SnoringEarthworm@sh.itjust.works 3 weeks ago
I went to EFF to find out wtf stingrays are (besides a type of fish).
Cell-site simulators, also known as “Stingrays” or IMSI catchers, are devices that masquerade as legitimate cell-phone towers, tricking phones within a certain radius into connecting to the device rather than a tower.
Cell-site simulators operate by conducting a general search of all cell phones within the device’s radius, in violation of basic constitutional protections. Law enforcement use cell-site simulators to pinpoint the location of phones with greater accuracy than phone companies. Cell-site simulators can also log IMSI numbers (unique identifying numbers) of all of the mobile devices within a given area.
…
The fact that government agencies are using these devices without the utmost consideration for the privacy and rights of individuals around them is alarming but not surprising. The federal government, and in particular agencies like HSI and ICE, have a dubious and troubling relationship with overbroad collection of private data on individuals.
Wait, people didn’t know about StingRays?
They’ve been around for like a decade now.
But uh, yeah, basically, they’re fake/spoof/honeypot cell towers that man-in-the-middle all nearby cell network traffic.
This is how they do the whole… everything dragnet, all the time, basically all cop cruisers have them in them, active all the time, this is why you just don’t bring your phone to a protest unless you really know what you’re doing.
So how do they break my SSL connections?
It’s a little less about reading what you’re saying or looking at on your phone, it’s mostly about tracking where your phone goes and figuring out who you are that way.
They don’t really need to.
They get all your phone’s metadata, and thats usually enough to plug in to a bunch of other databases that they can add you to a watchlist of some kind.
I mean really at this point we are all in a giganto mega watchlist, its just that its so big that the problem is actually sorting through that list and ‘accurately’ assigning threat levels, but thats what Palantir is for.
Like, they get your IMSI code, unless you are somehow regularly/randomly resetting that, uh, they can easily get a bunch of other info from cell providers, they just can’t (usually) specifically use that info alone to convict you of something, but…
They know who you are, roughly where you were and when.
So thats a pretty good starting point for a subsequent investigation, or just throwing it onto the dragnet data pile.
So good I need not fear about all this, because I said a very rare bunch of people to kick rocks (not directly, not knowing who they are, just in response to their words relayed anonymously by another person, and technically more rude, but I was told it was translated this way), and expressed my opinion about the current regime in my country with its leader’s biological daughter (by no measure the only one) in the room (also I was trying to fsck her), using prison castes’ names, and also my dad probably had ties to security services, making it almost certain I’m already as tagged as tagging goes personally and not by some combination of coefficients. There’s even a little probability that this has already saved my life once or twice.
Can’t recommend it.
wetling@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
When someone finds one of these simulators, what would they do?
dhork@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Based on this link, the proper thing to do should be to report it to the FCC. I am not sure how much Trump’s FCC will pay attention to the report, though…
Chozo@fedia.io 2 weeks ago
Whatever you do, you shouldn't accidentally spill saltwater on it. That could destroy a very expensive piece of spying equipment, and would be a terrible, tragic accident that could interfere with the advance of nazism.
Nastybutler@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
You’re thinking of magnets. That’s how you ruin magnets.
youtu.be/rkIKEJPAUzM
finitebanjo@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Hang on while I fly up and spill water on a fucking plane.
felixwhynot@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Report it to your favorite news media ig
MTZ@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Also alert your friends/colleagues that there are IMEI scanners at the event, so that they can prepare accordingly by leaving their phone at home, putting it in a farraday bag, etc.
artyom@piefed.social 2 weeks ago
It doesn’t matter if there are IMSI catchers or not, they should be leaving their phones at home.
peoplebeproblems@midwest.social 3 weeks ago
Find your anarchist friend with excess radio equipment and let them know.