It’s difficult to see the future as anything other than more closely surveilled, and in a more coordinated way. Law enforcement agencies are likely to coordinate their efforts through multi-jurisdictional efforts such as the U.S. Department of Justice’s Regional Information Sharing Systems which increase reach while reducing costs and technical challenges. They can also sign up as subscribers to one or more privately developed plug-and-play surveillance networks.
Those of us who are especially surveillance-averse will still take active measures to obscure our trail, through purchases made in cash, face masks, clothing that confuses algorithms, and leaving our cellphones at home. But we will still be watched, and chances are that making efforts to preserve anonymity will itself come to be seen by the powers that be as suspicious.
J.D. Tuccille
November 21, 2022
See the Surveillance State at Work in Your Own Community: The Atlas of Surveillance lets us monitor the agencies that snoop on the public.
[Via a message from Stephanie.
The Atlas of Surveillance gives you some clues as to how thoroughly you are surveilled. It’s not complete so just because your area of operation shows as relatively clean doesn’t mean it actually is. Bellevue, where Barb and I live, doesn’t show anything at all. Yet, I can show you cameras on traffic lights and know people who have received automated tickets from those type of cameras in Bellevue.
I have to agree with Tuccille. It is only going to get worse.
I was talking with Mike B. last night night about cellphone location data and how it might apply to the mass murders in Moscow a few days ago. And, as suggested by Tuccille in the last sentence quoted above, I suggested surveillance cameras in Moscow could be used to identity time and place of vehicle activity. Combine data around the time of the murders with cellphone location data. If a camera visible car did not have a cellphone, then it is suspicious and should be investigated.
Other suggestions included:
- The, obvious, look for cell phones visiting the house during the time of the murders.
- Look for cellphones which were turned off during the time of the murder.
- Get location data from popular phone apps as well as the cell providers. I know the Facebook app collects location data. Probably Twitter and others do as well.
We live in interesting times.—Joe]
Check out Faraday bags if you want your phone for emergencies but don’t want to be tracked.
You will still be tracked via license plate scanners and facial recognition. And without matching cell phone location information you will be considered suspicious.
Theres no law requiring you to register “your” vehicle in your name. Plate trackers can be avoided by registering vehicle under LLC solely used for vehicle privacy (not for doing business). LLC unaffiliated w/ your name.
Nice Morse code message on Reflectacles home page.
https://www.reflectacles.com
Being tracked and surveilled is not good. But, to me the real problem is what it gets used for?
The wife and I laugh all the time what their collecting from us. How bored our handlers must be. Turn on the TV camera in the bedroom at the wrong time and you might get some senior porno. That you can’t unsee!
Most of the data collected to date on Americans will prove us to be the most peace-loving, hard-work people on the face of the earth.
And just how psychotic you would have to be to want to destroy what we have, who we are.
As you say Joe, it could be used to solve real crime in this country. But it isn’t. And that makes it evidence at their trials.
They know the cartels, gangs, dealers and criminals. They know almost everything that’s going on. And do nothing to stop it.
So far I’ve not seen nor heard of a law that makes you own a cell phone? And even if they did write one, they can’t make you pay the bill every month.
And the way their going about the climate agenda. They won’t be able to keep the lights on. (Germany is stocking cash to hand out for the coming ATM/electricity shortages this winter.)
Anyway, Happy Thanksgiving, you’all! Thanks for all you do Joe!
Of course, there is no law requiring you to carry a cell phone. But if you own one and don’t have it with you during the time a crime was committed it will make you a suspect.
The only way to avoid the gaze of Big Brother is to live totally alone off the grid.
No cell phone, no utilities, no bank account, few if any friends. Something almost
impossible to do. Better off to have a plain jane bland lifestyle that they can keep an eye on while other activities are done as anonymously as possible.
I’ve noticed that the groups that search for missing people in cars (their specialty is using sonar to hunt for submerged vehicles), refer to using the last known “ping” of a cell phone to help them narrow down the search location to speed up the process.
I’m not sure if they are doing this directly, or using data the cops have collected in any sort of missing person search early on. It’s not clear from their comments on the u-tube videos they produce to fund their activities.
I should point out that these groups and individuals are spectacularly better than the cops are at finding missing people that disappear in vehicles. The cops are generally not very happy to be caught in what they think is an embarrassing situation, especially if they have an in-house dive/search team.
Joe, your post made me think of this oldie but goodie: https://thelizardfarmer.wordpress.com/2013/08/16/how-they-hunt/
Good stuff.
My team at work does similar stuff for catching cyber criminals.