Meanwhile China is bad.
So your argument is: So what if I slapped Bob, look what Jim is doing?
France passes bill to allow police remotely activate phone camera, microphone
71–80 of 465 posts
Re: France passes bill to allow police remotely activate phone camera, microphone
#72Earlier quoted context omitted.
Absolutely not. It's a profession, every cop out there can just... not be a cop. Comparing that to skin color or someone's ethnicity is absolutely ridiculous.
Technically speaking, all cops can’t be bad, so the phrase is pretty dumb anyways even if one has issues with their country’s policing system.
While it's true that not every cop is actively corrupt, or violent, they have this whole "Blue Code" thing that means that if you ever report a coworker for being corrupt or violent, you're out. The cops who enable bad behavior, and perpetuate the bad system, are just as bad as any other corrupt or violent cop. So yeah, they certainly can all be bad.
Re: France passes bill to allow police remotely activate phone camera, microphone
#73Never let a crisis go to waste.
Re: France passes bill to allow police remotely activate phone camera, microphone
#74Earlier quoted context omitted.
> #ACAB At least for me, this comment loses its thrust with this hashtag. It takes a potent observation and adds unnecessary partisanship. It's also connected with the mother of all blowback slogans: defund the police.
It’s not our fault you’ve made that slogan a partisan issue. A real republican would actually hate cops.
> A real republican would actually hate cops
Most Americans don't hate cops [1]. There is real desire for police reform [2]; slogans like "defund the police" and #ACAB shut that down.
[1] https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2021/10/26/growing-s...
[2] https://news.gallup.com/poll/393119/americans-remain-steadfa...
Re: France passes bill to allow police remotely activate phone camera, microphone
#75Re: France passes bill to allow police remotely activate phone camera, microphone
#76what tech does this even use? Do they mean using Pegasus or similar malware that the govt has to first get onto the suspect's devices, or is this via Google/Apple or the device manufacturers that makes 'remotely and secretly activating a microphone' even possible?
This bill AFIK only covers the "they are allowed to do it" part but not the "how do they gain the capability to do it" part.
But spyware which can do so exists in endless amounts, including from companies focused on selling it to governments.
Hence also why in recent years physical microphone switches, or e.g. stuff like (I think it was) Apple laptops "physically" disconnecting the microphone/camera if you close the lid have been become increasingly more common and in demand. (Through the demand comes more from bad actors using it then from people being afraid the government spies on them AFIK, but technically there is 100% no difference)
Re: France passes bill to allow police remotely activate phone camera, microphone
#77Earlier quoted context omitted.
> what tech does this even use? Do they mean using Pegasus or similar malware that the govt has to first get onto the suspect's devices, or is this via Google/Apple or the device manufacturers that makes 'remotely and secretly activating a microphone' even possible? It would have to be after compromise, which would mean its likely only used on a very small number of cases due to the sensitivity and cost of the techno…
Is it expensive to compromise a phone? Is it sensitive to compromise a phone, now that there is a national law allowing it, passed through a democratic process?
> Is it expensive to compromise a phone?
2-2.5+ million USD depending for a full chain with persistence (lower end of range is for iOS higher end is for Android).
That is probably the lower end of the rough cost to buy that capability which you can use as many times as you want.
https://zerodium.com/images/zerodium_prices_mobiles.png
> Is it sensitive to compromise a phone, now that there is a national law allowing it, passed through a democratic process?
The technology itself is sensitive, when you buy a full chain exploit like the ones that have the public bounty price above, if it gets burnt it's useless for everyone else who bought it after its patched.
Generally exploit brokers don't like it when you burn their exploits.
Re: France passes bill to allow police remotely activate phone camera, microphone
#78Earlier quoted context omitted.
> what tech does this even use? Do they mean using Pegasus or similar malware that the govt has to first get onto the suspect's devices, or is this via Google/Apple or the device manufacturers that makes 'remotely and secretly activating a microphone' even possible? It would have to be after compromise, which would mean its likely only used on a very small number of cases due to the sensitivity and cost of the techno…
This bill could be step one. Step two could be a requirement for SW/HW manufacturers to add a backdoor since this is not really effective to fight crime this way. I'm not saying it is planned or there's some conspiracy for establishing a totalitarian state. But we can't really predict the future and more loose rules could be introduced by the next government with a totally different agenda who might thank for the pre…
> Step two could be a requirement for SW/HW manufacturers to add a backdoor since this is not really effective to fight crime this way
We have already been there, it's just like good old phone calls. They can be intercepted under the proper judicial supervision.
I don't have criteria to answer if this is a necessary evil or directly a blatant totalitarian push, but one needs to consider: does the French government have a bad track record of abusing the capability of eavesdropping any phone communication? has this capability been useful for law enforcement?
Re: France passes bill to allow police remotely activate phone camera, microphone
#79I think it's unpracticable unless they install a backdoor on each phone.
The baseband modem has been a huge security concern because it is largely separate from and not monitorable by the phone OS.
Re: France passes bill to allow police remotely activate phone camera, microphone
#80Earlier quoted context omitted.
Absolutely not. It's a profession, every cop out there can just... not be a cop. Comparing that to skin color or someone's ethnicity is absolutely ridiculous.
Technically speaking, all cops can’t be bad, so the phrase is pretty dumb anyways even if one has issues with their country’s policing system.
The idea behind the phrase is that cops are either bastards or they sit by and let other cops be bastards and are themselves bastards. Any cop who doesn't sit by and let other cops abuse citizens isn't a cop for very long.