[Reader-list] Identification Experiments II
Menso Heus
menso at r4k.net
Tue Jun 5 13:03:00 IST 2001
Coincidentally I came across this picture just now and since we were
discussing this I didn't want to keep it from you:
http://www.ntk.net/2001/06/01/dohposter.jpg
For those with not-so-good eyes, the little white square at the right
bottom says "Tapping your phone" and is obviously not part of the original
work ;)
Menso
On Tue, Jun 05, 2001 at 08:42:55AM +0200, Menso Heus wrote:
>
> Hi,
>
> I would just like to point out that the GPS system works in a one way style,
> meaning that the satellites continuously broadcast their locations and the
> receivers pick these signals up and process them to give you your location.
> No information is being sent back to the satellite and neither can a satellite
> figure out who's picking up it's signal. In order to achieve something like that
> there will need to be a second system that broadcasts the location back to some
> other satellites (or uses the GSM network) so that Mercedes for example can know
> where the car is.
>
> Reason I'm trying to explain this is because it's not done in the article itself
> which could give people the impression that GPS broadcasts information back which
> it does not.
>
> On http://www.howstuffworks.com/gps1.htm you can learn more about how GPS pinpoints
> by triangulating between three satellites (and uses four to determine time).
>
> If you're really worried about surveillance technology then keep in mind that if you
> carry a GSM phone the triangulating trick can be used by the telco to determine
> your position up to 250 square meters and that each phone is uniquely identifiable
> by it's IMEI number (International Mobile Equipment Identity Number) which is
> always linked to your name when you get a subscription.
> Don't think you're safe if you've got a prepaid phone which didn't require any
> registration though: traffic analysis can still say who you are!
>
> If you want to know the IMEI number of your GSM phone, dial *#06#
>
> Traffic analysis means looking at who is communicating with who. For example:
> if my unregistered prepaid phone starts calling my parents every two days and
> their phone starts calling me it means there is a relationship between those
> too and by looking at what other numbers are being called and the frequency
> you can deduct who is using the phone. Sneaky stuff, aye?
> Since GSM communication works in cell based blocks you can easily figure out who's
> hanging out with who as well. Locate one phone and then query the GSM-broadcasting
> pole for all the other phones in that cell. Do this regularly and patterns occur.
>
> Menso
>
> On Mon, Jun 04, 2001 at 02:04:51PM -0000, Shuddhabrata Sengupta wrote:
> >
> >
> > Apropos of Jeebesh's last posting on the Prisoner Tracking Systems being
> > developed at a prison near Hyderabad - read this short essay by Cynthia West,
> > author of "Techno-Human Mesh" which has appeared in Computer Professionals
> > for Social Responsibility (CPSR) newsletter, Volume 18, Number 2
> > (http://www.cpsr.org/publications/newsletters/issues/2000/Spring2000/west.html
> > )
> >
> > cheers (?)
> >
> > Shuddha
> > -------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > Safety, Security and Surveillance
> > by Cynthia K. West, Ph.D.
> >
> > West at coastside.net
> > http://www.cynthiawest.com
> >
> > A fellow digerati [1] member tells me she and her husband have purchased the
> > new Mercedes station wagon to accommodate their growing family. Of course,
> > one of Mercedes' marketing pitches is the ability to transport one's family
> > safely, securely and in style. Elsie chirps, "The Mercedes also comes with a
> > GPS (global positioning system) which is great. If I need to know how to get
> > somewhere, I just check the GPS. And if I'm still lost, I can call Mercedes
> > from the installed mobile phone and they, knowing my position exactly, will
> > talk me through the directions or stay on the phone until I get there." She
> > continues, "Plus, a nice feature is that Dan can call Mercedes and locate me
> > in case of emergency." I nod understanding, but not necessarily agreeing.
> >
> > This example displays just how common surveillance has become in the western
> > world. In the case of surveillance cameras and GPS technology, we have turned
> > public spaces into superpanopticons, or systems which are designed to shape
> > and affect behavior as if one is under constant watch. The trade off for such
> > public monitoring is supposed to be some sense of increased, or perhaps just
> > maintained, safety and security.
> >
> > These technologies are not innocent. For instance, the GPS has a history
> > embedded in the military-industrial complex. One of its original
> > applications, with respect to interaction with human subjects, was to track
> > military personnel in the field. Soldiers wear a belted unit that
> > communicates with the satellites and the GPS, letting those outside the
> > combat zone know of the soldiers' whereabouts.
> >
> > One step toward commercialization of the GPS was in the area of criminal
> > justice, or tracking paroled prisoners. Such is the application marketed by
> > ProTech Monitoring Inc. in Florida. [2] ProTech offers a receiving/tracking
> > unit that a parolee (mostly sexual offenders) wear in a fanny pack along with
> > a non-detachable ankle bracelet. The technology is in constant communication
> > with the satellite and GPS. The GPS sends information bout his or her
> > whereabouts to a monitoring center. The monitoring center, in turn, contacts
> > the police, the parole officer and the victim of each parolee, should the
> > parolee outstep his designated geographical boundaries.
