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Killer drones home in on cell phones

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  Killer drones home in on cell phones "tdk" <forum.tdk@squte.com> - 2014-02-16 17:18 +0000
    Re: Killer drones home in on cell phones RS Wood <rsw@therandymon.com> - 2014-02-16 23:29 +0000
    Re: Killer drones home in on cell phones Oregonian Haruspex <bob_davis_retired@yahoo.com> - 2014-02-17 00:08 -0800
      Re: Killer drones home in on cell phones "tdk" <forum.tdk@squte.com> - 2014-02-17 04:11 +0411

#463 — Killer drones home in on cell phones

tdk writes:

The Intercept is reporting that a new whistle-blower confirms US drones in Afghanistan 
home in on cell phones to target individuals.
"[The NSA] also equips drones and other aircraft with devices known as 'virtual 
base-tower transceivers' � creating, in effect, a fake cell phone tower that can 
force a targeted person�s device to lock onto the NSA�s receiver without their knowledge."
"What�s more, he adds, the NSA often locates drone targets by analyzing the activity of a SIM card, rather than the actual content of the calls. Based on his experience, he has come to believe that the drone program amounts to little more than death by unreliable metadata."
"https://firstlook.org/theintercept/article/2014/02/10/the-nsas-secret-role/"

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View this thread at http://squte.com/node/4453

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#464

On 2014-02-16, tdk <forum.tdk@squte.com> wrote:
> tdk writes:
>
> The Intercept is reporting that a new whistle-blower confirms US drones in Afghanistan 
> home in on cell phones to target individuals.
> "[The NSA] also equips drones and other aircraft with devices known as 'virtual 
> base-tower transceivers' � creating, in effect, a fake cell phone tower that can 
> force a targeted person�s device to lock onto the NSA�s receiver without their knowledge."
> "What�s more, he adds, the NSA often locates drone targets by analyzing the activity of a SIM card, rather than the actual content of the calls. Based on his experience, he has come to believe that the drone program amounts to little more than death by unreliable metadata."
> "https://firstlook.org/theintercept/article/2014/02/10/the-nsas-secret-role/"
>

I'm busy writing a short story: a dystopia set in about 2030.  This
little gem will make a nice addition to my depiction of a world turned
in on itself.  Again, truth is stranger than fiction.

Some day, we'll look back and say 'we brought it on ourselves.'  The
irony is, while Orwell wrote about a surveillance state willfully
imposed on the people, our surveillance state basically came about by
consumer choice.  "Ooh, shiny!"  

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#470

I would have thought that this is common knowledge by now.  Are these 
muhajideen really using cell phones to communicate with each other?  I 
would have thought that any insurgents would avoid cell phones like the 
plague.  Maybe it's just the ones who are still alive that do.

> "What’s more, he adds, the NSA often locates drone targets by analyzing 
> the activity of a SIM card, rather than the actual content of the 
> calls. Based on his experience, he has come to believe that the drone 
> program amounts to little more than death by unreliable metadata."

I think this guy is trying to say that the spooks hoover up 'metadata' 
(who doesn't believe this is everything they can get including voice 
and all data?) and then once they have associated the IMEI of the phone 
with undesirable activity, they then home in on that phone next time it 
talks to the network and blow the user up.

File this under 'it was safe to assume all this years ago?'

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#478

> I would have thought that this is common knowledge by now.

You are right, but I posted the article anyway because it's the first time its 
been confirmed, and the FA has some interesting details.
e.g.:

"Some top Taliban leaders, knowing of the NSA�s targeting method, have purposely and randomly distributed SIM cards among their units in order to elude their trackers. �They would do things like go to meetings, take all their SIM cards out, put them in a bag, mix them up, and everybody gets a different SIM card when they leave,� the former drone operator says. �That�s how they confuse us.� "

Also I like what Greenwald is doing with "The Intercept", it's him bypassing the 
main stream media. It's sites like slashdot / soylentnews that will decide if it's 
a success or not.






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