Stop Look and Listening

Stop Look and Listening was Originally Posted on February 2, 2004 by lavarock

The following information disturbs me and may disturb you.

There are many things that bug me and some are self-administered! Before you go off and say “That Mark is paranoid”, I’m not. I don’t go off ranting and raving about things. I just offer the following:

Little of what you do is private. I know that you THINK it is, but it is not. If someone really wants to check up on you, it is trivial. Your telephone calls can be tracked. Your whereabouts can be tracked. Your computer browsing can be tracked.

Yes, by now you have seen the ads that your internet tracks are saved on your computer. Cookies, those little time-saving items get stored on your computer. They allow certain websites to remember who you are and what your logon name is, what your preferences are, etc .

Go to your browser and click on the address bar (where you type your http addresses). There is a cache of previously accessed websites there. Mort browsers also save you histor (the sites you have visited today, yesterday, last week, etc).

It used to be fashionable to have a baby monitor in the house. Baby monitors are tiny radio transmitters. Manytimes every sound within the general area of the childs room is broadcast around the neighborhood. Hopefully, the parents room and the associated noises made therin, are not in the range of the microphone.

Years ago a computer virus maker was found because he used a Microsoft product to create the virus/worm. Each LAN card in the world has a seperate hardware address. This nunber is unique to each card. Microsoft used this unique number and stored it in Word documents to be able to determine which member of a group actually created a document and on which computer.

People who share files via the internet may think they are anonymous, but they are not. The file sharing software now tried to avoid using a server and go computer to computer (peer to peer). To do that, each system must know the IP address of the other system. The IP address is a current “telephone number” of the other computer. That number can be easily traced to the current users location in the world. Not very secret, is it?

Cordless phones also transmit audio around the neighborhood. Be very careful NEVER to use a cordless or cellphone to give out credit card numbers…

In Atlanta, the state installed some traffic cameras along the interstate. In the 30 minute drive from my house to the office I passed a number of cameras that might have taken video of my car passing. Although not all cameras pointed my direction and only 1/2 of my trip was covered by cameras. Still, I counted 186 cameras along the way on a 15 minute Interstate trip…. 186 cameras… I have to ask a question… WHY? Why 186 cameras are needed along the Interstate? It cannot be for traffic control. For the money they spent to erect all the poles and cameras and wire them and transmit the images and record the data and have people watch the screens… they could have bought everyone along the way a personal cell phone.

Speaking of cell phones, did you know that your cellphone may include a GPS unit and be actually transmitting your exact coordinates to both the police and others? Honestly!!!

No, this is not some off-the-wall idea, it is in my new Nokia phone and perhaps in yours too. Here is a link directly to CNN as a starting point for your reading. http://www.cnn.com/TECH/computing/9808/11/GPS911.idg/index.html

Yes, my phone allows me to turn off the GPS portion so casual listening, but the 911 service can still receive the data. Obvious good uses of the service is if you become incapacitated and don’t know your location, your phone does. If your phone gets stolen, the cell phone company can find it. More sinister uses are tracking your teenager or spouse. There are websites and software to do almost realtime tracking (do a search in metacrawler.com for some sites and info).

Many cars now have computers in them to help regulate the engine and provide performance enhancements. Do THEY report your whereabouts? Certainly there is scratchpad memory in them that could save your speed and direction. Could a policeman use that information in court against you?

One car agency in the Northeast had GPS equipment mounted in a car and would bill you automatically if you went out of the state if you said you would not.

I’ll leave it up to the reader to investigate the “Carnivore” project. Here is one link to get you started… http://www.robertgraham.com/pubs/carnivore-faq.html

So, see? I’m not paranoid about people watching or listening in to what I am doing. I understand the technology and how it works.

Yes, the “government” could be implanting little chips in us at birth to be able to track us, but they probably are not. At least, i don’t THINK they are… In any event, the aluminum foil hat I wear can protect me