I read an article in 2012 about the feds (DHS?) placing Bluetooth enabled devices along I5 in Seattle. They were able to make profiles of people based on what Bluetooth devices they had in their cars. Is anyone familiar with this? I've periodically tried to Google it and can't find anything about it
Possible, but they buy data from the carriers with similar profile possibilities. The DEA operates long standing and pervasive surveillance in “drug corridors” like I-95 from Maine to Miami. They do things like LPR and grabbing passenger pictures.
If Bluetooth is used, it may be a way to get a count of passengers or if the passengers change. I know based on newspaper accounts that they are particularly interested in cars that stop in Philly or Baltimore.
This stuff is frequently used against cops too so they may use the tech in similar ways. If you’re someone worried about getting raided, spotting a large number of new signals at the front door is an early warning potentially.
I remember an art exhibit by an online privacy activist made where it’d ping people’s phones to get a list of “known WiFi networks” and then display them on a screen in a room.
Each person would get a unique fingerprint of named network locations
First Amendment auditors have usually been attention seeking individuals making click bait YouTube videos. It's been interesting seeing the transformation from that to what we're seeing with people monitoring ICE.
To be honest, I watch very little of that content, so I had no idea. If they're unkind, then obviously that sucks.
But walking around with cameras maintaining the unequivocal right to record what happens in the commons seems like a very important and thankless task.
This is a scam that the GOP has convinced many of, that taking from the government commons is the right thing to do. But the GOP is the embodiment of a low trust society. I'd rather live in a high trust society.
I'd also rather live in a high trust society, but that's impossible with the government that we have (and it's not just Trump, although he has certainly turned our slow creep towards authoritarianism into a speedrun).
I realized that the GOP has been taking advantage of weaknesses in high trust society. This is an easy thing for fascism to do. So while I want to live in one, they aren't stable and must be protected.
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