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Comment by helsinkiandrew | Hacker News Reader

> Lockheed is now tracking phones

I get that the satellite can track the radio emissions from phones, but can they differentiate between different phones? - pick up the signal and track device by SIM IMEA/ICCID etc

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It is probably because even if the signal is within a certain band the band still has a frequency legenth longer than a simple decimal point. Channels operate in a range of frequency for example. Even if a device 5g and it needs to connect to a tower it will do its best to replicate the upstream / downstream signal with little noise as possible. However the noise is the difference between the devices, they are distinct and this is how they are probably determining the device.

Also radio waves do not just go away. We are probably incredibly loud planet to any radio wave sensitive alien/creature.

Since 4g lots of devices talk on the same freq at the same time and they do math to decode separate logic streams of data - so freq in itself is not enough

I imagine it is distinct enough if you're coned into a specific place. They are probably not looking at the global as a whole but like a radio telescope pointed back at Earth.

I think you're right here. To give a hypothetical from current events, the US/NATO forces may not have direct access to information from Russian cellular networks, but a bunch of cell signals in an unusual place could indicate a troop movement or something.

I have a outdoor air quality sensor that spikes for five minutes each day at certain times. I know each day when my neighbour goes out for a cigarette. On a similar note Strava data once gave away locations of military bases.

If you aren't putting in any effort to obfuscate your data you are not doing enough. There is a reason why our VIPs and anti-censors both do it. Encryption and other privacy tools alone aren't enough. The IETF and others are putting great effort into encryption but not enough here. Recently Google announced MLS support, hopefully as that is adopted you'll see more effort with Pluggable transports and making it easy to hide data over more than TLS.

Right, you could be able to see not only the number of cellphones but also the group.

If this [1] works, why shouldn't locating mobile phones from space work?

[1] https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2023/03/fcc-aims-to-help...

How does this work? Don't regular Starlink dishes use like 100W or so? How does a phone have enough power to do that?

I can see text messages, maybe, like the iPhone... but real time voice too?

Real time voice and data downloads of about 14Mbps from LEO test satellite to unmodified phones by AST Spacemobile.

https://www.theverge.com/2023/9/19/23879527/att-cellular-sat...

Yes, it was not for high bandwidth applications. Nevertheless when you can receive something like SMS it seems possible to locate you phone with similar technology.

I think these guys have explainers on their site:

https://lynk.world/

With certain kinds of antennas you can differentiate distinct emitters on the same frequency if there is enough spatial separation between them.

Just like with a single radio telescope you can simultaneously watch two closely located radio-galaxies emitting on the same frequency.

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