News Mystery Stingray devices discovered in Washington

[Notebook]

Spy kits that can track mobile phones and intercept calls and messages have been discovered in Washington and beyond, the US government has said.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) says it has observed "anomalous activity" consistent with the use of so-called stingrays.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-43639709

Very interesting, and so simple.

N.

 

[Urwumpe]

This might get a bit political about who and why. Its not impossible to build such a device yourself (requires some better electronics skills), but pretty much beyond the abilities of governments to operate it in an useful way, beyond a technology demo.

 

[Notebook]

When I saw "Stingray" thought it was this:

https://www.youtube.com/embed/rPu9mLfLoOA

Lots of small fish, were traumatised making that series.

N.

 

[MaverickSawyer]

To be honest, I'm more surprised at how long it took for this to happen.

 

[Andy44]

Your mobile phone is basically a device which enables you to be spied on. Just keep that in mind. If you really want privacy you should turn it off, take out the battery, or leave it at home. If you're going to use it (and who doesn't?) at least be aware of it.

 

[MaverickSawyer]

I, for one, don't keep sensitive information on my phone. Not secure enough for me to feel safe with it.

 

[boogabooga]

If you really want privacy you should turn it off, take out the battery, or leave it at home.

I'm sure the prosecution will use the fact that you did that as circumstantial evidence anyway.

 

[Andy44]

I, for one, don't keep sensitive information on my phone. Not secure enough for me to feel safe with it.

It doesn't matter what you keep on your phone. You are essentially carrying around what amounts to one of those tracker things Batman or Spider-Man used to put on cars in the cartoons, and it has a sensitive microphone as well.

I'm not saying "be paranoid", just to be aware. Most people never give this stuff a single thought, but those Stingrays are for real, be they set up by cops, government agents, or actual criminals.

 

[MaverickSawyer]

Oh, I'm fully aware of how powerful of a surveillance device a smartphone is. And not just for location tracking and audio recording.

 

[4throck]

and it has a sensitive microphone as well

On more than one occasion I have noticed that ads shown on my PC were based on conversations I had with my wife.

Harmless stuff like vacations or buying a new TV. The conversations mostly take place while driving. When we get home and go online, the advertising is there :lol:

So indeed, smartphones do record what you say.

 

[jangofett287]

On more than one occasion I have noticed that ads shown on my PC were based on conversations I had with my wife.

Harmless stuff like vacations or buying a new TV. The conversations mostly take place while driving. When we get home and go online, the advertising is there :lol:

So indeed, smartphones do record what you say.

Coincidence is not evidence. The idea that your phone is always listening and sending everything you say back to google/apple/facebook [delete as appropriate] is blatant nonsense. Even ignoring the impact this would have on battery life and data caps, suggesting this is possible shows a fundamental misunderstanding of how mobile OS' are written and how they orchestrate and control access to hardware such as the microphone, camera or GPS module.

Yes, the ad network's prediction algorithms are creepy good at times, but there is no evidence to suggest, and plenty to disprove, that they're actively spying on you.

 

[Urwumpe]

Coincidence is not evidence. The idea that your phone is always listening and sending everything you say back to google/apple/facebook [delete as appropriate] is blatant nonsense.

Sorry but wrong. It does. It had been proven already that for example Google activates its full speech recognition and records what you say even without saying the key phrase. It does not take much battery to listen, even preprocessing the recording does not consume a lot of battery (most goes into the display, while using the DSP functions for phoning is pretty battery friendly).

 

[boogabooga]

I was just talking to a friend yesterday regarding ads appearing that are creepily related to conversations or activities that we each had had recently. And now I see this thread.

Perhaps Orbiter-forum was eavesdropping?

On a serious note, when this happens, I wonder if it is really some indication of the kinda creepy big data AI future we are headed for. Perhaps there was some subtle clue in your internet usage that you were talking about such a thing. The clue was SO subtle and indirect that no human would EVER have connected the dots- but it makes perfect sense to an AI who has analyzed the activities of millions of humans who are not so different from you.

 

[Andy44]

On a serious note, when this happens, I wonder if it is really some indication of the kinda creepy big data AI future we are headed for.

Like this?

[ame="http://youtu.be/oBaiKsYUdvg"]Minority Report Mall Scene - YouTube[/ame]

 

[Notebook]

I thought it was just me, been looking at fire-extinguishers, fire blankets. All of a sudden Amazon send me emails, spooky!

N.

 

[Andy44]

What creeps me out is when I browse something on my phone and then my browser on my laptop starts showing ads for the same things or vice versa.

I know what cookies are and so on, of course, but it's hard to keep separation between platforms when the tech allows so much convenience.

 

[Zatnikitelman]

Back to the OP, I wouldn't be surprised if these devices were US Government devices and they're either playing dumb, or the CIA or NSA did it and isn't talking.

 

[Matias Saibene]

That is, in a few words: the same as always, human beings inventing a wonderful technology, which could be extremely useful to combat all kinds of crime (robberies, trafficking of illegal substances or slavery, obvious corruption, threats [to the population, or personal], injustices, etc.), but in the end it ends up being used to frighten and annoy the population, which mosquito disturbs one's peace and tranquility.

Wonders of computing and the art of humanity, like those ultra-portable computers, which are called telephones, being used to annoy meddlesome publicity everywhere (like Wall-E's AXIOM), and used to spy on people (probably indiscriminately). That is, tons of computing power (and electrical energy) wasted.

I prefer to read a book. At least it is not so annoying.

*Oh, come back, I forgot that I had stored the only pieces of software that are worthwhile for me: the Linux project (with all its best things),
and the installation of Orbiter 2016 (the most wonderful software of all time, and its magnificent collection of add-ons).*