Cell phone spying in the Nation's Capital

[GostHacked]

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/imsi-cellphones-spying-ottawa-1.4050049

Quote

A months-long CBC News/Radio-Canada investigation has revealed that someone is using devices that track and spy on cellphones in the area around Parliament Hill.

The devices are known as IMSI catchers and have been used by Canadian police and security authorities, foreign intelligence and even organized crime.

So who is using these devices and why?

It's interesting that if these things were discovered in other urban areas, it would not be a big deal. But as soon as government workers are involved, then concerns about the tech are taking into consideration.  I believe it is more domestic than foreign activity that is taking place here. But our guys say they don't partake in spying on Canadians or people in Canada.  Which is absolute bull.

[Moonlight Graham]

It's impossible that the feds don't know about this.  Sounds like highly illegal domestic spying.

[GostHacked]

Just now, Moonlight Graham said:

It's impossible that the feds don't know about this.  Sounds like highly illegal domestic spying.

That's the line of thinking I have here too.  Because you damn well know if it was foreign, they'd have all the info they need and make all sorts of accusations. They are in key locations around downtown. This is how they let us know they , not only have had the ability, but now are making us blatantly aware that it has been taking place for a long time.

[Moonlight Graham]

2 minutes ago, GostHacked said:

That's the line of thinking I have here too.  Because you damn well know if it was foreign, they'd have all the info they need and make all sorts of accusations. They are in key locations around downtown. This is how they let us know they , not only have had the ability, but now are making us blatantly aware that it has been taking place for a long time.

We need nothing short of a privacy revolution in our laws due to new technology. that the law hasn't kept up with, or in 20 years it will be 1984.

[GostHacked]

1984 started over 20 years ago when the Internet and related tech became part of our daily lives.  The laws have never kept up with the accelerated pace of technology. Probably by design, allowing the intelligence services to do what they can before such rules get implemented. You also have to fight the public apathy that goes along with using the tech and being aware of what can happen. Essentially being conditioned to accept big brother from the start.

[GostHacked]

What's insane Moonlight is that you are the only person to respond to this thread so far. It's like people don't give a shit about their privacy being compromised, and most likely by our own government.

[GostHacked]

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/goodale-spying-investigation-phone-1.4055107

Quote

Goodale said that like most police and security services around the world, Canadian law enforcement and intelligence agencies use the technology in the course of their work, but only in compliance with the law. 

However, they wont say illegal, but they do use the term 'unauthorized'. 

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/rcmp-journalists-surveillance-spying-leak-1.3586940

Quote

Only after the surveillance of the reporters had occurred did officers ask their RCMP bosses for the required permission. They were immediately denied authorization, and told to cease the surveillance.

The bombshell revelation about a national police agency spying without authorization on Canadian journalists appears in a document obtained by CBC News under the Access to Information Act.

The partly censored briefing note for Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale was written after media reports appeared last November detailing Project Standard.

Uh huh.  Don't believe anything these people say. Because ....

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/federal-security-winnipeg-police-spying-devices-1.3938023

Quote

Often referred to as IMSI (international mobile subscriber identity) catchers, these covert tools masquerade as conventional cellular towers, causing mobile phones to transmit signals to the rogue device, rather than directly to towers operated by wireless providers.

However, unlike traditional wiretaps, this technology harvests data indiscriminately, casting a wide net over a specific geographic area, potentially targeting citizens not intended as surveillance targets.

I heavily suspect this is 100% domestic and most likely intelligence services, but they won't tell you that.

[Guest]

16 minutes ago, GostHacked said:

What's insane Moonlight is that you are the only person to respond to this thread so far. It's like people don't give a shit about their privacy being compromised, and most likely by our own government.

I don't.  I just figured, why respond if I don't give a shit?

Of course, if it is revealed that it is organised crime and not CSIS, feel free to tell them to stop it at once, with my full support.

[GostHacked]

1 minute ago, bcsapper said:

I don't.  I just figured, why respond if I don't give a shit?

Of course, if it is revealed that it is organised crime and not CSIS, feel free to tell them to stop it at once, with my full support.

