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

techcrunch.com

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

#181

Post by jeroenhd »

toast0 wrote: post #174
jeroenhd wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lawful interception requires things like paperwork, warrants, probably cause, and some kind of reason why you need to tap cellular comms in the first place. If you're operating a deportation agency in the style of roaming gangs of officers, you're probably not going to want to wait for the courts to dismiss your brute-force attempts to find illegals behind every door you break down. The anti-2G security measure is pr…

> The anti-2G security measure is pretty much exclusive to a few high-end phones as far as I can tell. I've got it on my phone which I think is mid-market at best: moto g stylus 5g - 2023. Snapdragon 6 Gen 1. ~ $250 in 2023.

That's great to hear. Last time I looked around in the cheaper segment, very few phones seemed to come with the feature.

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

#182

Post by Scoundreller »

jeroenhd wrote: post #89
nxobject wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For what it’s worth, the authors note that since this is installed on a phone, by the time CellGuard has detected a rogue base station, it’s too late anyway.

These spying devices often do permit network traffic to flow through, so if deployed widely these apps could be used to report on where large-scale messing with cellular communications is taking place. The only way to stop this technology is to turn off your phone completely (and opt out of any low-power "find my" networks built into Android and iOS, of course).

iPhone / iOS Find My function doesn’t require cellular data.

https://support.apple.com/en-in/104978#:~:text=If%20Find%20M...

Still lots of devices that have physical SIM cards and would be senseless if the device couldn’t be tracked if the SIM was removed.

I figured it worked more like an AirTag and pinged nearby devices.

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

#183

Post by jeroenhd »

Scoundreller wrote: post #182
jeroenhd wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

These spying devices often do permit network traffic to flow through, so if deployed widely these apps could be used to report on where large-scale messing with cellular communications is taking place. The only way to stop this technology is to turn off your phone completely (and opt out of any low-power "find my" networks built into Android and iOS, of course).

iPhone / iOS Find My function doesn’t require cellular data. https://support.apple.com/en-in/104978#:~:text=If%20Find%20M... Still lots of devices that have physical SIM cards and would be senseless if the device couldn’t be tracked if the SIM was removed. I figured it worked more like an AirTag and pinged nearby devices.

That's my point. Apple and Google are using local BLE broadcasts that get uploaded to servers for locating devices. That means ICE can detect/count people in the vicinity by just monitoring the location network signals your devices will emit. For some devices, the location beacon feature will keep working even if you turn them "off".

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

#184

Post by ThePowerOfFuet »

shakna wrote: post #180
SuperMouse wrote: post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

LTE/5G is available on the low bands (700/800MHz) in Europe for a long long time now. I'm running LTE-only with zero problems for 2 years now without a single coverage gap. Even in the rural parts.

Europe's size may not lead you to comprehending the US' size. East to west, Texas is larger than most European nations. Meaning it has rural areas larger than some European nations. Whilst there probably are other complaints to add to build the explanation, scale isn't one. The US does have vast and empty spaces.

Enabling newer 3GPP releases on low frequency bands is not a solution that only Europe can provide; they can do it in Texas, too, if they want to.

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

#185

Post by ThePowerOfFuet »

zigzag312 wrote: post #148
hypeatei wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is there a reason why Google and Apple wouldn't turn 2G downgrade off by default? Even the setting itself says "emergency calls over 2G are still allowed" so what is the reasoning behind leaving people exposed to this?

My recent experience when roaming was that calls only worked on 2G even though 4G and 5G were avaliable. After a call, phone would sometimes stay stuck on 2G which meant internet was not working. I had to disable 2G to force the phone to switch to 5G. But if I forgot to enable 2G again, calls didn't work. I checked this with multiple people and they all had the same issue.

Then your carrier has a shitty roaming agreement where you were roaming. Enabling the 4G and 5G bearers is an option they can choose to enable (and pay for) their customers — or not.

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

#186

Post by intermerda »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #31
nielsbot wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you agree enforcing immigration laws in this way is good and/or important? If so, can I ask why? What is our end goal?

> can I ask why? Simply put, Americans gave Republicans a popular mandate to reduce illegal immigration. Much of this was economic: illegal immigrants dilute the labour force. Some, particularly among Latin Americans, rose from perceived injustice: it’s frustrating to go through the American immigration process only to see someone who skipped it live a similar life. Some, e.g. those focused on crime, were just racist…

> Much of this was economic: illegal immigrants dilute the labour force.

Then why are the farmers complaining about it? https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-farm-groups-want-trump-s...

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

#187

Post by CaptainOfCoit »

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.…

> People need more fine grained experience.

That's pretty much against the Apple ethos, you're supposed to either use the things like everyone else does, or find something else. I guess that's the great and bad part about Apple. Signed, iPhone user.

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

#188

Post by CaptainOfCoit »

shakna wrote: post #180
SuperMouse wrote: post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

LTE/5G is available on the low bands (700/800MHz) in Europe for a long long time now. I'm running LTE-only with zero problems for 2 years now without a single coverage gap. Even in the rural parts.

Europe's size may not lead you to comprehending the US' size. East to west, Texas is larger than most European nations. Meaning it has rural areas larger than some European nations. Whilst there probably are other complaints to add to build the explanation, scale isn't one. The US does have vast and empty spaces.

> Europe's size may not lead you to comprehending the US' size.

Why not?

Europe seems to be about 10 million km2 in land size, and the USA 9 million km2. Are you trying to say that because Europe has bigger land size, it's hard for Europeans to imagine individual states' sizes?

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

#189

Post by shakna »

CaptainOfCoit wrote: post #188
shakna wrote: post #180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Europe's size may not lead you to comprehending the US' size. East to west, Texas is larger than most European nations. Meaning it has rural areas larger than some European nations. Whilst there probably are other complaints to add to build the explanation, scale isn't one. The US does have vast and empty spaces.

> Europe's size may not lead you to comprehending the US' size. Why not? Europe seems to be about 10 million km2 in land size, and the USA 9 million km2. Are you trying to say that because Europe has bigger land size, it's hard for Europeans to imagine individual states' sizes?

By everyone thinking you can get 100% coverage across the Great Basin Desert? Yes. Yes I do think that the population density of Europe leads them to think everything is closer and easier than it is.

That one desert, of many, is about 190,000 miles in size. That's half the size of the whole of France.

Are you really saying covering that, with 100% coverage, with no dead spots at all, is a reasonable task to undertake?

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

#190

Post by defrost »

shakna wrote: post #189
CaptainOfCoit wrote: post #188

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Europe's size may not lead you to comprehending the US' size. Why not? Europe seems to be about 10 million km2 in land size, and the USA 9 million km2. Are you trying to say that because Europe has bigger land size, it's hard for Europeans to imagine individual states' sizes?

By everyone thinking you can get 100% coverage across the Great Basin Desert? Yes. Yes I do think that the population density of Europe leads them to think everything is closer and easier than it is. That one desert, of many, is about 190,000 miles in size. That's half the size of the whole of France. Are you really saying covering that, with 100% coverage, with no dead spots at all, is a reasonable task to undertake…

That's a population distribution issue, not an area size issue (you yourself raised the size of Texas as a "problem").

FWiW the state I grew up in is 3x the area of Texas with cattle stations larger than those tiny Texas ranches.

~ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ur5EQ1NZN6A

If you want to challenge the myth of coverage in Europe forget about size comparisons and look to some of the hard walking trails in remote areas; Via Dinarica Kosovo is known for it's beauty and harsh terrain, not for it's cell reception.

Elsewhere in the Balkans, Romania, et al you'll find blind spots.

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