ICE bought vehicles equipped with fake cell towers to spy on phones • Hacker News Board

Re: ICE bought vehicles equipped with fake cell towers to spy on phones

#161

Post by godelski » Wed, Oct 08, 2025, 12:51 AM UTC

hypeatei wrote: post #146

simcop2387 wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Likely due to areas that still have only 2g coverage. Still a lot of that in rural usa

What areas are those? From some quick research, the only carrier left that provides 2G coverage is T-Mobile but they're phasing that out this year.

Just because the map shows you can get 5G (or 4G) does not mean you'll actually be able to use that network. It's tricky and telecom companies like to play these bullshit games. It's pretty similar to how they'll advertise "up to X MBPS" internet speeds but the average speed is far lower.

You'll actually have these experiences in congested cities. Ever go to a concert and realize you don't actually have cell service? That's because the tower is fully occupied. Unfortunately phones might not report this to you and might not report the downgrade. Making Android and Apple complacent...

Re: ICE bought vehicles equipped with fake cell towers to spy on phones

#162

Post by stackskipton » Wed, Oct 08, 2025, 12:56 AM UTC

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #133

stackskipton wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, States have been fighting over this since US Government was formed, however, I'm some ruling from 1812 does not matter. If you look at recent legal history, Federal Government has won in every case where Federal Law Enforcement was acting as Federal Law Enforcement Officers. My point is California has passed laws attempting to regulate but as of yet, has not attempted to enforce their laws at all. So are they r…

> If you look at recent legal history, Federal Government has won in every case where Federal Law Enforcement was acting as Federal Law Enforcement Officers Not disputing, but do you have sources? > My point is California has passed laws attempting to regulate but as of yet, has not attempted to enforce their laws at all. So are they really attempting or just doing performance art with laws? This is fair. I think one…

From your source:

>Decades later, in 1992, another high-profile prosecution of a federal official involved the siege of anti-government separatist Randall Weaver’s cabin near Ruby Ridge, Idaho.[33] Amid a controversial series of events, an FBI sniper accidentally killed Weaver’s unarmed wife, Vicki Weaver.[34] The U.S. Attorney General decided not to prosecute the sniper under federal law, but Idaho prosecutors charged him with involuntary manslaughter under state law.[35] After some uncertainty in prior court decisions, a split federal appeals court concluded that the Idaho case could tentatively go ahead because disputed facts left it unclear whether the sniper “acted in an objectively reasonable manner in carrying out [his] duties.”[36] A week after that decision, however, the newly elected county prosecutor in Idaho chose to drop the charges.[37]

And in a case from 2006, Wyoming prosecutors charged federal wildlife officers with trespass and littering for entering private land while collaring wolves as part of a federal monitoring program.[38] The Tenth Circuit concluded that the officers were immune from prosecution because they had an “objectively reasonable and well-founded” belief that they were on public land when conducting the collaring.[39] The court also concluded that the prosecution “was not a bona fide effort to punish a violation of Wyoming trespass law, which requires knowledge on the part of a trespasser, but rather an attempt to hinder a locally unpopular federal program.”[40]

Other recent high-profile cases include a Virginia prosecution of U.S. Park Police officers who shot and killed a man in 2017,[41] a Boston municipal court judge finding a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent in contempt of court and referring the matter to the district attorney for prosecution after the agent detained a man in the middle of a municipal court trial,[42] and an Oregon prosecution of a Drug Enforcement Administration officer who hit and killed a cyclist in 2023 while pursuing a suspected fentanyl trafficker.[43] The first two cases were dismissed,[44] and the Oregon case is still pending in a federal appeals court.[45]

Re: ICE bought vehicles equipped with fake cell towers to spy on phones

#163

Post by intermerda » Wed, Oct 08, 2025, 1:21 AM UTC

msie wrote: post #97

I hear ICE's budget has grown to an absurd amount and they can operate through the shutdown.

Trump's bill allocated 170 billion dollars to ICE. That figure is greater than annual defense spending of every country in the world other than US and China. I believe it's spread over four years, so amortized over that time period it would have more budget than all but 12 countries in the world.

Re: ICE bought vehicles equipped with fake cell towers to spy on phones

#164

Post by intermerda » Wed, Oct 08, 2025, 1:30 AM UTC

k33n wrote: post #55

code_runner wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you mean we created an environment where people could come and find success and live their lives, and we perhaps weren’t as strict as we could’ve been in some situations… I don’t think that violently kidnapping people off the streets, without showing badges, in unmarked vehicles, masked, etc is a punishment that fits the crime. Missing a court date once multiple years ago, failing to navigate a complex process, an…

Obama was quite strict about it and deported tons of illegals. An arrest isn't a violent kidnapping. Being arrested by the feds for breaking the law has usually been a fairly unpleasant ordeal. Most Americans support the idea of deporting people who break our immigration laws, thusly cutting in line while millions of others patiently wait. This really doesn't have to be an emotional issue. Very few Americans support…

> Obama was quite strict about it and deported tons of illegals. An arrest isn't a violent kidnapping. Being arrested by the feds for breaking the law has usually been a fairly unpleasant ordeal.

Obama prioritized deportation of people convicted of serious crimes and recent arrivals after they got their day in court. He did not call Mexicans rapists. The admin did not arrest US citizens. Being arrested by the feds even if you did not break the law is a much worse ordeal.

