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General Category => General Radio Discussion => Topic started by: Fansome on October 31, 2011, 0320 UTC
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Met police using surveillance system to monitor mobile phones
Civil liberties group raises concerns over Met police purchase of technology to track public handsets over a targeted area
Ryan Gallagher and Rajeev Syal
guardian.co.uk, Sunday 30 October 2011 14.36 EDT
Britain's largest police force is operating covert surveillance technology that can masquerade as a mobile phone network, transmitting a signal that allows authorities to shut off phones remotely, intercept communications and gather data about thousands of users in a targeted area.
The surveillance system has been procured by the Metropolitan police from Leeds-based company Datong plc, which counts the US Secret Service, the Ministry of Defence and regimes in the Middle East among its customers. Strictly classified under government protocol as "Listed X", it can emit a signal over an area of up to an estimated 10 sq km, forcing hundreds of mobile phones per minute to release their unique IMSI and IMEI identity codes, which can be used to track a person's movements in real time.
The disclosure has caused concern among lawyers and privacy groups that large numbers of innocent people could be unwittingly implicated in covert intelligence gathering. The Met has refused to confirm whether the system is used in public order situations, such as during large protests or demonstrations.
Nick Pickles, director of privacy and civil liberties campaign group Big Brother Watch, warned the technology could give police the ability to conduct "blanket and indiscriminate" monitoring: "It raises a number of serious civil liberties concerns and clarification is urgently needed on when and where this technology has been deployed, and what data has been gathered," he said. "Such invasive surveillance must be tightly regulated, authorised at the highest level and only used in the most serious of investigations. It should be absolutely clear that only data directly relating to targets of investigations is monitored or stored," he said.
Datong's website says its products are designed to provide law enforcement, military, security agencies and special forces with the means to "gather early intelligence in order to identify and anticipate threat and illegal activity before it can be deployed".
The company's systems, showcased at the DSEi arms fair in east London last month, allow authorities to intercept SMS messages and phone calls by secretly duping mobile phones within range into operating on a false network, where they can be subjected to "intelligent denial of service". This function is designed to cut off a phone used as a trigger for an explosive device.
A transceiver around the size of a suitcase can be placed in a vehicle or at another static location and operated remotely by officers wirelessly. Datong also offers clandestine portable transceivers with "covered antennae options available". Datong sells its products to nearly 40 countries around the world, including in Eastern Europe, South America, the Middle East and Asia Pacific. In 2009 it was refused an export licence to ship technology worth £0.8m to an unnamed Asia Pacific country, after the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills judged it could be used to commit human rights abuses.
A document seen by the Guardian shows the Metropolitan police paid £143,455 to Datong for "ICT hardware" in 2008/09. In 2010 the 37-year-old company, which has been publicly listed since October 2005, reported its pro forma revenue in the UK was £3.9m, and noted that "a good position is being established with new law enforcement customer groups". In February 2011 it was paid £8,373 by Hertfordshire Constabulary according to a transaction report released under freedom of information.
Between 2004 and 2009 Datong won over $1.6 (£1.03m) in contracts with US government agencies, including the Secret Service, Special Operations Command and the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. In February 2010 the company won a £750,000 order to supply tracking and location technology to the US defence sector. Official records also show Datong entered into contracts worth more than £500,000 with the Ministry of Defence in 2009.
All covert surveillance is currently regulated under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (Ripa), which states that to intercept communications a warrant must be personally authorised by the home secretary and be both necessary and proportionate. The terms of Ripa allow phone calls and SMS messages to be intercepted in the interests of national security, to prevent and detect serious crime, or to safeguard the UK's economic wellbeing.
Latest figures produced by the government-appointed interception of communications commissioner, Sir Paul Kennedy, show there were 1,682 interception warrants approved by the home secretary in 2010. Public authorities can request other communications data – such as the date, time and location a phone call was made – without the authority of the home secretary. In 2010, 552,550 such requests were made, averaging around 1,500 per day.
Barrister Jonathan Lennon, who specialises in cases involving covert intelligence and Ripa, said the Met's use of the Datong surveillance system raised significant legislative questions about proportionality and intrusion into privacy.
