Google really needs to release a dedicated "Crime Mode" so we don't need to keep using this airplane mode workaround.
One of my SDR projects was to boot a GSM base station if my burglar alarm went off and store copies of every IMEI it can see in the cloud. Seems like it would be a better lead to hand investigators than a fuzzy security camera shot.
It would also need permission from the licensed spectrum holder, that could be harder to get.
But yes, completely legit with the right paperwork.
[1] The FCC has been pretty engaged in understanding the impacts of SDRs because of their potential for abuse (as one attendee called it, "The Drones of spectrum." As an amateur (AI6ZR) and someone in industry I've been helping as an SME to explain some of this stuff to their less technical staff.
I suppose we can sorta thank the FEC for their crazy broadcast device requirements when it comes to suspecting whether airplane mode actually stops a device from dialing home.
"Criminals deserve just as much privacy and safety as anyone else. If the government violates the criminal's rights to solve, prevent, or preempt crimes, even more crimes have occurred (privacy violations, killing of the criminal, etc.)
There should be explicit modes for phones and browsers available to criminals that allow them to safely commit crimes without risk of their rights being infringed upon."
Maybe "for the next hour, don't do the normal location-tracking/biometrics monitoring/reporting". I get that Google has no incentive to make that feature but maybe Apple does?
Trying to make a black and white distinction between criminals and everyone else is futile.
This. Drive 5mph over the limit? That's a crime. Buy some stuff off craigslist? I hope you paid sales tax on that, buddy.