> Most Americans support the idea of deporting people who break our immigration laws, thusly cutting in line while millions of others patiently wait.

The line for legal citizenship does not move faster if you deport more people.

> This really doesn't have to be an emotional issue. Very few Americans support actual open borders. We can't feed, house or provide medical care to the entire world. That is why there is a process.

When masked men come out of a van and kidnap you off the streets in broad daylight, tell me if it's an emotional issue or not.

> Were you this vocal when Obama deported millions, or is this just more "I hate Trump" hot air?

Were you always a fascist sympathizer or did Trump stoke those feelings in you?

Re: ICE bought vehicles equipped with fake cell towers to spy on phones

#165

Post by xvector » Wed, Oct 08, 2025, 2:50 AM UTC

godelski wrote: post #160

lcnPylGDnU4H9OF wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> a way to do this on iPhones A quick search suggests Lockdown mode might do it, which is corroborated by their support docs. It also does a bunch of other things that will probably degrade most users' experience, for what it's worth. https://support.apple.com/en-us/105120 > Wireless connectivity: Your device won't automatically join non-secure Wi-Fi networks and will disconnect from a non-secure Wi-Fi network when y…

Thanks! But also WTF Apple... I appreciate that this mode exists but each of those things should be allowed to be toggled independently. People need more fine grained experience. For things that I think will affect people more than the wireless connectivity Messages: Most message attachment types are blocked, other than certain images, video, and audio. Some features, such as links and link previews, are unavailable.…

Security engineer here. Bundling these together actually makes sense.

- Message attachments are blocked because Apple has not figured out to serialize and deserialize attachments without buffer overflows. Look at how many zero days are due to message attachments. It's pretty clownish tbh.

- FaceTime is blocked because Apple has not figured out how to prevent an incoming FaceTime call from silently spying on you, which has already happened a couple times.

Government interception of your cell connection falls into a similar category of threat, so it's bundled together.

Re: ICE bought vehicles equipped with fake cell towers to spy on phones

#166

Post by cosmicgadget » Wed, Oct 08, 2025, 3:14 AM UTC

joshuahedlund wrote: post #120

cosmicgadget wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Huh? They're either chasing down people with an administrative warrant (which as far as I can tell are largely valid) or they're using reasonable suspicion which SCOTUS just decided can be determined by a combination of ethnic, economic, and geographic factors. The latter seems wrongly-decided but it is lawful by definition. What actions are you referring to and what is the treasonous intent? They seem to just be sel…

How about denying the Fourth Amendment rights of US citizens to be secure in their homes in the recent Chicago apartment raid? https://www.notesfromthecircus.com/p/the-sufferable-evil How about detaining US citizens without warrants for days at a time and then releasing with no charges? https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2025/09/george-...

Let's hope the people not subject to a warrant sue ICE's pants off. As far as I can tell, most of the dragnets are either in public places or with the permission of the property owner.

I'd love to be wrong because it means the judciary has a chance to shut this down but I fear outside of a few civil rights suits this will have to be remedied at the ballot box.

Re: ICE bought vehicles equipped with fake cell towers to spy on phones

#167

Post by cosmicgadget » Wed, Oct 08, 2025, 3:28 AM UTC

N70Phone wrote: post #85

cosmicgadget wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is critical to understand that as a general rule, what they are doing is completely legal. We created the conditions for this to happen and are empowered to change it.

> as a general rule To rudely open a dictionary: "As a general rule" - phrase of general - in most cases. Agents of the state are supposed to be acting within the law IN ALL CASES . The SS & SA were operating entirely within the law, if you ignore the times where they weren't.

Did it seem from how I employed the term "as a general rule" that I didn't understand its meaning?

Re: ICE bought vehicles equipped with fake cell towers to spy on phones

#168

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Oct 08, 2025, 3:40 AM UTC

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #124

cortesoft wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, the law of this land is based on the Constitution, which gives the Supreme Court ultimate authority to interpret the law. That is what gives it the force of law. Now, the legitimacy of the CONSTITUTION is based on what we, collectively, agree on, however

> the law of this land is based on the Constitution, which gives the Supreme Court ultimate authority to interpret the law The Constitution vests "the judicial Power of the United States" in "one supreme Court, and in such inferior Courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish" [1]. That isn't the same as "ultimate authority to interpret the law." In practice, SCOTUS does usually have this power,…

[deleted]

Re: ICE bought vehicles equipped with fake cell towers to spy on phones

#169

Post by apparent » Wed, Oct 08, 2025, 4:25 AM UTC

actionfromafar wrote: post #145

apparent wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are they arresting citizens whose behavior does not warrant arrest? I have read about several arrests, but the citizens were all interfering with lawful detentions that ICE was carrying out.

Yep, the children were interfering, sleeping in their beds.

Can you share links to this? Sounds awful. I have not heard of any children sleeping in beds being arrested by ICE, which would obviously be inappropriate/illegal.

Re: ICE bought vehicles equipped with fake cell towers to spy on phones

#170

Post by apparent » Wed, Oct 08, 2025, 4:26 AM UTC

yibg wrote: post #121

apparent wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

What's the cause and what's the effect? Less protests because ICE under Obama wasn't taking such a heavy handed and legally gray approach perhaps?

Great question! It was pretty clear that people would be protesting Trump from the day he was re-elected. His methods undoubtedly haven't helped, but I'm pretty sure there would have been protesters regardless.