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GPS tracking device found on an activist's car

people.torproject.org

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Re: GPS tracking device found on an activist's car

#141

Post by baddox »

jjoonathan wrote: post #131
baddox wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A lot of people (probably the vast majority, at least in the West) also believe that, because you can occasionally vote on things, anything the government does is fine because, after all, "government is us."

Who, exactly, is this "lot of people" you refer to? > "anything the government does is fine" I have literally never met a single person who believes this. I have met someone who believes that anything the market does is fine (revealed preferences, doncha know?) but fortunately he's a minority, even among libertarians. If we instead interpret your statement as hyperbole with the intention of accusing people of complac…

Right, so "anything the government does is fine" was a really bad way to phrase it. What I meant is that many people have the same attitude toward government as the attitude toward markets that you reference. It's not necessarily that they agree with or personally like all actions of government, but rather that they believe that the fundamental workings of government are sound, and that the occasional disagreeable actions are acceptable because this is simply how society has chosen to come together and solve certain issues.

Many people also go further, and claim that even when there are unjust government laws or actions, they should not be disobeyed or resisted, and that political action is the only valid approach to disagreeable actions of government. This is extremely common in any discussion about police violence.

Re: GPS tracking device found on an activist's car

#142

Post by rbanffy »

tsotha wrote: post #81
rbanffy wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's so much easier to just keep passing it around to your friends so they can attach it to as many different cars (or other kinds of vehicle) as possible. Imagine what your fans in government would think if the logs of your car included long periods over water or a trip to the stratosphere or a trek through the woods. Or they decided to find you once you decided to seemingly leave civilization behind to discover you…

I think I'd try to pop it into the wheel well of the nearest police car.

That would probably give the police enough reason to arrest you. I prefer feeding a disjoint set of movements made by random people.

Re: GPS tracking device found on an activist's car

#143

Post by rsync »

jrockway wrote: post #3

I guess it's a sad world when I breathe a sigh of relief upon seeing that this didn't take place in the US. I like how the agency gummed over the chip silkscreens so you can't see what chips they're using. Even though it's obvious that one is flash, another is a GPS module, and the third is the micro. And it appears that some scraping will show you the part numbers anyway. Amateur hour.

"If it's gonna be a amateur night, I want a hundred thousand dollars. I want it upfront. I want it in a bank account. I want another $100,000 when you get the case."

Re: GPS tracking device found on an activist's car

#144

Post by tsotha »

rbanffy wrote: post #142
tsotha wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think I'd try to pop it into the wheel well of the nearest police car.

That would probably give the police enough reason to arrest you. I prefer feeding a disjoint set of movements made by random people.

Arrest you for what?

The other option would be to find a long-haul truck.

Re: GPS tracking device found on an activist's car

#146

Post by rbanffy »

tsotha wrote: post #144
rbanffy wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That would probably give the police enough reason to arrest you. I prefer feeding a disjoint set of movements made by random people.

Arrest you for what? The other option would be to find a long-haul truck.

I'm sure tampering with a police car is illegal and that police forces are famous for their lack of sense of humour. They won't take this lightly.

Re: GPS tracking device found on an activist's car

#147

Post by AnkhMorporkian »

new299 wrote: post #125
fnordfnordfnord wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are there local laws on transmission interference? As far as the FCC goes, enforcement is hit or miss and generally lax. At least for HAMS, there is a process that begins with someone noticing the interference and complaining to the FCC, sometimes followed by an investigation, which is then sometimes followed by a Notice Of Violation. It takes a while to get to the part where the FCC assesses a penalty (Forfeiture Or…

If you're transmitting your own GPS signal in an Urban area someone is going to notice pretty quickly and angry pretty fast. You will interfere with both law enforcement and emergency services, and likely cause a bunch of trouble. Thinking about how much trouble you could cause, I'm actually surprised that GPS transmissions aren't signed. I guess if you were implementing it today, that would be a logical feature to a…

GPS degradation was turned off in the late 90s by Clinton. I'm afraid that page is woefully out of date. Everybody has access to the full precision data now.

Re: GPS tracking device found on an activist's car

#148

Post by tsotha »

rbanffy wrote: post #146
tsotha wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Arrest you for what? The other option would be to find a long-haul truck.

I'm sure tampering with a police car is illegal and that police forces are famous for their lack of sense of humour. They won't take this lightly.

This is one of those instances where if you get caught they'll arrest you but you probably won't get charged. At least where I live, if it went to court your attorney could spend all kinds of time exploring where it came from, which is something the government would rather not talk about.

Re: GPS tracking device found on an activist's car

#149

Post by tomkinstinch »

new299 wrote: post #122
tomkinstinch wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Transmitting RF on GPS frequencies would almost certainly run afoul of local laws on transmission interference, and in the US FCC enforcement penalties are both severe and expensive (as they should be for interference). A direct coax connection would probably be fine though. What are the transmitters you're talking about? Multiple analog front ends each transmitting on a different L1 channel frequency? SDRs transmitt…

Yes, of course, so do all SDRs which is why they don't come with high power frontends. GPS Signal generators are sold as test equipment, and design for wired connection over coax as you say. Using them with a high powered frontend would be illegal. The transmitters I'm talking about are designed for the mobile phone industry. This is an example: http://www.meguro.co.jp/english/product/category/category_01... My guess…

Cool. I didn't know things like the MSG-2051 exist. Sadly none are $50 near me. :( Will have to keep an eye open for one...

Re: GPS tracking device found on an activist's car

#150

Post by cyphunk »

ladyada wrote: post #75

http://imgur.com/a/Z1hyd has a few parts labeled theres a main processor which is way overpowered (the big TQFP part) which is covered by a plug-in 2G GSM/GPRS modem. You can 'sniff' the modem control pins, its almost certainly the standard plain 'AT' command set used for these modems, at 9600 or 57600 baud, 3.3V logic The plug in module looks a lot like a SIM300 or Spreadtrum 5100b. It probably had an IMEI sticker t…

If the coin battery is used as a RC circuit switch to wipe memory what are the chances that it has already been wiped? It's been 7 days off power.

The large power drain of the CPU could indicate this off-shelf product is meant to be installed, rather than attached with battery? Which could indicate a product as someone else linked to: http://www.miniinthebox.com/es/gps-v103b-sms-gprs-gps-sistem...

I'd be curious if any code were installed on the GSM module since many of these provide jvm's or python interpretors. Then again, what they heck is this 120 pin CPU for.

If the thing still has power it is worth keeping it alive without the SIM.

PS. Azul=Blue Negro=Black Marron=Brown Blanco=White in spanish

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