ICE's Tool to Monitor Phones in Neighborhoods • Hacker News Board

Re: ICE's Tool to Monitor Phones in Neighborhoods

#171

Post by shermantanktop » Thu, Jan 08, 2026, 7:09 PM UTC

gruez wrote: post #73

shermantanktop wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't buy the 'both sides' POV except in the longest historical view. Right now it's just not true. One team is a feckless collection of timid hesitators who is trying to defend a social welfare policy from 70 years ago, and the other team believes their volatile leader is infallible and will direct revenge at whatever they are pointed to by the latest 3am tweet. It's just not the same.

>One team is a feckless collection of timid hesitators who is trying to defend a social welfare policy from 70 years ago What is this referring to? >and the other team believes their volatile leader is infallible and will direct revenge at whatever they are pointed to by the latest 3am tweet. >It's just not the same. What does this have to do with gp's claim about cycle of reprisals by both parties? It can be simulta…

I was responding the effort to paint the two sides as equal.

The cycle-of-reprisals is a separate point. In a two-party system, transfer of power means change. The minority party will always paint that as reprisal, so if you judge by who-complains-the-loudest, they will look the same. The churn of claims and counter-claims by politicians in the media has become a game with very predictable behaviors.

But if you look at actions, IMO they behave very differently.

Re: ICE's Tool to Monitor Phones in Neighborhoods

#172

Post by iamnothere » Thu, Jan 08, 2026, 7:19 PM UTC

daheza wrote: post #32

chaps wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

....cameras exist :)

True, cameras can be taken away or smashed after the fact destroying evidence. With my phone I can stream video to a cloud so that it can't be deleted. The ACLU used to have an app specifically for this but it seems to have been discontinued. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ACLU_Mobile_Justice

If you are ok with the low quality, you could use a radio to transmit fast scan TV to a nearby receiver. Use a repeater if you need to get some real distance.

FPV drones often use this and could be a good source of parts. Or encode the feed and send through a small portable ham radio if you want a challenge. https://irrational.net/2014/03/02/digital-atv/

Re: ICE's Tool to Monitor Phones in Neighborhoods

#173

Post by soupfordummies » Thu, Jan 08, 2026, 7:23 PM UTC

everdrive wrote: post #19

So this is getting to be pretty real and pretty scary. How many of you have actually considered just not using your mobile phone any longer? Turning it off, only powering it on when you need it, and not bringing it when you leave your home? Within a lot of our lifetimes, this was the norm. Are these devices so useful that put up with carrying a tracking / listening device on us at all time?

I really dream of doing it. I gave it a soft-run a few years back when mine was stolen and it was really hard. Not just creature comforts and habits like GPS etc but even things like so much of the modern world assumes you have a phone on you. Things like parking, event tickets, restaurant QR code menus (thankfully this one seems to be actually getting better though.)

Re: ICE's Tool to Monitor Phones in Neighborhoods

#174

Post by SilverElfin » Thu, Jan 08, 2026, 7:23 PM UTC

chasd00 wrote: post #110

everdrive wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People have allowed themselves to become so dependent on mobile phones that I'm frankly disgusted. You're talking about a scenario where you're worried about being illegally arrested by the secret police -- aided by their tracking of your phone, but it's still not enough to consider using your phone less. It's no different that a rat starving to death but continuing to push the lever for the cocaine hit. [edit] Vote…

yeah it's kind of amazing, just leave your phone at home and the tracking problem is solved (if one even really exists to begin with). If you want to document something bring a simple digital camera. They pretty much all have video and audio capability too. Like how is this not obvious to everyone? edit: just want to point out there are still cameras everywhere so if you're worried about being found just leaving your…

Being able to upload or stream is crucial so evidence doesn’t get confiscated

Re: ICE's Tool to Monitor Phones in Neighborhoods

#175

Post by mghackerlady » Thu, Jan 08, 2026, 7:24 PM UTC

nemomarx wrote: post #5

Any tips on how to avoid this? I suppose those tin foil signal blockers might be useful?