This is the kind of apathy that prevents us from actually having any kind of privacy.

[Guest]

Just now, GostHacked said:

This is the kind of apathy that prevents us from actually having any kind of privacy.

I can't help not being concerned about what concerns you.  I find the whole concept of privacy in this day and age largely laughable.  Plus, I support any kind of government surveillance that helps keep me safe.  Not so much the organised crime, but I don't think they'd pay much attention to me anyway.

 

[Moonlight Graham]

3 hours ago, GostHacked said:

What's insane Moonlight is that you are the only person to respond to this thread so far. It's like people don't give a shit about their privacy being compromised, and most likely by our own government.

I'm not surprised at all though.  It's the reason we're in this situation to begin with.  People figure if they've done nothing wrong they have nothing to hide.  They would scream to the moon if someone broke into their house and searched through their dresser, but since they can't actually physically see someone cyber-spying on them it's like it doesn't even happen.T

I actually hate owning a smartphone, I resisted it for a long time.  Thinking of getting a VPN for my computer.  Eff "the man".

[Argus]

Maybe it's the Russians or Chinese. I posed some days back about how someone I know at Shared Services has said Trudeau is still using his own personal unsecured Iphone, having refused to switch to the government's secure Blackberry network.

[Moonlight Graham]

5 hours ago, GostHacked said:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/goodale-spying-investigation-phone-1.4055107.

from the article:

Quote

 

Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale says the RCMP and CSIS have launched investigations in response to a CBC News/Radio-Canada report, which revealed that someone is using devices that track and spy on cellphones in the area around Parliament Hill.

"Obviously we are very anxious to determine who lies at the source of this activity and that's why both CSIS and the RCMP are investigating," Goodale said.

"We want to make sure that we get to the bottom of this and find out the facts and the RCMP and CSIS are in the best position to do that."

Goodale confirms the spying was not being done by a Canadian agency using International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI) catchers. But he could not say whether those using the IMSI catchers might be domestic organized crime, a foreign intelligence agency or some other source.

 

So either Goodale is lying to save face with both the Canadian public and foreign dignitaries/embassies etc. around the Ottawa area, or he's admitting his government and departments like CSIS, CSEC, RCMP and DND etc are completely incompetent where they didn't realize this was happening but yet the CBC was smart enough to figure it out.

Obviously Goodale is lying.  He doesn't have much of a choice though, he needs to deny this, he can't admit to foreign countries they're spying.  This is essentially just cyberwarfare and cybersecurity, par for the course in the 21st century.  I wonder how many hotels and other buildings in downtown Ottawa are bugged?

I'm sure other embassies etc are aware and protected from this technology, so maybe they're looking for the lone wolves or non-state groups like terror threats etc?

[Thinkinoutsidethebox]

This is an interesting topic, on one hand we have those who resist this intrusion into our privacy (the minority?) and on the other many seem to be embracing it.

There's lots of talk about national security and safety these days and many of us are willing to give up our freedoms in the interest of "safety".

Is it only safety though? Look at the gadget industry, every second we are being tracked to the sub meter, every second we are online we are being monitored, there are whole industries just tracking every keystroke we type and selling this information to advertisers and the vast majority don't mind or even care for that matter. Why is tracking cell phones any different?

I often wonder when I hear of these incidents what makes these individuals so special. It seems to me if what they are doing is so critical they shouldn't be carrying devices that let the whole world know where they are at any given moment in time in the first place. 

I think the reason people are not responding to this thread is tracking is just becoming more and more accepted. Anybody familiar with predictions of the singularity (when humans and machines merge)? Look around you, it might be closer than we realize...

[GostHacked]

10 hours ago, Moonlight Graham said:

from the article:

So either Goodale is lying to save face with both the Canadian public and foreign dignitaries/embassies etc. around the Ottawa area, or he's admitting his government and departments like CSIS, CSEC, RCMP and DND etc are completely incompetent where they didn't realize this was happening but yet the CBC was smart enough to figure it out.

