of a hot debate right now. One federal court recently said that it was legal, while another said that tracking for an "extended period of time" would in fact require a warrant. (For more on this, here's a great piece in Time written by lawyer and tech journalist Adam Cohen.)
Legality aside, the tactic itself might have been carried out with something less than precision. Simply put, tracking devices shouldn't be so easy to find. Wired talked to an agent who said that not only is the tracking device out of date, but state-of-the-art snoops hardwire the stuff directly to the car's electrical system, avoiding the need for a battery.
What's impressive is how quickly Afifi got an identification of the gadget by crowdsourcing it on the Web. On the flipside, that kind of exposure isn't good PR for the FBI. Surely the revelation of the magnetic tracker will cause many people to check under their own cars. Like many noble efforts to keep us safe from terrorism, this one may be turning out to not be so effective. After all, those who already know they're involved in illegal activity probably check their cars every day, rain or shine.
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The erosion of the 4th Amendment. 1st Amendment (in deliberation with SCOTUS right now),...The usurpation of the 10th Amend.
AND, a constant fight regarding the 2nd Amend.
What country am I in?
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What country am I in?
OCEANA 1984?
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Why yes, Very Special FBI Agent, I'd be happy to return your tracking device. But you know, we get so many people trying to claim things that aren't theirs, I'm going to have to ask you a few questions.
Can you give me a physical description of the device?
Color and Size?
Is there a serial number?
Do you have a receipt showing you purchased this device?
When did you first notice it missing?
Did you report it to the authorities?
Can I have a copy of that report?
Oh very well, all seems to be in order.
Now if you'll just sign this release form and let me get a right index finger print. Oh and I need two forms of picture ID and your Social Security number.
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Had I found one it may have had a odd encounter with a microwave oven...
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I would stick it on my neighbors car, He needs watching.
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What the... there's one of these on my AR!
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I'd have to think long and hard about whos car I'd put that on.
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I'd have put it on the first car I saw with New York plates.
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I'd have put it on the first car I saw with New York plates.
Hey, Just because it has ny plates don't make em a bad person
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Put it on a long haul truck!
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I say put it on a City Bus and let em track that for awhile.
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Slap it on a cop car.
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Hey, Just because it has ny plates don't make em a bad person
Noo...the person had nothing to do with it...I was looking for the destination.
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Put it on a long haul truck!
That would have been my first choice.
Find lots of them at a truck stop. Much easier to place the device. But I don't know how to determine the destination since the plates on a truck have little to do with it's destination.
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Why yes, Very Special FBI Agent, I'd be happy to return your tracking device. But you know, we get so many people trying to claim things that aren't theirs, I'm going to have to ask you a few questions.
Can you give me a physical description of the device?
Color and Size?
Is there a serial number?
Do you have a receipt showing you purchased this device?
When did you first notice it missing?
Did you report it to the authorities?
Can I have a copy of that report?
Oh very well, all seems to be in order.
Now if you'll just sign this release form and let me get a right index finger print. Oh and I need two forms of picture ID and your Social Security number.
Good one Al. Though I would probably leave off the "Very" off before the Special part before being snarky.
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Slap it on a cop car.
heheh that is what I though ;D
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heheh that is what I though ;D
Or the chief's. Maybe his wife's. ;D
FQ13
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First, place bug on Chief's wife's car.
Step 2 - Call her and tell her you overheard talk about it. ;D
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You guy's do relize this is standard equipment on all new gm vehicles right??? What you thought onstar was a good thing?
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You guy's do relize this is standard equipment on all new gm vehicles right??? What you thought onstar was a good thing?
Not to mention that every cell phone can be tracked in the same manner.
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Not to mention that every cell phone can be tracked in the same manner.
Can't you just remove the GPS chip in the back? Its easy, its like a little sticker in the battery compartment. When I got a new phone, the guy at the phone store did it with my old one. It took two seconds and no tools. Just remove the battery, remove the chip, replace the battery and move on. Is that all there is to it, or am I missing something? Enquiring minds want to know. ;D
FQ13
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Your phone has a special ID code that it uses to contact the network, that's what they track, they can even turn your phone on remotely and use it as a listening device.
Pre Paid is different, all they know is that some one bought the phone, if you pay cash there is no record to tie it to you so no one tracks them.
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Your phone has a special ID code that it uses to contact the network, that's what they track, they can even turn your phone on remotely and use it as a listening device.
Pre Paid is different, all they know is that some one bought the phone, if you pay cash there is no record to tie it to you so no one tracks them.
that is the IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity)
over here the PrePaid phones also are tracked with it as you also need ID to get them like a normal mobile phone
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Your phone has a special ID code that it uses to contact the network, that's what they track, they can even turn your phone on remotely and use it as a listening device.
