4 ms·

wearable trackers on your military personnel tasked with Satellites and shit, what could possibly go wrong here?

• tzs 4y ago
  Fitness tracking doesn't necessarily imply location tracking. Even if a device does have a GPS (one of the ones they are testing does not, one does) that doesn't necessarily mean it stores location history. Most fitness tracking just needs to know you movements over the last few minutes. Also, as you note it is people who deal with satellites. Isn't that almost all done at fixed bases in friendly areas? If a satellite operation is being conducted to support something like a covert mission in hostile territory for example, the people running the satellites are back in some control center quite possibly back in the USA. It's not like if special forces had trackers that an enemy could use to see where they are heading for a mission. For the satellite guys all missions are the same from a tracker's view: drive to the office and work your normal shift then go home.
  • rasz 4y ago
    You reference "Fitness app Strava lights up staff at military bases" https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-42853072 https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-42853072 :) >drive to the office and work your normal shift then go home or to your lover, furry convention, abortion clinic. Grindr was Chinese owned for a reason. All accessible from single database without the need to dispatch agents on foreign soil.
    • aerostable_slug 4y ago
      These are satellite weenies. They're going to be tracked to the game store where they play Magic: The Gathering with some other satellite weenies and then home where they'll binge-watch "Space: Above & Beyond" and wait for DoorDash to show up. Now, you may have a point re: the furry convention... Kidding aside, the article says the data portal will be Space Force only, and while it's not beyond the realm of possibility a Chinese asset might get a CAC card and reveal where Sgt. Spacemarine secretly plays Magic: The Gathering, we're talking about people who work shifts at big giant bases everyone knows about (Schriever, Buckley, Vandenberg, etc.), not SOF forces.
      • rasz 4y ago
        Its not just knowing where things are, or who works there, but also being able to quickly find the weakest link.
• nradov 4y ago
  The locations of satellite control centers aren't exactly secret. Just look for the big antennas. Fitness trackers don't record location indoors because GNSS signals are blocked. That feature only works when you're outside.
  • rasz 4y ago
    >Fitness trackers don't record location indoors Locations you visit off work are just as important. So I wont be able to determine which surgery room at the abortion clinic you went to, or which slot machine is your favorite, is that a big issue for an adversary?
    • nradov 4y ago
      Important for what? If an adversary follows Space Force personnel on Strava or Garmin Connect they'll probably see a bunch of mountain bike rides around Pikes Peak or whatever. That isn't actionable intelligence. Fitness trackers only record location when the GNSS receiver is specifically, intentionally activated. On a Garmin watch that takes a minimum of 3 button presses. Cell phones are always tracking you (at least approximate location based on towers).
      • LorenPechtel 4y ago
        There have been issues with people exposing secret facilities by going for runs around them. However, that's only relevant when you're trying to hide the facility.
• LorenPechtel 4y ago
  GPS is expensive (battery) to run, even if you have a GPS-equipped device it's not going to track everything you do. Very few fitness trackers can power the GPS for the whole day.
  • mrguyorama 4y ago
    My fitness app/band let my phone do the GPS work, and google is happy to track me 24/7 and occasionally drip feed some of that juicy location data to my app.