How many times has the government spied on you?

i knew it....... all this computer crap in newer cars that is supposed to help the consumer ends up making it harder and way more expensive to maintain/work on.... AND the government can spy on you with it at thier discretion. im keeping my old cars.

 

It was only a matter of time. I bet EZ-pass has some sort of tracking device in it too. If i had one of those benzes i would rig it so the dash speaker is switched. Being in a car gives a false sense of security. I guess next time i plan crimes in my onstar equipped benz, im going to make sure i have a white noise machine. Not only will it drown out voices, its also very soothing and relaxing.

 

News Flash: Almost any new cell phone sold today has a GPS tracking device that is active even when the phone is powered off. You have to remove the battery fully to disable it.

Some phones have a 'menu' to 'turn off GPS'... Decide for yourself if you trust that...

Best!
Ben.

 

Ive seen that on my phone. There is a disclaimer saying that "turning on location will allow the network to detect your posistion, making some Sprint PCS applications easier to use. Turning off location wil hide your location from everyone except 911." Then it goes into saying that no service will use my location without my "express permisson".

LEaving it on doesnt bother me though. I could care less if the FBI knew were i was now, even though they really shouldnt be finding that out via my cell phone.

 

I suspect... that there may be a privacy concern with a product that is easy to obtain, but pricy for a camera.

Law enforcement F.L.I.R. cameras detect heat sources, you've probably seen your local news footage of police catching the bad guys with FLIR technology. FLIR can see through trees, shrubs, and some roofing material. In fact, FLIR operators on patrol at night can always spot a marijauanna growing in homes due to the heat radiated by growing lights.

These hand-held units: http://www.inspectortools.com/irtherimcamt.html#

do the same job to a certain degree. If you happen to live in a neighborhood where the homes are within inches of eachother, all you have to do is point the camera at walls to see the human sized heat signatures moving around. Use your imagination.

 

I thought I remember hearing something about EZ-pass and user privacy on the news a while back. I can't remember what it was about though.

 

Gabe- intreting you mention IR cameras. I do some work in the security area as a consultant. I actually helped design this system:

This one is about $2mil, took this at 3am on a moonless night. This is in wide FOV, in Narrow, you could count wiskers on seals in the Bodega bay.

You'd be amazed what they're doing with this UNclassified technology, let alone the classified stuff.

While it's hardly the greatest for spieing through walls in the usual sense (x-ray is much better for that kind of thing honestly, this stuff isn't silver bullet like you see in the movies.) I did see up close a case in which LAPD caught a guy hiding in a courgated metal shed by detecting the 1/10th of a degree warming of the corner of that shed.

 

People have told me that they have heard (one of those "my friend's uncle's wife's friend" type things) that people have been ticketed because theyve made it from toll booth to toll booth on an expressway in significantly less time than it should take at the speed limit.

 

A few years ago, there was an investigation (in a civil case) alledging that a woman had a long history of alcohol abuse and was therefor negligent in crashing her car into the plaintiff......

What the attorney did was subpoena the records of the local supermarket and obtain the "Rewards Club" records, which revealed exactly which FOOD the woman had purchased over the prior year, excessive alcohol included!

The judge would not allow it but it is a pretty scary example of "Big Brother" watching us!

DL

 

"Almost any new cell phone sold today has a GPS tracking device that is active even when the phone is powered off"

Now the black helecopters will come and get you...ahahahahahaha...


It's not GPS genius...it's called triangulation and it's been in use since just shortly after radio communications were invented...jeez.

GPS is not in many phones yet. But it will be offered soon. (shameless plug for GRMN stock). Oh, and it's because PEOPLE WANT IT!!!!

 

Sean, rest assured I'll be IN that black helicopter, not the guy acting surprised when it lands on my lawn

You are correct that triangulation has been in use for decades. However there are GPS units now being put in phones as well. GPS has signifigantly higher precision.

In one of our aircraft, we have to account for the displacement of the dGPS antenna from the center of the aircraft (and for the location of the reciver unit.) We're talking on the order of 2 meters here. It is accurate to ~20" in Lat/Long (less in Z.)



Best!
Ben.

 

This is being posted on the Internet. Ever read about the Echelon system? You are being spied on RIGHT NOW.

And you thought Big Brother was a fantasy....

 

None: I don't own a car with GPS, I don't own a cell phone, pager, laptop,...And I know how to defete those little black boxes placed under the drivers seat....

 

Good question, I'll ask the fbi agent hiding in my bushes.

 

A friend tells me that back in the 80's when you would drive from W. Germany to Berlin that the trip was timed. Too slow meant you must have made an unauthorized stop along the way. Too fast you got busted for speeding.

I'm too lazy to look it up right now but I seem to remember an instance not too long ago where a guy disposed of a tracking device that the FBI had placed in his car. He was charged with destruction of governement property.

Clipped from the NYT a while back:

.

 

One thing that amazes me is when stores ask for your phone number when you're checking out, and people actually give it to them! None of your G.D. business.

Tim, in Illinois they introduced I-Pass for the tollways a few years ago. It immediately created privacy debates when an attorney subpoenaed traffic records for an infidelity/divorce case. The speeding issue was a big concern of people, but in my opinion, this poses bigger problems.

 

FYI
I know for a fact law enforcement uses lojack equipped cars
to track drug suspects.