In this entertaining story of French serial criminal Rédoine Faïd and his jailbreaking ways, there’s this bit about cell phone surveillance:
After Faïd’s helicopter breakout, 3,000 police officers took part in the manhunt. According to the 2019 documentary La Traque de Rédoine Faïd, detective units scoured records of cell phones used during his escape, isolating a handful of numbers active at the time that went silent shortly thereafter.
jones • April 29, 2021 7:32 AM
This type of surveillance would seem to be authorized in the US by the 2013 FISA Amendment, which basically mandated the types of surveillance activities FISA was originally drafted to prevent.
From the Brennan Center, I think the last sentence is most relevant in this case if we are to be concerned whether the above type of cellphone surveillance occurs in the US:
In its 2013 decision, the FISA Court ruled that all Americans’ phone records were relevant to authorized international terrorism investigations. It conceded that the vast majority of Americans have no link to international terrorism. However, it noted the obvious fact that “information concerning known and unknown affiliates of international terrorist organizations was contained within the non-content metadata the government sought to obtain.”129 It also accepted the government’s argument that “it is necessary to obtain the bulk collection [sic] of a telephone company’s metadata to determine . . . connections between known and unknown international terrorist operatives.”130 It concluded, in short, that because collecting irrelevant data was necessary to identify relevant data, the irrelevant data could thereby be deemed relevant
No Cell Phone • April 29, 2021 10:38 AM
I let my cheap PAYG cell SIM expire about a year ago. With everyone at home all the time, there didn’t seem much point to keep paying for a cell plan. We have a home VoIP service (pre-paid $5/month) from Canada that can be used anywhere there’s wifi from our Android devices (tablets too).
Even pre-COVID, we barely used our cell plan, but it was handy to pay $10 for 1GB/7days of data when traveling in most of the US. However, there were lots of non-service areas even if the coverage maps claimed data service was available. OBX and Alaska towns come to mind. But if the choice is $15/month for a plan or free and our use is identical, free seems like the bonehead choice – and there isn’t any cell company tracking when in airplane mode.
When talking to 20-something people, they can’t imagine someone without a cell plan – and not texting? That’s just crazy talk.
Of course, if the internet goes down at home, we are cut off from convenience services without walking next door to a neighbor or driving to free wifi locations. E911 works even without a SIM installed on all cell phones in the US, so we aren’t risking life or death without a cell plan. I suppose the phone company has to be able to track even SIM-less phones, if the cell radio is on.
Peter • April 29, 2021 11:52 AM
This reminds me of a detail that connected Al Capone to the Valentines Day Massacre -> Capone was vacationing in Florida at the time, but he had daily phone calls back to his HQ in Chicago. He didn’t make any calls starting a day or 2 before the murders, then resumed them a few days later. (His calls were being monitored by the FBI)
Winter • April 29, 2021 12:16 PM
We can wait for the moment, soon, when it will be possible to point out people in a crowd that do not carry a mobile phone and track them on this feature, say on surveillance cameras.
Zerathul • April 29, 2021 2:46 PM
This makes perfect sense.
I know one particular investigation which successfully identified a few terrorists based on such technique (of course, in combination with other methods).
SpaceLifeForm • April 29, 2021 3:08 PM
@ Moderator, ALL
I see the same layout issues in Chrome also.
Will review more later. It may be a platform specific issue.
Anonymous • April 29, 2021 3:26 PM
@SpaceLifeForm
Not a platform specific issue. Its just zalgo text.
SpaceLifeForm • April 29, 2021 3:27 PM
@ No Cell Phone
Are you sure that a non-SIM phone in Airplane mode does not periodically ping cell towers anyway? Are you really sure?
@ Winter
January 6 Capitol insurrectionists have already been identified that were trying that.
David • April 29, 2021 4:53 PM
Even occasional pinging would defeat the original purpose of airplane mode, in theory potentially crashing a plane
jack mihoff • April 29, 2021 4:54 PM
all hail Faraday Pouch…
SpaceLifeForm • April 29, 2021 5:08 PM
@ Moderator, ALL
One thing we have learned is that fake winter and hail hitler have same M.O. and I will bet you that they came from different IP addresses.
Even if it is Zalgo text, it points to a problem. There should not be a layout issue (no underrun or overrun), and should not be a visible issue via different browsers that have completely different codebase.
farm co work • April 29, 2021 5:25 PM
“The repeated failure of protective armor shows that, even at somewhat low evolutionary level, mind triumphed over mere matter. It is this sort of triumph, which has been supremely exmplified in man.” Scientific Theory and Religion
Don’t get caught. You’re On Your Own.
Clive Robinson • April 29, 2021 6:26 PM
@ All,
Back to the article where you will find a quote from “Faïd” of,
“The situation itself freezes,” he replies. “Time freezes, everything stops while you do what you need to do. The idea is to sense in advance where trouble might come from. You don’t want any problems. When you’ve eliminated all the paths, in the end there’s only one path left for you to take.”
