4 ms·

Bros at UCSC must be getting some good grants from the US military. I can already imagine the next gen of public-wifi driven drone strikes

immibis 1y ago
I guess that means Germany did nothing wrong (when it banned public WiFi).
- barbazoo 1y ago
  Isn't it the other way around? Germany actually has it made easier to operate a public wifi by limiting the liability on the side of the wifi provider with their mid 2010s legislation.
  - immibis 1y ago
    Famously it was illegal to operate public wifi in Germany until 2017.
    - barbazoo 1y ago
      Was it really illegal or was it that as the operator of the Wifi you could be held liable. There's a difference.
- tessierashpool 1y ago
  seeing a theme here https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45121617 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45121617
dingnuts 1y ago
with this level of accuracy and that sword missile with no warhead they can drone strike you in a cafe with disturbing the other patrons
- cyanydeez 1y ago
  Guys, they can just ask social media Corp A where you are. They don't need no fancy tech here.
  - dmbche 1y ago
    Not even, your SIM in constantly pinging multiple towers and triangulating you
    - cyanydeez 1y ago
      slight quibble: That triangulates your phone. Social media (unless you're letting LLMs talk for your) is triangulating _you_.
      - dmbche 1y ago
        I'm not certain of the distinction nor that the platforms are triangulating me and not my phone. Especially if you don't directly provide information about what you're doing. And that 99% or social media users have their phone on them at all times.
        cyanydeez 1y ago
        If you're trying to targe tsomeone with a deadly strike, just knowing their phone is in a location is not comparable to knowing they just posted something on social media. Sure, you can attribute a good chance of success to the movement of the phone equating a strike on the person, but it's still _just a phone_ that you're triangulating.
        dmbche 1y ago
        I find it unlikely that people a government would want to kill by drone strike would be posting about their wherabouts on social media and at the same time obfuscating their location by having their phone move without them (by someone ok with being hit by a drone strike?). Or we're speaking about striking civilians posting on social media - where I'm not sure drone strikes are very cost effective or pertinent. My understanding is that drone strikes aren't a thing done because you just got a hit on social media of a precise location, but more of a somewhat long investigation into the activity and identity of the target, their habits and movements (both to confirm their value and maximise sucess) - and then a calculated drone strike that both maximizes sucess and minimizes collateral. Of course Israel does not do this and is more into the "paint a bullseye around the victim" kind of doctrine, but that's outside the scope of this discussion.
transpute 1y ago
WiFi Sensing shipped in Comcast routers, Intel laptops and Qualcomm phones, https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44426726#44427986 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44426726#44427986
- munk-a 1y ago
  It's an excellent time to buy your own device for wifi broadcasting and disable any ISP provided broadcasting (or maybe put it in a faraday cage?) - it's relatively simple to set up with off the shelf components though less technically minded people may struggle with it. There's still a pretty robust market of options and the devices have gotten pretty feature rich with things like mesh networking support being pretty standard.
  - bookofjoe 1y ago
    >though less technically minded people may struggle with it This is the funniest thing I've read so far today. BOTN
    - munk-a 1y ago
      I more meant - you might need to help elderly relatively set it up. There are plenty of wifi routers you can order that basically just plug in out of the box - the bigger issue is educating people that they need the tech and then making sure they can handle the cable connections. I tend to work with some very non-technically minded people so my bar is so so low.
      - bookofjoe 1y ago
        Oh! I wish you lived near Charlottesville, Virginia, where I live. I am a 77-year-old retired neurosurgical anesthesiologist. My technical aptitude is SO low that I dare not exchange my obsolete 10-year-old Comcast WiFi router for the current model that I can "basically just plug in out of the box," even though it's billed as being at least 5x faster than mine, because I don't believe their constant emails that the new one they'll send me is simple to set up. Far more likely than not I'll end up with NO WiFi and have to pay for a technician to come and do it.

immibis 1y ago

I guess that means Germany did nothing wrong (when it banned public WiFi).

barbazoo 1y ago
Isn't it the other way around? Germany actually has it made easier to operate a public wifi by limiting the liability on the side of the wifi provider with their mid 2010s legislation.
- immibis 1y ago
  Famously it was illegal to operate public wifi in Germany until 2017.
  - barbazoo 1y ago
    Was it really illegal or was it that as the operator of the Wifi you could be held liable. There's a difference.
tessierashpool 1y ago
seeing a theme here https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45121617 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45121617

dingnuts 1y ago

with this level of accuracy and that sword missile with no warhead they can drone strike you in a cafe with disturbing the other patrons

cyanydeez 1y ago
Guys, they can just ask social media Corp A where you are. They don't need no fancy tech here.
- dmbche 1y ago
  Not even, your SIM in constantly pinging multiple towers and triangulating you
  - cyanydeez 1y ago
    slight quibble: That triangulates your phone. Social media (unless you're letting LLMs talk for your) is triangulating _you_.
    - dmbche 1y ago
      I'm not certain of the distinction nor that the platforms are triangulating me and not my phone. Especially if you don't directly provide information about what you're doing. And that 99% or social media users have their phone on them at all times.
      - cyanydeez 1y ago
        If you're trying to targe tsomeone with a deadly strike, just knowing their phone is in a location is not comparable to knowing they just posted something on social media. Sure, you can attribute a good chance of success to the movement of the phone equating a strike on the person, but it's still _just a phone_ that you're triangulating.
        dmbche 1y ago
        I find it unlikely that people a government would want to kill by drone strike would be posting about their wherabouts on social media and at the same time obfuscating their location by having their phone move without them (by someone ok with being hit by a drone strike?). Or we're speaking about striking civilians posting on social media - where I'm not sure drone strikes are very cost effective or pertinent. My understanding is that drone strikes aren't a thing done because you just got a hit on social media of a precise location, but more of a somewhat long investigation into the activity and identity of the target, their habits and movements (both to confirm their value and maximise sucess) - and then a calculated drone strike that both maximizes sucess and minimizes collateral. Of course Israel does not do this and is more into the "paint a bullseye around the victim" kind of doctrine, but that's outside the scope of this discussion.

transpute 1y ago

WiFi Sensing shipped in Comcast routers, Intel laptops and Qualcomm phones, https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44426726#44427986 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44426726#44427986

munk-a 1y ago
It's an excellent time to buy your own device for wifi broadcasting and disable any ISP provided broadcasting (or maybe put it in a faraday cage?) - it's relatively simple to set up with off the shelf components though less technically minded people may struggle with it. There's still a pretty robust market of options and the devices have gotten pretty feature rich with things like mesh networking support being pretty standard.
- bookofjoe 1y ago
  >though less technically minded people may struggle with it This is the funniest thing I've read so far today. BOTN
  - munk-a 1y ago
    I more meant - you might need to help elderly relatively set it up. There are plenty of wifi routers you can order that basically just plug in out of the box - the bigger issue is educating people that they need the tech and then making sure they can handle the cable connections. I tend to work with some very non-technically minded people so my bar is so so low.
    - bookofjoe 1y ago
      Oh! I wish you lived near Charlottesville, Virginia, where I live. I am a 77-year-old retired neurosurgical anesthesiologist. My technical aptitude is SO low that I dare not exchange my obsolete 10-year-old Comcast WiFi router for the current model that I can "basically just plug in out of the box," even though it's billed as being at least 5x faster than mine, because I don't believe their constant emails that the new one they'll send me is simple to set up. Far more likely than not I'll end up with NO WiFi and have to pay for a technician to come and do it.