"How can a device which invades any number of people's privacy be proportionate?" he said. "There needs to be clarification on whether interception of multiple people's communications – when you can't even necessarily identify who the people are – is complaint with the act. It may be another case of the technology racing ahead of the legislation. Because if this technology now allows multiple tracking and intercept to take place at the same time, I would have thought that was not what parliament had in mind when it drafted Ripa."
Former detective superintendent Bob Helm, who had the authority to sign off Ripa requests for covert surveillance during 31 years of service with Lancashire Constabulary, said: "It's all very well placed in terms of legislation … when you can and can't do it. It's got to be legal and obviously proportionate and justified. If you can't do that, and the collateral implications far outweigh the evidence you're going to get, well then you just don't contemplate it."
In May the Guardian revealed the Met had purchased software used to map suspects' digital movements using data gathered from social networking sites, satnav equipment, mobile phones, financial transactions and IP network logs. The force said the software was being tested using "dummy data" to explore how it could be used to examine "police vehicle movements, crime patterns and telephone investigations."
The Met would not comment on its use of Datong technology or give details of where or when it had been used.
A spokesman said: "The MPS [Metropolitan police service] may employ surveillance technology as part of our continuing efforts to ensure the safety of Londoners and detect criminality. It can be a vital and highly effective investigative tool.
"Although we do not discuss specific technology or tactics, we can re-assure those who live and work in London that any activity we undertake is in compliance with legislation and codes of practice."
A spokesman for the Home Office said covert surveillance was kept under "constant review" by the chief surveillance commissioner, Sir Christopher Rose, who monitors the conduct of authorities and ensures they are complying with the appropriate legislation.
He added: "Law enforcement agencies are required to act in accordance with the law and with the appropriate levels of authorisation for their activity."
Datong declined to comment.
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cell phones are just bad news all around. They cause brain cancer , are invasive ,cause traffic accidents ,and now can be used against you as a control device. GREAT !! I'll just add that to the 1001 reasons I have yet to buy one.
I will say that Datong used to make a mean microphone processor. Seems though they have gone to the dark side now. >:(
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Cell phones don't cause cancer lol. Radio waves from microwaves on down are *nonionizing* RF radiation which means they are incapable of mutating living cells.
(also keep in mind that cellphones run around 800mhz, not 2.5GHz like microwave ovens, which should be a wake up call, if you are scared of the peashooter cellphones, then be REAL scared of your 1500 watt burrito cooker lol!)
It's that simple fact that everyone seems to always forget or just plain ignorant to.
If they were ionizing then so would VHF broadcasts, HF and so on.
It is possible however to get enough nonionizing radiation to be harmful just like with any other radio transmitter, whether it be a shortwave transmitter, or an FM transmitter and get close field RF burn. That would heat up skin tissue which could later cause cancer much like any other heat source could by killing off good skin tissue. However at that point I think the human would be smart enough to feel really freakin hot and back off from the radiating source.
This is why there are regulations for RF exposure in ham shacks and radio stations.
As far as the police doing what they are (and on topic) it's a clear violation of your 4th amendment right.
You could bring this up to the police but it won't matter since they just take orders regardless if it's constitutional, legal, or whatever.
Hell you and I both know if cops were told to shoot to kill their fellow man just because, they would probably follow orders even if it went against everything human fiber they have.
It's the police state, and we are living in a police state.
It should be obvious by now what our nation is really dealing with and it isn't the candy apple we once naively wanted to believe it was.
Welcome to the new world order. Until we all stand up and take back what is rightfully ours even if it meant civil war, we will live under their control grid.
The answer to 1984 is 1776 ;)
edit: skipped over where this was about Britain, however the same shit is happening in the US.
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Hi Alex Jones
Even though they state what you did in your last post ,here is a copy of CBC's article on the subject
http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/story/2011/05/31/cellphone-radiation-cancer.html
I agree with you RF in itself below a certain freq does not have a cellular altering effect. However that being said it is also a well known fact that RF can be used to alter moods and has been used in phy-ops by governments around the world for decades .The famous case of the Soviets using RF pointed at the US embassy in Berlin during the 60's is well known. Extensive research went into this in the 50's and 60's . So too say that RF cannot cause cancer indirectly is also jumping the gun. Who is to say that Rf cannot trigger the bodies systems to release hormones or other internal signals that could lead indirectly to cancer . There are many things about the human body that we do not understand. There have been studies that directly relate mood disorders to cancer,and brain cancer in particular.
