You Are a Rogue Device (2013)
thestranger.com
thestranger.com
This is not a purely local issue. It's a coordinated Federal surveillance program masquerading as a local initiative.
If federally funded, locally built surveillance systems with
little to no oversight can dump their information in a fusion
center—think of it as a gun show for surveillance, where agencies
freely swap information with little restriction or
oversight—that could allow federal agencies such as the FBI and
the NSA to do an end-run around any limitations set by Congress
or the FISA court.They've already repeated the drone playbook, public apologies and assertions that only certain capabilities will be used.
If anyone is interested in getting involved, you can call or email the EFF. [1] They've done stuff like this before, and they'll help you get started. If you want someone else to get involved, donate to the EFF. [2] Or even the ACLU [3], because they'll eventually be the ones to defend some victim of the system.
[1] https://www.eff.org/about/contact
And make sure to put this on the election agenda. Track a few politicians going to their mistresses to drive the point home.
http://www.tomsguide.com/us/ios-8-mac-address-randomization,...
Anyone know if Apple patented this?
This is really something that needs to be baked-in at OS level though. I hope Google catches up.
Edit: Star this issue - http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=71084
This feature alone would be enough for me to switch full-time to an iPhone 6 from my Nexus 5.
I don't think that makes a difference though, because Bluetooth LE beacons (iBeacons) are better in this respect - regardless of Apple's motivations.
If your Alice's iPhone senses Bob's iBeacon then no information is revealed to Bob about Alice - an iBeacon can't receive, they're transmit only [1]. It's only once Alice installs Bob's app that Bob can get an indication that Alice is near one of his iBeacons.
1. http://radar.oreilly.com/2014/03/ibeacon-basics.html#_iaW3P0
These are not orthogonal concepts.
This is how our network systems evolve!
It should be noted that iOS 8 randomizes the MAC address during wifi probes, so with iOS 8 you will not be trackable unless you install the store's app.
[1] http://blog.rootshell.be/2012/01/12/show-me-your-ssids-ill-t...
In the game, the fictional Blume Industries sets up a massive, city-wide network, connecting almost everything to the central ctOS supercomputer. One of the ways they build public support for this system is by first providing free wifi to the public in and around Chicago.
I know this isn't perfectly analogous, but wifi networks popping up for ostensibly benevolent purposes and then being used to track people seems close enough to warrant a mention.
No off-the-shelf software from Aruba is aimed at citywide location-tracking capabilities. You could write one, or you could sort of hack away with a tool not designed for the job, but if you're really going for surveillance you'd focus on getting better tooling.
So instead, they'll think of any tracking capabilities will be a handy added bonus. :) :(
And even if the primary purpose is their own internal needs, it's entirely possible for this system to track people the way the article mentions. Even if it isn't used, it's kind of creepy that they have the capability to do that, and that we can never really know for sure that they aren't.
That's not really how public safety people think. How useful would a mobile hotspot be during, say, the Boston marathon bombings, when cell service was inoperable? Most likely they'll have multiple systems with different capabilities.
And who gives fig what "public-safety" people think if it's old-fashioned? They need to step their game up and gladly join our Total Information Awareness world. I'm not paying the taxes I am for some sort of half-assed sort-of-oppressing oppression. Why did they compromise the telcos so thoroughly if not for this exact purpose?
Fascismo with no joy in wielding its ultimate authoritarian stick is nothing worthwhile for these US of As. Gotta give that 110%, idolators of power and authority for their own sake...
Location API
This API retrieves Retrieves historical location objects for a specific MAC client. The last 1000 historical locations are stored for each MAC address. This API also publishes a location event if ALE receives an RSSI reading from a single AP for a station....
The API appears to return an X/Y coord pair which is associated with a campus, building or floor map. It also returns an accuracy value for the XY pair.
I dug into this because I was curious if it was getting actual GPS coords but it looks like it's using access point data and floor maps and (now I'm guessing) it may be using multiple RF antennas per AP which lets it separate an area into pie slices. That and signal strength will give you not-too-bad location data.
From:
http://support.arubanetworks.com/Documentation/tabid/77/DMXM...
On a citywide level, though, you don't need that to get an idea of where people have been bringing their phones, just the detection by the access point in question is a major piece of information, readily placing you within a block or so of most APs. Of course, besides the wifi angle, the cell phone companies have something a lot like this too, and sometimes sell it or give it to law enforcement anyway.
I feel like Betteridge's law applies here. Yes, it could. Maybe it does. Do you have any evidence of these claims? Nope.
> Note that he didn't say the mesh network couldn't be used for the surveillance functions we asked about, only that it wouldn't.
Yes, that literally every enterprise access point in existence could be used for that type of surveillance, so of course he didn't say it couldn't be used for that. That would be lying. So what more assurance could we possibly have than "it wouldn't"?
First off if your employer is spying on you, you at least have a chance to quit and get another job. Further that new job might not require that you move to avoid surveillance. Also many/most employers don't care enough about specifically where all their employees are to do such a thing. Finally a lot of the employers who do care enough have implemented ID badges. ID badges don't necessarily give you a happy feeling inside since they make it obvious that management doesn't trust everyone equally. But at least the tracking that they do is explicit: you know you're getting logged every time you badge through a door.
Imagine the outcry if a city implemented a badge ID system that you needed just to travel anywhere. That literally conjures images of "Papers, please" and the like.
The problem is that they have -- without any real, widespread public knowledge or approval -- implemented a small portion of a fairly draconian we-track-you-everywhere kind of system.