It is time again to tell you what by now you already know, even if you didn't want to know, about our Privacy Policy.
Our Privacy Policy hasn't changed:
- We do not monitor you.
- We do not monetize the blog.
- We do not track you.
- You are being monitored
- You are being monetized
- You are being tracked
What do you remember about Privacy? If you are over 30 you may remember what that meant, if you are under 30 you never got a chance to know anything about it.
The extent of Corporations and LEOs (Law Enforcement Organizations) General Surveillance, each of them desperate to find any aspect, any period, any thought that isn't tracked, logged, archived, analyzed and acted upon, has reached their first tier of saturation.
What that means is there is hardly a moment when you are not being watched: Live and Memorexed 1.
Previous forms of surveillance generally were one-way: they watched you.
It was external, outdoors, the stuff of B-Movies stake-outs. There existed times where the Watchers lost contact; B-Movies foot races though crowded alleys and markets with the required up-turned vegetable cart delaying the pursuit just long enough for the hero or villain to disappear into the crowd.
This year the surveillance has achieved a two-way breakthrough milestone.
It started a few years back with those sports trackers and fitness monitors. It seemed innocuous stuff at the time. These items promised to monitor your heart rate while working out, analyze your workout effectiveness and track your fitness+muscle-mass progress over time. They never promised to DO the workouts for you, so the sweat was all yours and as many of us really dislike sweating, these devices evolved to be more fashionable because if it was just for the gym, you were going to take it off. Now you don't because it Looks Good and maybe fools folks into thinking that muscle-mass around your waist is really your biceps.
Two-way surveillance allows a peek inside your personal sphere and fitness trackers got a foothold. Not only do they track if your heart is beating, they track your location on the surface or inside a building. Some have a logging feature for those inconvenient times when it losses satellite signal, but will catch up once a connection is re-established. The over-turned vegetable cart doesn't work anymore.
Of course, the ubiquitous smartphone does the heavy lifting for most of the two-way surveillance but there's a bit of a problem: people drop, loose, forget or stop using them or sometimes turn them off. Although, by now you should know OFF does not mean OFF.
So the next step is to get inside where you might take off the fitness tracker or might set down the phone. This is where RING and IoT (Internet of Things aka IdiOT) play their part.
RING (owned by Amazon) provides a video camera system for your door. Generally installed at the front door but any door will do. IdiOT devices can be installed into anything that puts an access APP on your smartphone like thermostats, lights, garage doors. These are surveillance devices and even if you do not install the app, the surveillance is still happening. YOU are the target, not the Bad-Dudettes listed in the "Why You Need This" pamphlets.
Repeat after me:
If it puts an APP on your phone or computer
it's a surveillance device.
Here is a recent synthesis of RING abilities that are not included in the "Why You Need This": 2 3 4 5
- Live Real Time and Recorded Video
- Accessible by World and Dog, by Bad-Dudes and Bad-Dudettes everywhere. Fully accessible by The Neighborhood Committee for General Housekeeping in charge of Ring Around The Collar and Floor Wax in the Corner Removal Compliance
- Video feeds direct to LEOs (Law Enforcement Organizations)
- Interior and Exterior details down to the square inch
- Two Way Talk usable by Strangers to talk to anyone inside at any time including Alexa
- Two Way Talk is also 24 Hour Listening by anyone who cares to listen to you singing in the shower or admire your snoring
- LEOs on the sales stump because they get free kit from Amazon if you buy what they're selling
These are features, they are part of the way the system works and is designed , it's not a bug.
