iFixit & Wired Teardown Of FBI Tracking Device Found On Activist's Car
from the now-that's-a-teardown dept
You may recall a big story from last fall about a guy who found a GPS tracking device on his car (because of a friend's Reddit comment). The FBI showed up and demanded the device back after the guy had posted on Reddit about it. Of course, lots of people wondered what they would do if they found such a device on their car -- with most insisting they would not turn it back over to the FBI.Well, one woman who actually had found such a device and still had it, read that same story, and decided to give it to Wired, who then teamed up with the teardown experts at iFixit to tear down the device. Wired has a full story about the device and iFixit has the teardown details.
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Filed Under: fbi, gps, teardown, tracking device
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Best answer
Though, I did like the "attach it to a bus" option.
I know they probably would never track me, but I'm going to start parking in my locked garage (Yeah, I know, that won't work).
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Re: Best answer
Too obvious. Just attach it to your next-door neighbor's car. Close enough for government work.
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2. Release balloon.
3. Laugh ass off at FBI/CIA as to what they must be thinking about your magic flying car, which is now at 50,000+ ft over the Atlantic or Pacific Ocean.
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Re: Re: Best answer
I mean if it's legal for the FBI to attach it to anything without a warrant, thereby not requiring legal authority for any tortuous or criminal defences that may occur by said attaching of device, that then means that any citizen could legally attach it to anything or anyone as well...
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Silly 9th circuit
Except a police officer doesn't cling to the underside of someone's bumper.
Doesn't this run afoul of some sort of trespassing/littering regulations?
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Re: Silly 9th circuit
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Re: Silly 9th circuit
I keep wondering, if there was a reverse thing going on where hackers attached similar devices to cruisers/unmarked cars, what would they be prosecuted for?
Whatever it is, let's do that to these guys now.
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Implications
Would this not mean that (theoretically) a private citizen (regardless of motives) could then place GPS trackers on law enforcement vehicles? If there is no law preventing it, and the courts rule that it is legal, what would prevent them?
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24 Hours...
-DMCA takedown notice filed.
-Site is taken down by DoJ
-FBI starts busting down doors
This is such ridiculousness. Sadly, they didn't fire up the receiver in order to acquire the transmission signal so that it can be blocked/interfered with.
Oh well. It's probably a good thing these things require massive batteries.
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The following is a transcript of a real something that happened because of this:
Mekanik: D00dz. I saw the plans of their GPS tracker on the internet. I hacked it and now I can c them in the map
N00bCamp3r: Oh noes! Now teh t3rror1sts know r seecrits!
** Bang **
[Server]: ** S4ad0w [Headshot] N00bCamp3r **
[Server]: Terrorists Win
S4ad0w: N00b
Mekanik: lOl
N00bCamp3r: Hack3r.
N00bCamp3r: Ch3at3r!!!1111oneone
We must correct this injustice! Only CT's should be allowed to use cheats!
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It's not like this will stop criminals, any criminal with half a brain will know not to have his cell phone on him when committing a crime.
This will only be used to track good citizens that do nothing wrong.
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It'd be more interesting to modify it to report all activities at random distances from actual position.
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Except that they blow up your car, just to be sure.
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Mail
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for example, this one is available to anybody (I'm not plugging this):
http://www.brickhousesecurity.com/realtime-gpstracking-device.html
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-The woman who was being tracked by the FBI refused to give the device back when they asked and they just let it go.
-An elderly Arab (US citizen) gentleman had a GPS tracking device installed by his local police department in San Rafael, California. This was in June, 2009 before the 9th circuit decision gave law enforcement clearance to do such tracking without a warrant. The guy had no criminal record, and still doesn't.
(funny coincidence: San Rafael was where science fiction author P. K. Dick lived when his house was broken into and his files stolen back in 1971.)
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I want one!
On a serious note:
It seems to me the Feds actually *want* a full-on public backlash. Have they forgotten that We The People have the Constitutional right to remove them- all of them- from power should we find sufficient cause? And, I might add, We The People can do so through the use of force if it becomes necessary. WTF is going on over there, D.C.?
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What I Don’t Understand ...
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212.059 Mhz
Let these hidden trackers come to you ???
You could sit next to a highway and 'possibly' find hundreds of these devices.
A couple of people with directional antennas could DF (direction find) them and let them know !! and you could put an end to it. or reduce it..
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Not transmitting all the time.
They would sit in a low power standby mode for most of the time, and would only probably 'wake up' and transmit position information when the position is changing.
There is no point in 'tracking' a vehice that is parked in a driveway for 18 hours a day.
So it would probably transmit a position location when it first starts to move, and then at specifici times (or distance) after that, until the vehicle stops moving for a period, then it would go back to sleep.
212 Mhz frequency range is perfect for low orbit satellites, and is around the same frequency as EPIRB's use (rescure beacons).
So it would be easy to just listen on that frequency with a satellite and catch all the uploads from their trackers.
And once you know the frequency, it is trivial to jam the entire system. With a far stronger signal. End of tracking.
(but dont get caught).
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In all fairness...
Though, my question is this: why aren't they watching PETA? They are tied up with these groups too.
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No extra connections required
first, it is not required to wake up the GPS a simple motion detector or Pinball 'tilt' switch, or a simple mercury switch would be enough to detect motion and the wake up the system.
another indication that they do not connect to the car's wiring is the fact that they supply a battery pack with it.
If they were going to connect to the car's wiring system, they would certainly take the 12V from the battery to ensure the system always works.
Even a solid state gyro like what is in the game consoles would be enough to determine if the car started to move.
When movement is detected, it would fire up the GPS take readings and upload packets of info to the LEOS.
The packet of info would contain a few data points, the Devices ID, the Time, Battery voltage and of course GPS coords.
Once a number of fixes are taken that packet of data would be burst transmitted on 212.059 Mhz and would be received by the satellite.
You dont have to spend time fooling with the wiring of the car you just walk up to the car and attach it to the bumper, then walk away.
It would be far far cheaper than paying a fed to watch the person with a car.
Its a set and forget device, and the packet would inform the feds when the battery would need replacement.
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Spare COMPAS-SARSAT channel
212.059 Mhz, is right in the range of such services allready.
SARSAT-COSPAS use 121.5Mhz and 243Mhz and the new system uses 406Mhz.
If you dont think the FBI and NSA would have their own satellites performing the same function on their own frequency you are nieve.
The EPIRBS for the 121.5 and 243 Mhz systems use on 0.1 Watt of power for the 'burst' transmision (giving long battery life).
the 406Mhz system uses 5 watts of power, even with 5 watts you would get quite long better life. 10 of 1000's of packets of data.
Cell system would probably not cover all the USA whereas a satellite does.
These beacons can also be tracked from aircraft, or cars as required as well...
So if necessary they do not even have to use the satellite downlink they could recieve it directly.
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Use Wirless
and all the transmission you can see on your mobile or Google maps..
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