It's amazing people don't understand this is an elaborate mass prank. Pirate base stations have been present in the area since the disturbances began, already being used for nefarious purposes before (SMS/money transfer fraud and so on). Whoever operates these is a petty criminal, not a nefarious government – if I'd have an opportunity to send thousands of protesters anything I want, I'm sure I'd pull a prank like this as well.
“Dear subscriber, you are registered as a participant in a mass disturbance.”
11–20 of 105 posts
Re: “Dear subscriber, you are registered as a participant in a mass disturbance.”
#12It would be interesting to conduct a survey whether people agree to 'dissent detection by use of technology'.
I wonder how opinions between laymen, politicians or religious people would differ. I think the toughest part would be ensuring survey is not too suggestive and respondents are not lying.
Re: “Dear subscriber, you are registered as a participant in a mass disturbance.”
#13Earlier quoted context omitted.
The only thing that sucks about Paranoia isn't even the games fault, as the wikipedia claims, when written in the 80s it was full of dark humor and tongue in cheek jokes, but American culture has changed so much since the game was invented that it now reads more like a DHS employee manual or Fatherland Security mission statement or whatever. It should be required reading for kids, maybe college kids. See kids, this R…
Jim Morrison said it best (screaming): "You're all a bunch of fucking slaves." ... "Maybe you like being pushed around." ... "Maybe you love getting your face stuck in the shit." ... "How long is it going to last?"
If we're going in that direction, how about Rage Against the Machine? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWXazVhlyxQ
Re: “Dear subscriber, you are registered as a participant in a mass disturbance.”
#14German police have been doing this for some time already with anti-nazi protesters: https://www.eff.org/issues/mandatory-data-retention/germany (search for dresden)
And in a case of luxury car arsons: http://www.businessinsider.com/berlin-arson-cell-phones-2012...
So the only new thing here is that the protesters got notified.
Re: “Dear subscriber, you are registered as a participant in a mass disturbance.”
#15It's amazing people don't understand this is an elaborate mass prank. Pirate base stations have been present in the area since the disturbances began, already being used for nefarious purposes before (SMS/money transfer fraud and so on). Whoever operates these is a petty criminal, not a nefarious government – if I'd have an opportunity to send thousands of protesters anything I want, I'm sure I'd pull a prank like th…
Do you have any sources for that claim?
Re: “Dear subscriber, you are registered as a participant in a mass disturbance.”
#16I wonder if this doesn't encourage people. I mean, they're unhappy with an increasingly oppressive government - won't showing them just how oppressive it can be just tell them they're doing the right thing here?
This would be doubly interesting if the message really came from spoofed base stations as apostlion claims.
Re: “Dear subscriber, you are registered as a participant in a mass disturbance.”
#17It's amazing people don't understand this is an elaborate mass prank. Pirate base stations have been present in the area since the disturbances began, already being used for nefarious purposes before (SMS/money transfer fraud and so on). Whoever operates these is a petty criminal, not a nefarious government – if I'd have an opportunity to send thousands of protesters anything I want, I'm sure I'd pull a prank like th…
A healthy sense of skepticism is helpful in cases like this (both ways). Do you have a source to share to show how this specific instance was a prank? I wouldn't put anything past the Ukranian government now, and they could have just as easily sent the message themselves.
Re: “Dear subscriber, you are registered as a participant in a mass disturbance.”
#18It's amazing people don't understand this is an elaborate mass prank. Pirate base stations have been present in the area since the disturbances began, already being used for nefarious purposes before (SMS/money transfer fraud and so on). Whoever operates these is a petty criminal, not a nefarious government – if I'd have an opportunity to send thousands of protesters anything I want, I'm sure I'd pull a prank like th…
The fatal flaw is that you have to believe they would stop trying to make money in order to partake in a profitless operation that has military attention.
Aside from that, sure why not? Prank.
Re: “Dear subscriber, you are registered as a participant in a mass disturbance.”
#19Setting aside the validity debate for a moment, this is unsettling to me (as a US citizen) in that we all know the US has the ability to use their monitoring data to do this very thing (and much more), so should they choose. The big difference is that the Ukranian government yanked too many civil liberties and rights too soon instead of the gradual removal that we've got going on over here.
As you watch this unfold (fellow US citizens), remember that we are not so far removed from what you are seeing streamed your way. I hope that spooks you as much as it spooks me.
Re: “Dear subscriber, you are registered as a participant in a mass disturbance.”
#20Well at least they notify first. US police would just start beating you and throwing you into pens, if you are lucky you won't get coated in pepper spray or hit by a sound cannon. Watch the DNC and RNC conventions next year for examples with their multi-million dollar taxpayer funded "security". But I guess this indicates police everywhere can now just record the phone numbers of everyone in the area to mark people f…
> police everywhere can now just record the phone numbers I remember that the dutch police some years ago already used so called "sms-bombs" to contact mobile phone subscribers that were around a crime scene months before. It is simply inherent in the technology. You wear a mobile phone? (not even smart ) So you are traceable with all consequences. The solution? In any case not technical in nature. We will see.
There is only 1 real solution:
Put your cell phone in flight mode and use it exclusively as a PDA/music player/etc.
Let people contact you on a landline and email - more than enough.