Pre Paid is different, all they know is that some one bought the phone, if you pay cash there is no record to tie it to you so no one tracks them.
I've heard that the "magnetic strip" that is inserted in bills can be used to track the flow of the individual bills.
It would take scanning them when they are handed out to an individual and then again when they are used for a purchase.
It might be hard to prove that you didn't drop the bill that was used to purchase something nasty in the Salvation Army pot at the local grocery, but with all the video cameras, it is getting easier all the time.
I've seen videos of folks pulling that strip out of bills with tweezers.
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that is the IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity)
over here the PrePaid phones also are tracked with it as you also need ID to get them like a normal mobile phone
Phil
repeat after me: "When, in the course of human events........ ;D :-\
FQ13
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Any cell phone can be tracked to within a certain area...via the cell towers your number is using at any given moment. Now to triangulate an exact location may take more sophisticated equipment but it is still possible. If you have a signal (at least one bar) showing on your screen, then you are trackable.
My old phone would beep to alert me whenever my phones signal was switched to a new tower...since the actual signal from your cell is low wattage...http://www.wave-guide.org/library/cellphones.html It is fairly easy to track your general vicinity..
More interesting reading....http://cellphoneforums.net/alt-cellular-ericsson/t228835-cell-phone-range.html
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I would stick it on my neighbors car, He needs watching.
I'd have put it on the first car I saw with New York plates.
Had I found one it may have had a odd encounter with a microwave oven...
This would be my first thought. There would have to be some way you could screw with it. Perhaps attach it to a boxcar on a slow moving freight, or else a city bus after smearing it with fresh dog $h!t. Bill T.
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This would be my first thought. There would have to be some way you could screw with it. Perhaps attach it to a boxcar on a slow moving freight, or else a city bus after smearing it with fresh dog $h!t. Bill T.
Of course, if the cops were smart, they'd have left two. One that you were supposed find and remove, making you think you were safe. the other? Not so easy to find. But, it is the Feebs we're talking about. 8)
FQ13
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The bottom line to all this is that if any of us use almost any type of technology we can be tracked. It’s all set up that way, cell phones, computers, email, and newer cars.
Most people don’t realize that everything sent in email is never deleted, at this point you can consider anything you send in an email to be eternal. It can always be accessed and used against you.
My next vehicle is going to be an old pickup with no electronics and a mini em pulse that goes off when started.
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The bottom line to all this is that if any of us use almost any type of technology we can be tracked. It’s all set up that way, cell phones, computers, email, and newer cars.
Most people don’t realize that everything sent in email is never deleted, at this point you can consider anything you send in an email to be eternal. It can always be accessed and used against you.
My next vehicle is going to be an old pickup with no electronics and a mini em pulse that goes off when started.
That's the lesson Al Queda has learned. The best way to beat high tech is no tech. We're spending billions on air superiority fighters. When our enemy needs an airforce, they fly Delta. We have the worlds best navy? They have a rubber boat packed with a fertilizer bomb and crewed by useful idiots. We have Echelon? They use couriers. We can track money transfers? They use a medevial banking system based on promisory notes from Abdul at the local Circle-K. And so it goes. The best SD gun out there? One made pre-68 and bought in a cash transaction from a private sale. :-\ 8)
FQ13
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That's the lesson Al Queda has learned. The best way to beat high tech is no tech. We're spending billions on air superiority fighters. When our enemy needs an airforce, they fly Delta. We have the worlds best navy? They have a rubber boat packed with a fertilizer bomb and crewed by useful idiots. We have Echelon? They use couriers. We can track money transfers? They use a medevial banking system based on promisory notes from Abdul at the local Circle-K. And so it goes. The best SD gun out there? One made pre-68 and bought in a cash transaction from a private sale. :-\ 8)
FQ13
That is so true! The best way to break the system is to not be part or the system. Al Queda is not looking to defeat us with arms, the little bombers are only a distraction. I believe their war plan is to is to take us down the same way the Soviet Union failed, collapsing the economy you need money for war. No money, no war! Keep increasing our debt until it breaks us just as it did the Soviet Union. Bad news for us is that we have a Government that is more than willing to help them speed up the process.
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That is so true! The best way to break the system is to not be part or the system. Al Queda is not looking to defeat us with arms, the little bombers are only a distraction. I believe their war plan is to is to take us down the same way the Soviet Union failed, collapsing the economy you need money for war. No money, no war! Keep increasing our debt until it breaks us just as it did the Soviet Union. Bad news for us is that we have a Government that is more than willing to help them speed up the process.
Fact is, like you noted, without bho's help, it would have taken millenia for the ragheads to defeat us that way. However, with bho and kongresses actions over the past few years it is now much more of a threat than before.
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Just like the schools, ONLY IF YOU LET THEM.