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Is it completely legal to warn users of suspicious network activity like this? If for example Apple built detection into iOS and gave all users a warning that c

Is it completely legal to warn users of suspicious network activity like this? If for example Apple built detection into iOS and gave all users a warning that could do a lot for raising awareness and maybe some support for change. "The network you are using is likely being surveilled. Your identity, online activity, and phone calls may be monitored by government or criminal equipment"

themartorana 11y ago
Can you stifle free speech when it's informed by public information and not knowledge of secret activities? That is, if all it's doing is flagging signals it's antenna receives, is it even possible for that to be illegal? Also, how do laws treat waves in public (radio, light) - do they get the same "privacy" treatment as people (that is, no expectation of if in public)? Edit: actually since joining/browsing an open WIFI network can be considered criminal...
- underbluewaters 11y ago
  > Also, how do laws treat waves in public (radio, light) - do they get the same "privacy" treatment as people (that is, no expectation of if in public)? I believe this area is legally fuzzy but courts have determined that police cannot drive around with say, a thermal imager and observe en-mass people in their homes. One could argue that it's just thermal radiation you are viewing from public space.
CWuestefeld 11y ago
Frequently on my town's facebook page, somebody will post "speed trap near the elementary school, better slow down there", and people jump all over the poster about helping people get away with speeding. It seems to me that if you really want people to slow down near the elementary school (as opposed to just issuing tickets and collecting fines), this is EXACTLY what you want to have happen. If you put a cop there, and people warn others of it so they all slow down... mission accomplished! By analogy, if you've got a target very valuable to the enemy (maybe a stadium for a high-profile sporting event), having phones alert users that they're being monitored might help to ensure that nobody tries anything during the event.
- stvswn 11y ago
  With that in mind, maybe the government should seek to warn us that we're being monitored, even if/when we aren't in reality. Just to keep us on our toes. To be really effective, it would be seem specific and personal: text messages that say things like "We can see you. We know what you're up to." Stuff like that.

themartorana 11y ago

Can you stifle free speech when it's informed by public information and not knowledge of secret activities? That is, if all it's doing is flagging signals it's antenna receives, is it even possible for that to be illegal? Also, how do laws treat waves in public (radio, light) - do they get the same "privacy" treatment as people (that is, no expectation of if in public)? Edit: actually since joining/browsing an open WIFI network can be considered criminal...

underbluewaters 11y ago
> Also, how do laws treat waves in public (radio, light) - do they get the same "privacy" treatment as people (that is, no expectation of if in public)? I believe this area is legally fuzzy but courts have determined that police cannot drive around with say, a thermal imager and observe en-mass people in their homes. One could argue that it's just thermal radiation you are viewing from public space.

CWuestefeld 11y ago

Frequently on my town's facebook page, somebody will post "speed trap near the elementary school, better slow down there", and people jump all over the poster about helping people get away with speeding. It seems to me that if you really want people to slow down near the elementary school (as opposed to just issuing tickets and collecting fines), this is EXACTLY what you want to have happen. If you put a cop there, and people warn others of it so they all slow down... mission accomplished! By analogy, if you've got a target very valuable to the enemy (maybe a stadium for a high-profile sporting event), having phones alert users that they're being monitored might help to ensure that nobody tries anything during the event.

stvswn 11y ago
With that in mind, maybe the government should seek to warn us that we're being monitored, even if/when we aren't in reality. Just to keep us on our toes. To be really effective, it would be seem specific and personal: text messages that say things like "We can see you. We know what you're up to." Stuff like that.