So a bit more info not found on the "Why You Need This":
- 696 LEOs have full access to everything INSIDE and OUTSIDE (December 6, 2019)
- Anyone can install the APP and use it. You don't need a RING device to use the software
- Lots of 3d Party RING Apps and with ready to run Access Scripts
- A sample of usage within a 9 square mile area of unique Ring cameras that had uploaded video during the 500-day window
- The precise locations of approximately 20,000 Ring cameras across 15 different US cities
- Washington, DC, 1,863 devices pinpointed
- Los Angeles, 5,016 Ring cameras located
- Denver, 1,788 devices found
- Hidden geographic coordinates latitude and longitude with up to six decimal points of precision, accurate to the square inch of ground
- Washington, DC, at least 13 active Ring cameras line the path between a grade school and playing field
- Washington, DC, APP users shared videos of children
(No one cares if they share pictures of adults) - Track individual's entry and exit from businesses like a health clinic and legal office
- 90 Cities/LEOs have partnered with Amazon to sell Ring cameras
- Police agree not to talk about the details of the contract.
If you remember STINGRAY/DRT BOX it's the same non-disclosure 6a 6b 6c - Police perform marketing and sales by encouraging residents to use the APP or buy Ring products and provides free "seed cameras" to kick start the local surveillance system
- Police departments run any public statements about Ring past Amazon first. Amazon PR provides template social media posts and pre-written press releases. "Any and all contact from journalists should be immediately shared with Ring."
Perhaps you are thinking
So, OK ... They can see inside and outside.
I get it.
I won't buy one or remove it if I have one.
Well, that's a nice thought but you have neighbors that have already installed a RING or like device. Guess which way that exterior camera is pointed? It's pointing at your house, at your garage, at your back yard. The busy-body-nosy-parker-informant is watching you and uploading your comings and goings, your friends, your parties, your holiday family gatherings and family fights in real time.
It's a strategy well documented under the STASI and they didn't need half the cameras to employ it, just upwards of 600,000 helpful citizens.7
Using cameras and geo-location, LEOs are having a big laugh at our collective myopia or shortsightedness. They collect far more than needed for any investigation, trapping millions into LEO databases because we passed though an intersection with a traffic camera.
Over collection is the name of the game.
Collect the Haystack is the goal. 8
An investigation of several arson cases in Wisconsin (value $50,000). ATF requested and received reverse-location data on about 1,500 phones in an area the size of an average Milwaukee city block. 9
The idea goes like this:
While you can't track the phone of a suspect you don't haveA small detail: this assumes whoever committed the crimes has an active phone. They may not have a phone, may not have brought it with them, or may have brought it with them in airplane mode or powered off, or used someone else's phone. However, using airplane mode won't stop the data collection because there are other parts of the device still broadcasting. And, we already know OFF isn't OFF.
- You can start with the time and place of the crime
- Look to see what phones were nearby
- Presume all phones belong to the suspect
Camera capture systems are everywhere. There really isn't any legal prohibition to them. If you are imaged by one, you are in a public space or a private space where you waived your rights to having your image taken. Major bushiness install detailed surveillance, health care, hospitals, supermarkets all have them. Occasionally, grainy blurred images are trotted out for public consumption with sensational headlines as favored by the 24-Hours of 5-Minutes of Recycled No News Services.
In the USA, we have Running-A-Red-Light cameras with automated automatic ticketing. In Australia, cameras target mobile phone use while driving with a substantial fine if imaged using one. Results are as you expect because we all know people use the phone while driving, just as people run red lights at intersections.
Worthy causes to be sure on the surface, but these systems do not stop or alter the behavior. They do provide a renewable source of income for LEOs and underfunded Community Budgets. An automated variation on asset forfeiture laws.
Mobile phones imaged in use while driving (In Australia)10:
- 3,303 drivers in one week
- 500 drivers a day
- 6 month trial: 100,000 drivers out of 8.5 million checked
- If 3% of drivers caught were to challenge the penalty,
it would lead to 72,000 cases per year - Reversed onus of proof, requiring drivers to prove what they are holding is a flat packed banana
Oh well... hmmm... Why is OFF not OFF?
Because they told us...
Well, they eventually told us, they didn't do it willingly or completely and they continually omit the details and roll back or re-introduce un-fixes to fixes.
Every modern device has a lot of layers to the hardware and software. The two layers do not have to connect. The lights on-off are a feature not a requirement.