Some years ago now I mentioned on this blog that the way to run through an open but crowded area was to assume every one else was standing still, because in practice they usually are as their concious mind fails to respond to what to them is a new experience.
The above quote accurately describes the situation and the actions you have to take when running through an open crowd.
Just one thing extra to note, those who do move, are “experienced” thus responding to training etc. So are either “friend or foe”, their direction relative to you answers that along with telling you what actions are necessary.
Mr Zix • April 29, 2021 7:38 PM
@Moderator, SpaceLifeForm
The unicode combining characters are allowed to overflow due to the CSS for the page lacks an overflow property and the initial value for the overflow property is visible. Setting the overflow property to auto would fix it in most browsers.
Clive Robinson • April 29, 2021 7:55 PM
@ SpaceLifeForm, ALL,
Even if it is Zalgo text, it points to a problem. There should not be a layout issue (no underrun or overrun), and should not be a visible issue via different browsers that have completely different codebase.
As I understand it Zalgo text is the equivalent of “overstrike” in manual typewriters and teletypes. In essence you type a character use backspace and type the same charecter again, or another charecter such as the marks used above and below charecters çäť etc.
The old Unix man pages used backspace and overstrike to make headings etc Bold as well as underlined.
The problem is some software can not handle repeated overstriking and tgus it crashes. Some versions of Apple’s browser used to do this.
Which might be the reason it’s being used, that is to crash some peoples browsers or cause other malfunction.
However based on previous efforts by the “Trool-Tool”[1] I suspect it is more insulting verbiage.
But… It might give other information about them or more specifically the platform they use. That is whilst the text is probably generated by some software tool, it appears to only be visable as Zalgo Text in a limited subset of browsers probably on some desktop PC of some kind.
As I’ve noted before, every time they post they give away another bit of information about themselves.
For instance it’s fairly clear they are faking the anti-vax stance as what is said is an amplified reflection of what has been said on this blog previously.
For instance the other day I mentioned Dr. Pierre Kory and the FLCCC Aliance, to @Winter, the first time it’s ever been mentioned here. Now random handles are mentioning it and providing links to the site…
There are earlier similar occurances where “following” has happened, rather than “leading”. Following is something which you would expect from someone pretending to be a real anti-vaxer, not some one who is.
[1] This has a different meaning in the UK compared to the US. In the US a tool is a “male idiot” but in the UK it’s a “male member”.
lurker • April 30, 2021 12:49 AM
@SpaceLifeForm
There should not be a layout issue (no underrun or overrun), and should not be a visible issue via different browsers that have completely different codebase.
As for platform-specific, it will appear as Zalgo text on any browser which has compliant rendering of Unicode Combining characters. If your browser allows you to choose Character Encoding, choose something other than Unicode, and enjoy the full ugliness.
@Mr Zix is also right,
Setting the [CSS] overflow property to auto would fix it in most browsers
My current browser is too hard to instantly change to a custom Style sheet…
SpaceLifeForm • April 30, 2021 1:35 AM
@ lurker
Here is the problem. It does NOT render the same on different platforms. Ignore the underrun and overrrun issue.
There should not even be a CSS Overflow Property.
The rendering is different. Way different.
Can it be used for fingerprinting?
ResearcherZero • April 30, 2021 3:06 AM
How a network of conspiracy sites spread a fake story about US reinforcements in Europe.
Like much fake news, this story started with a grain of truth: the US was about to reinforce its armored units in Europe. However, the article converted literally thousands of other vehicles — including hundreds of Humvees and trailers — into tanks, building the US force into something 20 times more powerful than it actually was.
Yet despite its evident falsehood, it spread widely, and not just in directly Kremlin-run media. Tracking the spread of this fake therefore shines a light on the wider question of how fake stories are dispersed.
hxxps://medium.com/@DFRLab/three-thousand-fake-tanks-575410c4f64d#.x564o3oxy
With more than 275,000 Facebook followers and a potential readership in excess of 350,000 per article, the site has the biggest reach among “Kremlin-aligned” disinformation sites, according to the U.S. State Department.
hxxps://www.cbc.ca/news/science/russian-disinformation-global-research-website-1.5767208
Winter • April 30, 2021 3:30 AM
@ResearcherZero
“Yet despite its evident falsehood, it spread widely, and not just in directly Kremlin-run media.”