Those are the only two scenarios I see playing out here. And I agree with you that Goodale is lying. For something like this where the frequencies are constantly scanned for these kinds of things. Being the nation's capital with many embassies, you'd think that they would already be on the look out. Knowing that foreign entities WILL be spying as much as they can. Could be the same as the rouge RCMP officers that were tracking those journalists.  There is always that element.

 

[GostHacked]

13 hours ago, Moonlight Graham said:

 They would scream to the moon if someone broke into their house and searched through their dresser, but since they can't actually physically see someone cyber-spying on them it's like it doesn't even happen.

Out of site and out of mind. And with the 'Internet of things'  a smart home is open to every single hacker out there.  I'd argue that it makes your home less safe with being connected to the grid. Now take into account all the smart devices one has in the home that also has the potential to spy on you. That has been proven for sure.

[blackbird]

Why wasn't this investigated and determined who is spying before making it public and giving the spies time to pick up their equipment and make a getaway?  Now we may never know who has been spying.  Pretty shody work.  If the CBC discovered this, why didn't they go the police first and find out who was doing it before reporting it on the news?

[The_Squid]

On 2017-04-03 at 4:50 PM, Moonlight Graham said:

It's impossible that the feds don't know about this.  Sounds like highly illegal domestic spying.

Why would you assume it's "highly illegal" before you know the facts?  It may not even be the government doing it. 

[The_Squid]

Cue the conspiracy nuts.....

[GostHacked]

http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/rcmp-surveillance-imsi-catcher-mdi-stingray-cellphone-1.4056750

So the article stops short of RCMP admission that they used them in this case. So the RCMP admits they use these devices in light of the recent CBC reporting. 

So anyone calling this a conspiracy nut case scenario are doing themselves a huge disservice.

They don't spy .. they do spy.

[Moonlight Graham]

On 2017-04-05 at 10:47 AM, GostHacked said:

Out of site and out of mind. And with the 'Internet of things'  a smart home is open to every single hacker out there.  I'd argue that it makes your home less safe with being connected to the grid. Now take into account all the smart devices one has in the home that also has the potential to spy on you. That has been proven for sure.

This is a scary time to be alive.  The gov doesn't even need to plant bugs on people anymore to spy.  Most everyone has a smartphone, so most everyone is walking around with a mic on them, frequently staring directly at a front camera that can also record HD video, and also the back camera.  And more and more people have data, so the gov can get yhis info back to them easily, plus know where you are at most times.  Real conversations can be recorded, text messages can be spied on, phone calls spied, emails read, facebook activity tracked, pics on your camera looked at, dropbox content tracked, Word documents on your PC, every website you visit, your phone calendar, your phone contacts.  Even legal apps we all download can do a bunch of this stuff or sell the info for profit (which is how most make their money).

Most people don't pay with cash anymore either.  So they can track your credit/debit purchases.  WTF

[Moonlight Graham]

On 2017-04-05 at 10:07 PM, The_Squid said:

Why would you assume it's "highly illegal" before you know the facts?  It may not even be the government doing it. 

After the Snowden revelations, I assume that if they can do it, they probably do.

[GostHacked]

On 4/4/2017 at 10:13 PM, Argus said:

Maybe it's the Russians or Chinese. I posed some days back about how someone I know at Shared Services has said Trudeau is still using his own personal unsecured Iphone, having refused to switch to the government's secure Blackberry network.

I don't count on much Shared Services says or what they have to offer.  I mean Phoenix Pay System ..  nuff said.

 

16 hours ago, Moonlight Graham said:

After the Snowden revelations, I assume that if they can do it, they probably do.

Yep.

[PIK]

On 4/4/2017 at 5:35 PM, GostHacked said:

What's insane Moonlight is that you are the only person to respond to this thread so far. It's like people don't give a shit about their privacy being compromised, and most likely by our own government.

What privacy, we lost that along time ago.

[GostHacked]

On 4/7/2017 at 3:19 PM, PIK said:

What privacy, we lost that along time ago.

It's because we collectively let it happen via apathy.