There are 2 ways the lights get turned on:
- The software sends a message to the hardware to turn on or off the green/red lights. If there isn't any message from the software the light is blank
- Another part of hardware sends a message to turn on or off the green/red lights. If another part of the system doesn't flip the switch the light is blank
It isn't the hardest job on the programming scale. Wax On / Wax Off. Lights On / Lights Off.
Apple's new iPhone 11 incorporates an incomplete version of Ultra Wideband technology (UWB). UWB is designed to allow your phone to find and connect to any other UWB phone or device. If you have geo-location turned OFF at the top level and OFF for every APP on the phone, one might think that it would be OFF all together but UWB won't work if geo-location is OFF. UWB needs your precise location. 11a 11b 12 13
So the phone auto-turns-on geo-location tracking periodically (every couple of minutes) just in case it can find something to partner with. Whether you want to or not, the Apple iPhone is going to hunt for a partner.
Apple's reasoning:
“So users can do things like share a file with someone using AirDrop simply by pointing at another user’s iPhone.”
It's incomplete, not fully functional and you cannot turn it off or limit it, but they thought it was a great thing to give you anyway. A bonus boon to anyone wanting to drop illegal, illicit, unwanted images on your phone just by pointing at it and waiting a couple of minutes.
What's also clear is that there is more coming:
Apple:
“The icon appears for system services that do not have a switch in Settings”
Translated into normal language it means there is stuff on the phone with no OFF settings. Apple will either provide a future OFF option or simply hide the indicator light which may pacify their clientele.
We know that OFF isn't OFF but ON is generally ON.
Apple isn't the only one with skin in the game, Google's in there too. They got caught out collecting your location data even if you have Geo Location Data Tracking turned OFF. 9 Google's facing lawsuits over collecting and retaining location data and distributing it illegally. Even when Google can wave a warrant, Google was never supposed to have the data to start with, much less keep it.
Now that you've glazed over there are things you can do.
- Stop believing the ads
- Stop upgrading or buying stuff
- Reduce device usage
- Place devices in a drawer when not in use
- Remove obsolete devices with multi-year year batteries
- Use it when you need it
- Don't feed the machine
Hot RING Topics:3
- Sit back and relax to over 45 minutes of entertainment
- Join us as we go hit on completely random targets
- Watch while we tell shelter owners we killed a kitten
- Hear unsolicited racist commentary
- Funny "wake up" calls
- Ransom Demands to recover control of your system
- Talk to the children
- Video Replay On Line
- Watch the shows live...
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memorex
A series of famous television commercials featuring Ella Fitzgerald. In the commercials she would sing a note that shattered a glass while being recorded to a Memorex audio cassette. The tape was played back and the recording also broke the glass, asking "Is it live, or is it Memorex?"
- https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2019/12/ring-used-parties-swag-to-build-700-police-partnerships-report-finds/
Uploaded Ring footage reportedly provides location to the square inch
Neighbors data proves extra-revealing as Amazon police partnerships accelerate.
Kate Cox - Dec 10, 2019 8:50 pm UTC
A review of Gizmodo RING use analysis
- https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2019/12/wave-of-ring-surveillance-camera-hacks-tied-to-podcast-report-finds/
Wave of Ring surveillance camera hacks tied to podcast, report finds
The bad actors harassing folks for fun got more attention than they meant to.
Kate Cox - Dec 12, 2019 10:10 pm UTC
In all the cases, some bad actor accessed indoor Ring cameras (not doorbells) and used them to harass, intimidate, or attempt to extort the residents.
- https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/dec/13/ring-hackers-reportedly-watching-talking-strangers-in-home-cameras
Ring hackers are reportedly watching and talking to strangers via in-home cameras
Hackers are using two-way talk function to wake people up in the middle of the night and watch unsuspecting children
Poppy Noor Fri 13 Dec 2019 13.45 EST
A review of a Motherboard investigation into RING.
