Article

2009-12-02 -Lurid Crime Tales-

Sprint Received 8M Law Enforcement Requests for GPS Location Data in the Past Year

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Posted by Anonymoose 2009-12-02 00:00|| || Front Page|| [2 views ] Top

#1 I wonder how many of these they actually complied with?

I knew Big Brother was watching as soon as I bought my phone, but I didn't know it was this absurd. 8 MILLION requests?

Posted by Bisa 2009-12-02 07:38|| 2009-12-02 07:38|| Front Page Top

#2 All of them. The police use software to make the requests, and the results are automatically given to them. Any time a cell phone is carried by a "person of interest", the police can track their movements.

But wait!, there's more. The courts now permit the police to put GPS tracking devices on you car, secretly, without a warrant. So if you have a cell phone, or your car is nearby, assume that your GPS coordinates are in the public domain.

And as a special bonus, all new cell phones can be remotely turned into microphones, not just by the police but by hackers as well, even if the phone is turned off. This means if there is a cell phone in the room, anything you say in that room can be monitored by someone.

It sounds totally paranoid, but there is lots of software to do it on the Internet. It's called a "roving bug".

http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1035_22-150467.html

Posted by Anonymoose 2009-12-02 08:04|| 2009-12-02 08:04|| Front Page Top

#3 Would would Johnny Law need a cellphone plant - teefs last longer and always wit deh person of interest.

Posted by Thrusosh Guelph3678 2009-12-02 09:57|| 2009-12-02 09:57|| Front Page Top

#4 'moose, you make me glad I leave my cell phone (1) off and (2) in my purse unless I actually need to use it. :-(

Which is rarely.

Posted by Barbara Skolaut">Barbara Skolaut 2009-12-02 12:04|| 2009-12-02 12:04|| Front Page Top

#5 Are these individual 'where is he now' type requests?

If so then I can see how closely tracking 1 person can generate thousands (or tens of thousands) of requests over the course of a few months.

Posted by CrazyFool 2009-12-02 12:08|| 2009-12-02 12:08|| Front Page Top

#6 Kinda moves Batmans "Sonar Cell Phone" out of science fiction and more into Science Fact.

Posted by Redneck Jim 2009-12-02 12:09|| 2009-12-02 12:09|| Front Page Top

#7 Barbara, To be sure you would need to remove the battery. Just because the lights are off doesn't mean it's not listening.

Posted by Hellfish 2009-12-02 12:23|| 2009-12-02 12:23|| Front Page Top

#8 I wish them luck, Hellfish. If they can hear anything I'm saying one or two rooms away while the (off) phone sits in my purse inside a closed cabinet, they're welcome to listen.

And be bored silly.

Posted by Barbara Skolaut">Barbara Skolaut 2009-12-02 12:27|| 2009-12-02 12:27|| Front Page Top

#9 I agree, listen all you want, you'll be bored shitless.

Posted by Redneck Jim 2009-12-02 20:51|| 2009-12-02 20:51|| Front Page Top

#10 I don't know... if they listen in on my conversations they might learn something useful about the reasons for the differences between European and American table manners, why fish knives have silver blades, or why von Neumann did not have pangs of conscience over the Manhattan Project in contrast to that dear idiot Einstein. Surely even eavesdroppers find such things useful to know.

Posted by trailing wife">trailing wife 2009-12-02 22:29|| 2009-12-02 22:29|| Front Page Top

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