Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
U.S. Justice Department Accused of Using Fake Cell Towers on Planes to Gather Data From Phones
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Maybe this is why the US has such an issue with dropped calls.
----------
How is this limiting your freedom? Please explain.
----------
A planet. 1 species.
Because the government knows exactly where you are. Which is definitely pretty bad for a western democracy.
Famous last words from an internet tough guy. Since when does someone have to do anything "wrong" to be accused or arrested for 'terrorism'? Lots of people have been falsely accused and sent to black sites or worse. And just who decides what's "wrong"? You, or the government? What is "wrong" always keeps changing.
It's people like you who say 'bring on the police state' who are destroying the world for the rest of us. Hope you enjoy having your freedoms taken away and hope you end up being tortured on bogus trumped up charges.
Despicable.
Your hard drives are empty?
Besides, no porn? No pirated movies, TV shows or music? No emails or text messages that could be taken out of context?
You must be the only one...
With persistent drones it certainly could be anytime now. Authorities are the only professionals with FAA approval for drones on a wide basis.
So they confirm the program, its domestic use, and that it is also being used domestically on foreign nationals. That's an interesting revelation in and of itself.article said:
Rocketman
Exactly
You Sir have saved me a reply! Its shame people in the US and countries such as the UK are living the illusion of thinking they're free when in fact they are being ruled by an Iron Fist in a silk glove. I could go on but the shepple will only attack me with quotes like "Well if you have nothing to hide then whats the problem etc etc".
Its a real shame that people are prepared to give up privacy in favour of so called governments spinning them a load of bull about security and exaggerating peoples safety in order for the government to spy on them. Don't think about peaking out either or else the government will send in their dogs (the police) to shut you up good and proper!
You Sir have saved me a reply! Its shame people in the US and countries such as the UK are living the illusion of thinking they're free when in fact they are being ruled by an Iron Fist in a silk glove. I could go on but the shepple will only attack me with quotes like "Well if you have nothing to hide then whats the problem etc etc".
Its a real shame that people are prepared to give up privacy in favour of so called governments spinning them a load of bull about security and exaggerating peoples safety in order for the government to spy on them. Don't think about peaking out either or else the government will send in their dogs (the police) to shut you up good and proper!
But they're not phones any more. That device in your pocket has become the main computer for many people. A Nokia from the 90's would be just a "phone". Now we have micro computers.
----
Going to play a drinking game with this thread later. Shot every time someone says "sheeple" or "wake up".
I'll bet that it is not true that your are not doing anything wrong. We have millions of regulations and politician's that will do whatever they can get away with including violating the law.
We know that the current administration and the IRS targeted specific political groups they disagreed with. I'll bet that you disagree with one of the two main political groups and monitoring like this could be used to determine just how good a citizen you are. All monitoring of law abiding citizens is wrong no matter what value someone thinks is provided, or which political group you happen to agree with.
To all of you please think of this.
You dont trust your OWN government.
Then why should anybody in the rest of the WORLD, trust the US Government?
This is just wrong on so many levels. Giving up your privacy to the government in the name of fighting crime, just to "protect" yourself and "because you're not doing anything wrong" is ludicrous.
And on a more basic point, you don't seem to even understand what the article is saying. This is not the government tracking your data/calls while you're on a flight. This is the government using aircraft to monitor/track your data while you're walking down the street, by using said aircraft as fake cell phone towers. In other words, surreptitiously monitoring everyone who happens to be in an area, and lying by telling you that you're connected to a legitimate cell phone tower when you're not.
If you're not completely pissed off about this you're not paying attention.
Nobody should ever blindly trust their government. There is this little document you may want to read when you have time. It's called the United States Constitution. Among other things it lays out a framework by which the citizens can keep the government accountable for its actions.
And our government's actions in this case alone are proof that they are not to be trusted. They are lying to their citizens by telling them that they are connected to a legitimate cell tower, when in fact the government is purposely and surreptitiously using the fake cell tower to monitor them. So what, exactly are they doing to earn my trust?
No where does it say they can "access personal text/voice conversations". All they are doing is obtaining location data. Cell phone companies can already do this. When your phone is used it is connected to different towers and as such that information is available. If they are in fact using this to locate said criminals/terrorists then good for them. As other have stated, I have no problem with them seeing what tower my phone is connected to. Hell it would be awesome if the phone was stolen and they used this to track the SOB who took it. Don't see this as a privacy issue as long as they are just obtaining location info. Google is worst than this.
You're a part of the problem. This backwards thinking is what got us stuck with the NSA, etc.
Is this really a surprise?
It's just the tip of the iceberg!
Yeah, my thoughts exactly. There is absolutely zero privacy anymore. Probability is your only protection, i.e. what are the odds that they are targeting me?
This reminds me of the Washington Post article Tech firm to pull back curtain on survelance efforts in Washington.
Amazing and scary tech. Sounds good to most of us now as it controls the bad guys to a degree, but it won't be so good when the government decides to use it according to their purposes to control us.
They do have a monumental job to do, protecting society from terrorism.
They do have a monumental job to do, protecting society from terrorism.