- https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/dec/23/be-careful-you-are-not-giving-away-your-privacy-with-christmas-gifts-this-year
Be careful you are not giving away your privacy with Christmas gifts this year
Tim Singleton Norton
Sun 22 Dec 2019 21.00 EST
In the US, this has led to a rapid take-up of the [RING] tiny cameras on front porches and doorsteps. In turn, this has been too tempting an opportunity for US law enforcement, which earlier this year went into partnership with Amazon to gain unprecedented and unfettered access to video footage.
- 6a https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stingray_phone_tracker
The StingRay is an IMSI-catcher, a controversial cellular phone surveillance device, manufactured by Harris Corporation.
6b https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dirtbox_(cell_phone)
A dirtbox (or DRT box) is a cell site simulator, a phone device mimicking a cell phone tower, that creates a signal strong enough to cause nearby dormant mobile phones to switch to it. Mounted on aircraft, it is used by the United States Marshals Service to locate and collect information from cell phones believed to be connected with criminal activity. It can also be used to jam phones. The device's name comes from the company that developed it, Digital Receiver Technology, Inc. (DRT), owned by the Boeing company.
6c https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stingray_use_in_United_States_law_enforcement
Initially, the use of Stingray phone trackers was a secret, due to a number of non-disclosure agreements between individual police departments and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. According to the American Civil Liberties Union, the FBI entered into agreements with at least 48 police departments in the United States. In these agreements, the FBI allowed police departments to use the stingrays, while requiring police departments provide no information to either the public or the courts regarding the devices' operation or existence.
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Informal_collaborator
An unofficial collaborator or IM (both from German inoffizieller Mitarbeiter) or, euphemistically, informal collaborator (informeller Mitarbeiter) was an informant in the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) who delivered private information to the Ministry for State Security (MfS / Stasi). At the end of the East German government, there was a network of around 189,000 informants, working at every level of society.
During its lifetime the Stasi employed around 624,000 Informal collaborators
In the residential areas the Stasi relied on "Information people" ("Auskunftspersonen " / AKPs), for information on neighbours. These were informants who in most circumstances would not themselves have been listed as IMs, and whose information gathering would mostly have been controlled by senior Stasi officers. They would have sought to conceal the true basis for their "curiosity", as representing, for instance, the local council, the military or the tax office in order to get their target-interlocutors talking.
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keith_B._Alexander
"Rather than look for a single needle in the haystack, his approach was, 'Let's collect the whole haystack. Collect it all, tag it, store it ... And whatever it is you want, you go searching for it."
-
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2019/12/feds-reap-data-from-1500-phones-in-largest-reported-reverse-location-warrant/
Feds reap data from 1,500 phones in largest reported reverse-location warrant
The search warrants demanded nine hours' worth of location history from Google.
Kate Cox - Dec 13, 2019 9:19 pm UTC
Federal investigators trying to solve arson cases in Wisconsin have scooped up location history data for about 1,500 phones that happened to be in the area.
Users who disable Google's location history features should, in theory, not have data in Google's SensorVault for the company to pass along to investigators. That said, Google is facing multiple lawsuits, including a potential class-action in the US and a suit by consumer protection regulators in Australia, alleging the company misled users and retained location data even if the setting was turned off.
- https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/dec/17/mobile-phone-detection-cameras-more-than-3000-nsw-drivers-week
Mobile phone detection cameras pick up more than 3,000 NSW drivers in a week
Drivers caught by the cameras before March will receive a warning letter, but then fines of [AU$] $344 will be levied
Josh Taylor
Mon 16 Dec 2019 23.31 EST
[AU$344 is about US$237 as of 12/19/2019]
- 11a https://krebsonsecurity.com/2019/12/the-iphone-11-pros-location-data-puzzler/
11b https://krebsonsecurity.com/2019/12/apple-explains-mysterious-iphone-11-location-requests/
Detailed analysis of the OFF-ON location tracking in iPhone 11.
- https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2019/12/the-iphone-11s-u1-chip-necessitates-constant-geolocation-pings-apple-says/
Analysis of iPhone 11 Ultra Wideband technology (UWB) implementation.
- https://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/12/06/apple_ultra_wideband/
Analysis of iPhone 11 Ultra Wideband technology (UWB) implementation.
