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1998-04-22 - Re: Position escrow (triangulation, cell “remailers”)

Header Data

From: Illuminatus Primus <vermont@gate.net>
To: Phil Karn <karn@Qualcomm.com>
Message Hash: 04c70b10d7460557ef566fb053a0301bff45a96b51e75b442ed27744d8c46813
Message ID: <Pine.LNX.3.96.980422021922.136K-100000@oto.gate.net>
Reply To: <199804220153.SAA22662@servo.qualcomm.com>
UTC Datetime: 1998-04-22 06:43:01 UTC
Raw Date: Tue, 21 Apr 1998 23:43:01 -0700 (PDT)

Raw message

From: Illuminatus Primus <vermont@gate.net>
Date: Tue, 21 Apr 1998 23:43:01 -0700 (PDT)
To: Phil Karn <karn@Qualcomm.com>
Subject: Re: Position escrow (triangulation, cell "remailers")
In-Reply-To: <199804220153.SAA22662@servo.qualcomm.com>
Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.3.96.980422021922.136K-100000@oto.gate.net>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain



On Tue, 21 Apr 1998, Phil Karn wrote:

> I think you guys are worried about the wrong problem.
> 
> The E911 stuff is still years off. Even when it is deployed, it will
> probably work only during a call, though this may depend on the exact
> method.
> 
> In my opinion, idle cell registrations -- which are already standard
> cellular system practice -- represent the far more serious privacy
> threat.
> 

Wasn't Kevin Mitnick tracked down by triangulating the location of his
cell phone?  If the feds (or whoever) want to find someone's signal, it
seems that the tools to do so are already out there.. Of course, idle cell
registrations greatly expands the time someone is given to track down a
signal..

If someone wanted to passively track everyone's position all the time,
there would need to be at least two direction-sensitive cell towers
covering each area, listening to the same calls all the time. There would
need to be at least three to properly locate someone walking along the
line between two towers.. 

That seems a bit expensive, unless enough overlapping tower ranges already
exist to do something like that.  The owners of the towers would probably
much prefer that the cell phones come equipped with a GPS. 

On cell "remailers": Why resend the cell signal?  Why not instead set up a
generic phone call resender, which could be used by cell users and
non-users alike?  As long as you use the call resender for all of your
important calls, the feds (and others) will find it very difficult to
figure out what cell phone ID to triangulate or home phone number to tap
:)

-vermont@gate.net, revolting from the oppression of the sun

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