One way to minimize the info they gather is by using a dumb phone. I have a flip phone running some RTOS that doesn't allow any kind of apps and doesn't have GPS, meaning the only trace it leaves is any cell activity

Re: ICE's Tool to Monitor Phones in Neighborhoods

#176

Post by mghackerlady » Thu, Jan 08, 2026, 7:26 PM UTC

Hizonner wrote: post #141

anthk wrote: post #38

Richard Stallman was right. Buy a dumbphone, an actual one. Call's, SMS', nothing else. Did you know that women's period was tracked by propietary smartphone apps? There goes your freedom. https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-61952794

You can still be location-tracked with a dumb phone. Yes, even if the phone has no GPS. Any communication with the network gives away your location to the "right" people.

it can, but it's significantly harder. With good enough opsec the info leaked through cell activity is practically negligible

Re: ICE's Tool to Monitor Phones in Neighborhoods

#177

Post by officeplant » Thu, Jan 08, 2026, 7:31 PM UTC

unoti wrote: post #26

nemomarx wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are there decent wifi communicators on the market? I looked into some Lora projects for this but they never seem to actually ship or get past prorotypes

> Are there decent wifi communicators on the market? I looked into some Lora projects for this but they never seem to actually ship or get past prorotype Yes, 100%. Meshtastic and Meshcore both do this, but I'd recommend Meshcore. Here in the Seattle area we have a network that fairly reliably delivers messages from Canada through the Seattle metro area all the way down to Portland. Fully encrypted with dual key cryp…

Really wish more people would get on the Meshcore train here locally. Everyone just picked up meshtastic and looked no further.

Re: ICE's Tool to Monitor Phones in Neighborhoods

#178

Post by anthk » Thu, Jan 08, 2026, 7:33 PM UTC

Hizonner wrote: post #141

anthk wrote: post #38

Richard Stallman was right. Buy a dumbphone, an actual one. Call's, SMS', nothing else. Did you know that women's period was tracked by propietary smartphone apps? There goes your freedom. https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-61952794

You can still be location-tracked with a dumb phone. Yes, even if the phone has no GPS. Any communication with the network gives away your location to the "right" people.

Pocket Faradays cages (and metallic clothes) exist. In the end if you use as a landline phone substitute it's almost a hardware issue and software would be just testimonial there.

Re: ICE's Tool to Monitor Phones in Neighborhoods

#179

Post by 8note » Thu, Jan 08, 2026, 7:34 PM UTC

everdrive wrote: post #50

daheza wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If we all ditch our phones then how will we record the abuses of power?

People have allowed themselves to become so dependent on mobile phones that I'm frankly disgusted. You're talking about a scenario where you're worried about being illegally arrested by the secret police -- aided by their tracking of your phone, but it's still not enough to consider using your phone less. It's no different that a rat starving to death but continuing to push the lever for the cocaine hit. [edit] Vote…

id just bring my phone. if the secret police are going to arrest or kill me, theyre going to do it either way, probably while im there.

if i bring a phone, i can at least document the secret police's actions, and make friends and get contact info for other people that are there.

security by obfuscation isnt particularly good, and its a state level threat.

there's a different absurdity with your child torture example - that youd be ok with children being tortured over phone usage. the bulletin and the people doing the kidnapping at torture are the problem, not the phone. there's a third option of stopping said torturers, and youll likely want your phone as one of the tools in doing so

Re: ICE's Tool to Monitor Phones in Neighborhoods

#180

Post by bruceb » Thu, Jan 08, 2026, 7:36 PM UTC

FireBeyond wrote: post #142

stavros wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not flattering to the US that the mother who was murdered needed specifically to be white for people to care.

It's not. I was a "90 day fiance" immigrant (the concept, not the show). We had a sincere relationship, but we both agreed that our marriage, while genuine, was earlier than it would have otherwise been other than logistics of an trans-Pacific romance. We stayed together 5 years, then separated/divorced, amicably. In the midst of all that I missed a USCIS filing date. I was out of status briefly, but also in a situat…

Most K1 applications are approved, most are female, most are not white. I doubt your case would have been any different had you not been a "'the right color' and a high-earning male".