Dozens of fake cell phone towers discovered eavesdropping on Android devices

Some of these may be due to casino security.
Casino's do not want electronic equipment for people to cheat with but the people going to the casino want and would not allow the blocking of cell phones.

The casino just puts up a electronic screen to block gaming cheat equipment and cellphone system so that they can pass the cell phone signals through the electronic screen while allowing them to watch for the cheaters using cell phones

originally posted by: cdesigns
Very interesting, less than 2 miles away from my home there is a tower behind a house and is camoflauge as a big pine tree, I will take a picture later today.

Cell phone companies do that to get around the problems of planning permission in sites of natural beauty.

www.amusingplanet.com...

a reply to: Maxmars

I did not mean to hack on you Maxmars, I was really aiming at the source of the information, I appologize if I came off as being negative in your direction. My comments were really toward the marketer of this crypto phone. I think they are the ones implying that the government is operating these sniffer towers (and they may very well be operating some of them) I would just have liked to see the company do a little more investigation than simple signal detection. The fact that some of these appear to be on military bases is no surprise they are very selective in how the operate communications on base. My company once had to install a communications link to the PX at Fort Meade. We were told the only acceptable form of connection was the local cable company using a cable modem. We normally operate on wireless or via Sat link so we were a little pissed about it when the cable company told us it would cost them $18,000.00 to install facilities to that location and we would have to cover that cost to put in our cable modem.

originally posted by: Dragoon01
a reply to: Maxmars

I did not mean to hack on you Maxmars, I was really aiming at the source of the information, I apologize if I came off as being negative in your direction...

Absolutely not necessary, Dragoon01! I truly appreciate the gesture, but nothing of what you said was irrelevant; and confidentially, that is what I think we all need to hear. Very few issues are so clear cut that one voice can do them justice.

I suppose that the slowly growing awareness of this matter will eventually lead to the proper people being properly curtailed. You can read that in a number of ways, all of them correct!

a reply to: Maxmars

I take it these cell phone towers were found in the open, is it possible to hide one in a building or warehouse or something like that to hinder detection?

a reply to: PlanetXisHERE

There is no end to the imaginative ways these things can be 'physically' concealed. I suppose the only real limitation is how much money and resources you are willing to commit to keep them concealed.

But for them to be useful in whatever context, they would have to be detectable as an 'additional' cell tower available for connection... I would imagine this weakness may be technically remedied and rendered obsolete rather quickly. But how is it that our government has so much time to regulate our communication environment so that it is easily exploitable - definitely for commerce, - and probably for crime?

originally posted by: Village Idiot
They spy on my android, my internet, my emails........

GOD....... I FEEL SPECIAL!

Android is only in the title because the spoofed towers (Harris Stingray devices) are being discovered using a specially modified Samsung Galaxy S3 phone. There will never be a specially secured IPhone because Apple will not release the source-code like Google does.

originally posted by: PlanetXisHERE
a reply to: Maxmars

I take it these cell phone towers were found in the open, is it possible to hide one in a building or warehouse or something like that to hinder detection?

The Harris Stingray devices are not physical cell-towers... they just appear to be cell-towers to cellphones.

Apparently, unless police departments upgrade to the latest model there is a quick way to tell if your phone data/voice is being intercepted - Your data connection will downgrade to 2G mode. This is because the older models cannot handle 3G or 4G.

So, if you notice that while passing through a particular area of town that your phone drops down to 2G then goes back upto 3G/4G, then you've likely just passed through an area under a watchful eye (that doesn't give a # about the 4th Amendment!).

this did remind me of the underhanded tactics employed my mobile network operators, a friend of a friend works for o2 and he was told that o2 had started to disable all of the 3g network masts in Glasgow so that 3G users would be forced to buy new generation 4g phones, even though 3g users had great coverage and great connection speeds.

I find this to be very disturbing... Nobody knows who built them or how long they've been there? Are the people who found them doing further research for more information? It makes me angry that this can happen, for one, and that there is not more public outcry against this gross violation of Americans' right to privacy.

Forgive me if I'm mistaken, but I do remember the case of mysterious towers being ercted in American cities in mid-late 90s. They caused interest back then but it seems that entire affair waned a little.

Anyway, it's an excellent decoy. All you have to say is that you're building a tower for cellular transmissions and everyone is like "ah, okay, build what you want" and instantly loses any suspicions.

And the fact that modern smartphones allow us to carry and transmit lots of private data - including bank information - makes them ripe for the picking for anyone who wants to gather such data. And since doing so thru official carriers is troublesome, requires court permissions and attracts public attention, there's probably a second grid of towers used deliberately only for that single purpose.

Also if we are in the realm of conspiracy - remember another issue from 90s, the microwave devices used for crowd control/interacting with implants/causing harrasment by dehydration or brain damage? This might be also it.

Here is the english article of the news paper that did the actual investigation.
The source

Secret surveillance of Norway’s leaders detected

When I go on my laptop to Network connections, there have been anonymous cell phones connecting through our internet. So far this has happened twice. My ISP is password secured, so how is anyone connecting their wireless phone through our wireless modem. Has anyone noticed this lately?


Also it gives the make and model of the cell, ie motorolla, or a galaxy cell

originally posted by: WeRpeons
a reply to: Maxmars

...And the representatives we vote into office who take an oath to uphold our constitutional rights to privacy, will totally ignore this! They would rather engage in political nitpicking instead of protecting us from federal agencies engaged in covert civilian spying operations. You have to ask yourself, whose do they really represent?

These towers ect may have even been paid for under some section of the Patriot Act. Probably loosely worded just enough to get by.

But who would be surprised if the funding for this wasn't found in some totally unrelated bill, the way they have been doing things. Maybe its in the Health Care bill.

a reply to: Logarock

Exactly! Going from wired to wireless just made their "wire tapping" that much easier. It is probably addressed in the FOIL Act, once information is sent over the wireless, it's up for grabs by anyone with the technology to capture it. The language is probably not that simplified.

originally posted by: WildCatWilly
I find this to be very disturbing... Nobody knows who built them or how long they've been there? Are the people who found them doing further research for more information? It makes me angry that this can happen, for one, and that there is not more public outcry against this gross violation of Americans' right to privacy.

Americas' right to privacy? that ship sailed along time ago my friend

originally posted by: tyfon
Here is the english article of the news paper that did the actual investigation.
The source

Secret surveillance of Norway’s leaders detected

Yes read this!

That way providers don't have to provide data and governments don't need a warrant.

Privacy problem solved.