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The only foolproof method is to stick your phone in a Faraday cage both going to and leaving the location you want private, right? Or cage it and leave it at ho

The only foolproof method is to stick your phone in a Faraday cage both going to and leaving the location you want private, right? Or cage it and leave it at home?

ARandomerDude 5y ago
I can't find it now, but I read an article about the Capitol riot that said the FBI was actively looking for individuals whose phones followed the pattern you describe. Traveling towards the Capitol on Jan 6, going dark, later coming back online is perhaps an indicator the person didn't want to be observed at the Capitol. Likewise, traveling to D.C., and leaving the phone at the hotel all day, then moving in the evening was an indicator the person may have been at the Capitol. I bring this up to say, Faraday cage and leaving the phone behind may not even be enough with a sufficiently large surveillance state. Edit: leaving the phone at home is different than a hotel, of course. But even that might raise too much suspicion unless you frequently, and randomly, leave it at home. That way the lack of movement wouldn't necessarily indicate you didn't want to be tracked at a particular moment.
- deleted 5y ago
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- jimbob45 5y ago
  I heard the same thing from Alan Dershowitz on Preet Bharara's podcast. I think you'd certainly need to keep your phone dark for long periods of time prior to the event and possibly have someone briefly unsheath it from the cage for plausible deniability. Even so, you're only ensuring that the prosecution can't use that piece of evidence against you - you're not exonerating yourself entirely by any stretch.
UweSchmidt 5y ago
Things are probably not quite there yet, but... How about a real-time analysis of all security camera footage and everyone's photos and videos, using face recognition and other techniques (movement, clothes associated with a person etc.). Cars are tracked via license plate, if they are not online now anyway. You pay cash but "they" know the serial number of the bill the ATM gave to you and which shop owner gave it back to the bank a little later. There are probably many patterns that are only known to people who do this kind of thing full time. Maybe there is a very small number of people who buy the very same two items at a gas station. If Amazon knows who's pregnant early, some will know who's trying to go private and why before they know it...
- jimbob45 5y ago
  >There are probably many patterns that are only known to people who do this kind of thing full time I agree with you. I think, at some point, the only way to go about doing this without inducing insanity is to get someone on the federal side to tell you what tools they have at their disposal so that you know exactly what you're fighting against. Otherwise, you'd drive yourself crazy with tinted windows, license plate switchers, randomized purchases, Faraday cages, and more.

The only foolproof method is to stick your phone in a Faraday cage both going to and leaving the location you want private, right? Or cage it and leave it at home?

ARandomerDude 5y ago

I can't find it now, but I read an article about the Capitol riot that said the FBI was actively looking for individuals whose phones followed the pattern you describe. Traveling towards the Capitol on Jan 6, going dark, later coming back online is perhaps an indicator the person didn't want to be observed at the Capitol. Likewise, traveling to D.C., and leaving the phone at the hotel all day, then moving in the evening was an indicator the person may have been at the Capitol. I bring this up to say, Faraday cage and leaving the phone behind may not even be enough with a sufficiently large surveillance state. Edit: leaving the phone at home is different than a hotel, of course. But even that might raise too much suspicion unless you frequently, and randomly, leave it at home. That way the lack of movement wouldn't necessarily indicate you didn't want to be tracked at a particular moment.

deleted 5y ago
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jimbob45 5y ago
I heard the same thing from Alan Dershowitz on Preet Bharara's podcast. I think you'd certainly need to keep your phone dark for long periods of time prior to the event and possibly have someone briefly unsheath it from the cage for plausible deniability. Even so, you're only ensuring that the prosecution can't use that piece of evidence against you - you're not exonerating yourself entirely by any stretch.

UweSchmidt 5y ago

Things are probably not quite there yet, but... How about a real-time analysis of all security camera footage and everyone's photos and videos, using face recognition and other techniques (movement, clothes associated with a person etc.). Cars are tracked via license plate, if they are not online now anyway. You pay cash but "they" know the serial number of the bill the ATM gave to you and which shop owner gave it back to the bank a little later. There are probably many patterns that are only known to people who do this kind of thing full time. Maybe there is a very small number of people who buy the very same two items at a gas station. If Amazon knows who's pregnant early, some will know who's trying to go private and why before they know it...

jimbob45 5y ago
>There are probably many patterns that are only known to people who do this kind of thing full time I agree with you. I think, at some point, the only way to go about doing this without inducing insanity is to get someone on the federal side to tell you what tools they have at their disposal so that you know exactly what you're fighting against. Otherwise, you'd drive yourself crazy with tinted windows, license plate switchers, randomized purchases, Faraday cages, and more.