| From: | The Powerhouse <P.C.Steele@*********.AC.UK> |
|---|---|
| Subject: | Cell phones |
| Date: | Fri, 6 May 1994 19:05:19 +0100 |
I noticed some debate on these recently and someone asked about the discussion
that occurred a few months back.
Basically that discussion was started over a report that the NSA, FBI etc..
were sponsoring some ammendmant to the digital telephony bill going through
the House Of Congress in the US. <I may have some names wrong here>
The bill basically allows the NSA to wire tap cellular phones. However it
would also allow the security agencies access to positional information. Now
not many people realise but all cell phones can be traced at any time through
a means known as triangulation. Now the catch is that this doesn't occur
just while you're using the phone. It occurs all the time that the phone is
switched on and is either being used or waiting for calls.
What happens is that the phone at regular intervals emits a pulse asking the
local receiver if there are any phone calls trying to get through. If there
are then the phone becomes fully active and a the local receiver/transmitter
initialises the conversation. The pulse method is used to ensure that the
battery doesn't drain too quickly.
However this pulse when it is transmitted is collected by all the transmitter/
receivers in range and the information is used to traingulate the phone. This
information could be superimposed onto a map so that the phone company would
know exactly where you were. Not only this but your locations are logged.
So what you effectively have when using a cell phone is a portable transmitter
telling the security agencies "I'm here !" and I'm going to Joe's drug den,
just now, then I'm going to a gay cinema, then I'm going to take the daughter
of the local senator out on a date.
The security agencies will have access to all this information about you and
your movements as well as having the added bonus of listening to your phone
calls. If they so decided they could use this information to blackmail someone,
imagine a politician who they'd traced going into a gay cinema. While I
personally don't give a damm about what they do with private life there would
always be someone ready to take advantage of the knowledge and claim the moral
high ground or whatever.
So the moral of this story is two fold.
If you live in America and don't want a "Big Brother Is Watching" state oppose
these laws.
If you don't want people to keep tabs on your movements, don't use a cell phone.
P.S. If you live in Britain I think you have to just assume that this is
happening already and no one has told us about it yet. I personally can't see
MI5 making a statement about what they are up to when admitting it would bring
public attention to the fact and could result in laws being introduced to
specifically limit what MI5 can do legally <mind that still wouldn't stop them
:) >
Phill.
--
Phillip Steele - Email address P.C.Steele@***.ac.uk | Fighting against
Department Of Electrical & Electronic Engineering | Political Correctness !
University Of Newcastle Upon Tyne, England |
Land of the mad Geordies | The Powerhouse
