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FBI agents track cell phones that pinged near the Capitol

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Re: FBI agents track cell phones that pinged near the Capitol

#91

All cells phones, at all times, are tracked everywhere. I'm sure there are 1000's of cameras that are also used to capture visual data (in DC area). Every person flying (domestic/international) is already tracked. MC/VISA/Bank/ATM records are tracked. Every txt, post, voice call, letter you send, package you receive, is tracked (OCR's). Your vehicle is tracked via programs like Onstar, etc, even if you don't sign up…

The point about cameras blanketing DC reminded me:

Do we know if there are any security cameras in the US Capitol building? Were they all working? Has the footage from the insurrection attempt been saved?

I ask because the capitol seems like one of those places that would resist internal security cameras because congresspersons wouldn't want their meetings potentially being recorded. Plus the general incompetence of security leadership before and on that day makes me wonder if any cameras were actually in working order and saving footage.

Re: FBI agents track cell phones that pinged near the Capitol

#92

All cells phones, at all times, are tracked everywhere. I'm sure there are 1000's of cameras that are also used to capture visual data (in DC area). Every person flying (domestic/international) is already tracked. MC/VISA/Bank/ATM records are tracked. Every txt, post, voice call, letter you send, package you receive, is tracked (OCR's). Your vehicle is tracked via programs like Onstar, etc, even if you don't sign up…

Putting my tin foil hat on real quick. Just wait until they implement AI into all these sensors to "predict crimes", turning life into Minority Report. The interesting part is its the common people who will naively go along with it to feel more safe while at the same time further imprisoning themselves.

The TV Show Person of Interest's "Samaritan" AI, is how I see reality to be when we get general purpose AI for police use.

There will be no "good AI" (aka "The Machine" in the show) to combat it.

Re: FBI agents track cell phones that pinged near the Capitol

#93
post #59

This makes me appreciate kill switches more on the librem five phone. And it also makes sense why Apple doesn’t want you to be able to fully disable wifi on your phone.

> And it also makes sense why Apple doesn’t want you to be able to fully disable wifi on your phone.

If you're referring to the lack of a hardware kill switch, that's true for 99.9% of Androids too.

If you're referring to the temporary WiFi off toggle in the Control Center, the reasoning is that most people don't remember they turned off WiFi (my parents for example) and won't remember to turn it back on. But you absolutely can disable it by going into the Settings app.

Re: FBI agents track cell phones that pinged near the Capitol

#94
post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

3 raises a very interesting and somewhat concerning possibility. In the near future as AI develops more in the crime detection arena you may become a suspect for crimes occurring in your geographical area based on things you are not doing or based on some set of states your smart devices have that match a statistical model of a suspicious person. The idea of becoming a suspect because you didn’t touch your smartphone…

This already happens, most of us just don't live in the neighborhoods where it happens. That's the unfortunate reality of today's America. It's also the reason that these techniques will be employed in a ubiquitous fashion in tomorrow's America. If we wanted to stop this, the time to complain was years ago when the practice was started in the drug war. Or even recently, when the practice was employed during the BLM r…

Like with any other form of surveillance, if it's a bad practice, then it shouldn't be used on anyone, regardless of race.

Re: FBI agents track cell phones that pinged near the Capitol

#95
post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Putting my tin foil hat on real quick. Just wait until they implement AI into all these sensors to "predict crimes", turning life into Minority Report. The interesting part is its the common people who will naively go along with it to feel more safe while at the same time further imprisoning themselves.

The TV Show Person of Interest's "Samaritan" AI, is how I see reality to be when we get general purpose AI for police use. There will be no "good AI" (aka "The Machine" in the show) to combat it.

[deleted]

Re: FBI agents track cell phones that pinged near the Capitol

#96
post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a good point - this is the same group that is very gun rights focused and has been wandering around the streets armed with automatic weapons. It's kind of weird to see them without guns.

Walking around with a gun in DC is an automatic felony with potentially years in jail, especially if it's in connection with a violent act which this insurrection was. DC is not a gun-friendly place. These people were stupid, but not that stupid.

To make sure I understand you: Your claim is that a bunch of people showed up to violently overthrow the government but didn't bring guns because that would be illegal?

Re: FBI agents track cell phones that pinged near the Capitol

#97
post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Huh? Insane? The capitol was assaulted in order to prevent the democratically elected president. An actual insurrection which maybe had some attempted assassination and theft/sale of national security secrets mixed in. Seems like a pretty reasonable response.

>assault on the capitol; insurrection; attempted assassination I just want to point out the two problems with the rhetoric that mass-media and you are using to describe this event: 1. These words confer explosions, gunfire, and mass loss of life. In using these words, you are conjuring extremely violent images within the minds of your listeners. When your listeners discover the truth of the event, that the images you…

I don't disagree with your overall point. But you're not making a very fair comparison. The guy holding the podium was not the worst part of the attack on the capitol.

Re: FBI agents track cell phones that pinged near the Capitol

#98

>"And they can actually pinpoint on Google Maps exactly where you were standing. Like, he knew where I was standing on the sidewalk, like specifically, based on my cell phone ping." You don't get that level of granularity by merely triangulating cell tower pings. Sounds like they got GPS location data from people's Google accounts.

It's not triangulation, it's multi-lateration and the spatial resolution depends on just how good the basestation clocks are. And they've become very good. Every telco in the USA stores multi-lateration for cell handsets location for 2-5 years by default. They both sell this commercially and provide/sell it to authorities on request.

>Multilateration should not be confused with triangulation, which uses distances or absolute measurements of time-of-flight from three or more sites, or with triangulation, which uses a baseline and at least two angles measured e.g. with receiver antenna diversity and phase comparison.

Re: FBI agents track cell phones that pinged near the Capitol

#99
post #33

Forensic methods used by police and intelligence go much deeper than just looking at phones near the crime scene. 1. They look at phones moving towards the crime scene and going dark when getting close. This is also how you can detect secret meetings between people. They move towards the same area and shut down their phones. 2. They look at suspect phone going dark anywhere around the time of the incident. 3. Leaving…

Where did you learn this by the way? (I'm assuming this is not just a speculation.)

Re: FBI agents track cell phones that pinged near the Capitol

#100
post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>assault on the capitol; insurrection; attempted assassination I just want to point out the two problems with the rhetoric that mass-media and you are using to describe this event: 1. These words confer explosions, gunfire, and mass loss of life. In using these words, you are conjuring extremely violent images within the minds of your listeners. When your listeners discover the truth of the event, that the images you…

I don't disagree with your overall point. But you're not making a very fair comparison. The guy holding the podium was not the worst part of the attack on the capitol.

What was the worst part of the event at the capitol? What do you think would make a fair comparison?
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