> >
> > There is a slippery slope of such technologies toward general consumer usage.
> > For example, ProTech encourages the victims to also wear a corresponding unit
> > to assure her or his safety. The argument is as follows: the monitoring
> > center can know where the two individuals are with respect to each other and
> > notify the victim more rapidly. The specious marketing message begs the
> > question: Just who is the criminal here?
> >
> > In Techno-Human Mesh, I argue that it is not long before the GPS is used to
> > track general populations. Just as the book went to into production, CNN.com
> > featured Florida-based Applied Digital Solutions, a company promoting the use
> > of a miniature digital device to be implanted in people, just under the skin,
> > which communicates with and is tracked by GPS technology. [3] Their first
> > markets include children and high risk heart patients. One benefit touted in
> > the marketing message is that if you are a heart attack candidate, the device
> > will monitor certain biological functions and notify a monitoring center if
> > it detects medical concerns. Similarly, parents concerned about locating
> > missing children, need not worry if their children have an implant. Their
> > product, amazingly enough, is called the "Digital Angel."
> >
> > Another example is Techno Bra (I am not kidding here) which proposes that
> > women wear its digitally embedded support system. Techo-Bra features a
> > digital device that can recognize the rapid jumps in the heart rate of its
> > wearer, distinguishing between an exercising heart beat and a heart beat of a
> > woman being sexually attacked. In the event of sexual assault, the bra uses
> > the cellular phone network to notify the police. [4] The marketing message is
> > that we will be safer if we purchase and utilize surveillance products.
> >
> > I submit that we are not addressing these problems at their roots. That is,
> > instead of encouraging individuals to act within moral limits, we create
> > societies in which the individual is further isolated. It is each
> > individual's responsibility to care for him or herself, not to rely on a
> > stranger for assistance, but rely on the power of monitoring technologies. By
> > relying on technologies for our safety concerns, we give the technologies
> > power and render ourselves less potent players. Also, in this system, it is a
> > vicious circle, always hoping that the technologies stay ahead of the
> > criminal elements.
> >
> > We must instead return to education and retain some process for educating
> > members of society about agreed upon values. How does a community, which is
> > often comprised of divergent interests, arrive at an agreement on common
> > values? One successful example comes from Sanford McDonnell, chairman
> > emeritus of McDonnell Douglas Corporation who, having developed a code of
> > conduct and values for his employees, extended the idea to his community
> > where he created and funded a school-business-community partnership called
> > Personal Responsibility Education Process (PREP). The goal of this
> > partnership was to determine common values and promote these values in
> > schools. Parents and teachers of each school met to decide upon the specific
> > values and character traits they wanted to develop in students. If not
> > everyone agreed on a particular value, they conceded that the value would not
> > be taught. Even though one school in this community was comprised of people
> > from a variety of cultural backgrounds, they agreed on the core values of
> > honesty, responsibility, respect, cooperation and service to others. [5]
> >
> > Technologies of the superpanoptic type, like surveillance technologies,
> > should be examined with great care. Those deemed invasive or non-constructive
> > should be resisted. Educating individuals about the types of societies and
> > communities we want to built needs to be the foundation, instead of
> > technology solutions. Similarly, if as computer professionals, we are busy
> > building systems such as these, we need to ask ourselves about their value in
> > the short and long term. Are these systems we are building contributing to
> > the kinds of communities we want to leave the next generations?
> >
> > [1] I borrow John Brockman's term from his book of the same name, Digerati,
> > to signify the group of individuals responsible for researching, developing,
> > selling and marketing information technologies.
> >
> > [2] See [ http://www.protech.com ].
> >
> > [3] Richard Stenger, "Tiny human-borne monitoring device sparks privacy
> > fears," 20 December 1999, [
> > http://www.cnn.com/1999/TECH/ptech/12/20/implant.device/index.html ].
> >
> > [4] Leander Kahney, "Techno Bra Calls the Cops," 1 July 1999,[
> > http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,20517,00.html ].
> >
> > [5] Gail Bernice Holland, A Call for Connection (Novato, CA: New World
> > Library, 1998), 101.
> >
> > Based on forthcoming book to be published in 2000 by Quorum books, entitled
> > Techno-Human Mesh: The Growing Power of Information Technologies © Cynthia K.
> > West, 2000.
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > Shuddhabrata Sengupta
> > SARAI:The New Media Initiative
> > Centre for the Study of Developing Societies
> > 29 Rajpur Road
> > Delhi 110 054
> > India
> > Phone : (00 91 11) 3960040
> >
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Reader-list mailing list
> > Reader-list at sarai.net
> > http://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/reader-list
>
> --
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> We don't know, but rather suspect that twelve-sided dice are involved
> somewhere.... - TheRegister.co.uk on Scientology
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
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