Shortwave pirates should take extra precaution recent behavior exhibited by Commander Bunny ,Kracker and gang show that extensive use of the 6 mhz band lead to insanity of the worst kind. My radio room is completely enclosed by metal as well as copper screen and I always wear a tin foil hat grounded to 10 ground rods when on the air.
Yes the New World Order is here . Cell phones are just plane evil ,don't even get me started on Facebook !!
I know nothing about 1776 I always thought the answer to 1984 was a giant hard slap to the face to wake the sheeple up.
Doc John
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I farted.
But besides that smell, yeah okay, I will take note. However I am sure my endless research has taught me one thing and that is to not believe anything. Including your post unless you have citations.
Because believe me I can provide a page if citations on chemical effects from RF, Non ionizing radiation on skin, heat effects from a distance that is not hot enough to cause even a faint change, power levels used to cook food like rabbits. Hell in the end who gives a shit. Honestly who here isn't living in an RF field? Some of us cause it upon ourselves in great quantities, and just like the quarky hams we shall live just as long as them, which seems to be forever w/o ailments remind you. In fact I can cite documents saying that RF when modulated at specific frequencies can actually be beneficial to the human body.
I believe there was a report not long ago in the news saying that we all have cancer to some extent, or some kind of cell mutations somewhere in our body, but few of us die from it. Doesn't that negate the idea that it's external factors? Even the small percentage that does get past the smoke screen... I doubt it's caused by cell phones alone. You are talking about a milliwatt device next to your head. The average UHF signals just airing around you unknowingly has to be stronger than that.
And I digress, remember if we are worried about stupid crap like cell phones you are forgetting about much stronger transmitters like microwave ovens, TV stations near by, the suns natural radiation, your fat neighbor that refuses to put on something more than a thong.
The reality is that it's a joke. Unlike Alex Jones I am of the opposite opinion on this topic, so before you judge my character and compare me to (a patriot who cares about us) a talk show host, don't forget that distinction and my apposing views.
Anyways back to that other forum, and not FRN...
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Met police using surveillance system to monitor mobile phones
** Newsflash **
Anybody (like cellular personnel e.g. cell engineers, traffic analysts or FBI agents with a warrant or other so-called 'authority') sitting at a console and logged into the HLR (Home Location Register) can obtain your location with the new phones that provide location using assisted GPS -or- at the very least get the cell site number and sector which your phone is 'registering' through ...
And monitoring the SMS messages? Same thing ... easy as pie.
In the US anyway, see: CALEA.
Wiki is a good place to start:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communications_Assistance_for_Law_Enforcement_Act
CALEA's purpose is to enhance the ability of law enforcement and intelligence agencies to conduct electronic surveillance by requiring that telecommunications carriers and manufacturers of telecommunications equipment modify and design their equipment, facilities, and services to ensure that they have built-in surveillance capabilities,
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I am of the personal opinion that eventually we will regret even discovering the radio frequency spectrum and it's uses one day . I say this while also stating that radio is my favorite thing next to breathing, but just because it is useful does not mean its innocent .
I have a little theory that I will never be able to prove but I think global warming could be the side effect of a century of RF bombardment on the ionosphere. I troll you not !
"so before you judge my character and compare me to (a patriot who cares about us) a talk show host, don't forget that distinction and my apposing views."
" a patriot who cares about us " Please tell me your joking. Alex Jones is a government shill. Bill Cooper knew it . He's a plant to actually help insight the civil unrest needed to bring about martial law. Nothing more than a fat money loving pig of a man .One of the many shills out there today inciting fear just like Ron Paul, towards this end. Think about it if he actually was the real thing he'd be dead. Just like Bill Cooper and everyone else who was a threat to civil obedience. Listen out for our show on this very subject on NRS brain altering RF near you.
SW-J ,totally agree with you cell phones are just the beginning of the end for personal privacy a training wheel set for the RFID implant .