The research on the spread of disinformation has resulted in two main findings, both rather obvious:
1) People believe what they want to believe
2) People are lemmings and follow their tribe over the cliff
hxxps://www.researchgate.net/publication/328798002_Fake_News_on_Social_Media_People_Believe_What_They_Want_to_Believe_When_it_Makes_No_Sense_at_All
hxxps://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0163443720906992
hxxps://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?arnumber=7842838
Rachel • April 30, 2021 3:43 AM
The French TV serial known in English as The Bureau – which is very very good – the First Season, First or Second episode demonstrates this technique as used by Frances Bureau of External Security. A live radar map of every device in a particular location. And alternative maps superimposed to demonstrate, respectively, which phones had a relationship with each other, which phones were switched on, which ones were switched off, which ones sent a text message, which ones received one. And this was coordinated with the occurence of a particular crime event. Sounds very elementary.
lurker • April 30, 2021 10:18 PM
@SpaceLifeForm:The rendering is different. Way different.
Unicode Combining Characters are relatively new on the scene, and some browsers are still getting the hang of how to render them. To take @Clive’s example of adding an accent to a letter on a typewriter by backspacing and typing the accent over the letter: the messages we are seeing here would just rip holes through the paper.
Some languages (mercifully few) use two or more accents on a single letter (I have never seen more than two). The “correct” Unicode rendering behaviour is to stack the accents like they would appear on a printed page. We are being abused here with letters carrying 20 or more accents[1] above and below. I can believe there are browsers that say “Aw, shucks” and just dump all the accents in a black spot like @Clive’s typewriter, while others that follow the rules will fill the page with furriness.
[1] Actually there are more than just diacriticals or accents in play here, inluding but not limited to graphical symbols, combining letters and letter-like characters. View Page Source is your friend.
Winter • May 1, 2021 4:36 AM
@ResearcherZero
“Yet despite its evident falsehood, it spread widely, and not just in directly Kremlin-run media.”
The research on the spread of disinformation has resulted in two main findings, both rather obvious:
1) People believe what they want to believe
2) People are lemmings and follow their tribe over the cliff
hxxps://www.researchgate.net/publication/328798002_Fake_News_on_Social_Media_People_Believe_What_They_Want_to_Believe_When_it_Makes_No_Sense_at_All
hxxps://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0163443720906992
hxxps://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?arnumber=7842838
Mr. Peed Off • May 1, 2021 5:37 PM
@lurker, etal
Is there a simple U-block rule that would prevent the demonstrated unwanted behavior?
MSB • May 3, 2021 1:29 PM
@winter. Your comment about lemmings is actually rather Ironic. Lemmings don’t actually commit mass suicide by jumping off of cliffs. That is a pop-culture myth based on the 1958 Disney nature film White Wilderness. Filmmakers eager for dramatic footage staged a lemming death plunge, pushing dozens of lemmings off a cliff while cameras were rolling.
You, are now the “lemming” propagating a falsehood.
xcv • May 7, 2021 11:15 AM
@ JF
Not so much a lack of cell phone use, but rather a particular behavior exhibited in cell phone use.
Yep. They just call it “behavioral health,” drug the suspect into a stupor, and lock him up in the state asylum for the insane. The suspect’s gun rights are automatically revoked for life everywhere in the world without recourse. No criminal conviction required.
Israeli actress Noa Tishby’s ‘Simple Guide’ to Israel shakes up US progressives Endorsed by both Bill Maher and Ben Shapiro, the book seeks to stop left-leaning people ‘from being used by voices who want to dismantle’ the most ‘misunderstood country on Earth’
… she founded Act for Israel in 2011. In her book, she describes it as “the first online advocacy and rapid response organization dedicated to truth spreading and pre-bots troll fighting.” A few sentences later, she adds: “This was when my advocacy became not just this thing I did at dinner parties but a true calling.”
In the ensuing years, while pursuing her TV and film career, Tishby worked with pro-Israel organizations and NGOs. In 2014, she co-founded Reality Israel, a series of leadership trips to Israel for working professionals – Jews and non-Jews – from different fields. In her speaking engagements – including at the United Nations in New York in 2016 and 2018 — and online activity, she debunked falsehoods about Israel.
That’s a little bit too much hair for true Jews to be cutting, and with that we’re well into skinhead territory, if not outright antisemitic….
xcv • May 7, 2021 11:58 AM
@MSB
Filmmakers eager for dramatic footage staged a lemming death plunge, pushing dozens of lemmings off a cliff while cameras were rolling.
And when he was come to the other side into the country of the Gergesenes, there met him two possessed with devils, coming out of the tombs, exceeding fierce, so that no man might pass by that way. And, behold, they cried out, saying, What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? art thou come hither to torment us before the time? And there was a good way off from them an herd of many swine feeding. So the devils besought him, saying, If thou cast us out, suffer us to go away into the herd of swine. And he said unto them, Go. And when they were come out, they went into the herd of swine: and, behold, the whole herd of swine ran violently down a steep place into the sea, and perished in the waters. And they that kept them fled, and went their ways into the city, and told every thing, and what was befallen to the possessed of the devils.
— Matthew 8:28–33
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JF • April 29, 2021 7:30 AM
Not so much a lack of cell phone use, but rather a particular behavior exhibited in cell phone use.