5 ms·

That DEA agent's 'credit card' could be eavesdropping on you

58 points by toss1 1y ago

junto 1y ago
That website is an absolute eye cancer on mobile. Actual reading content is curtailed to a third of the screen. Its defaulted legitimate interest cookies include a bunch of predatory firms including Facebook (and I’m in the EU). In one hand these publishers have just cause in complaining about companies like Google and Apple stealing their content, but they really are not helping themselves either. Their website are completely user unfriendly. With that said: https://archive.is/mE44c https://archive.is/mE44c
- benregenspan 1y ago
  I've seen worse, there's at least not much layout shift there. People will complain about paywalls and they will complain about ads. The money needs to come from somewhere. For ad-supported sites, increased ad blocker use means higher saturation of ads for everyone else. It's always very nice to see a nonprofit journalism outlet with no ads, but donor funding does not scale up to a large newsroom.
- ocdtrekkie 1y ago
  It's much more readable by default on an iPhone than the archive.is version. Viewport seems fine, don't know what you are using. I have a bunch of gaps in the page content which are probably ads my Pihole ate, but it's pretty readable.
- perching_aix 1y ago
  With disabled JS I had no such issues with the website.
- bstsb 1y ago
  you evidently haven't seen the likes of the Daily Mail, or Fandom wikis
Hnrobert42 1y ago
The title sounds sinister. Sure, there are abuses of power. You can disagree with policy of prohibition. The DEA also has important job to do combatting really bad people. Because there is due process and because they don't just disappear people, they need to collect evidence. They can't walk in with a mic strapped to their lapel. A credit card mic seems pretty clever.
- 47282847 1y ago
  > because they don't just disappear people Article states otherwise, at least as far as ICE assistance goes.
  - gruez 1y ago
    That might be true but as it relates to this gadget in particular I doubt they're using it to grab people from courtrooms or home depots. Otherwise you can claim an iphone is sinister because DEA uses it, DEA helps ICE, and ICE "disappears" people.
    - 47282847 1y ago
      Any phone is sinister if you care about privacy and could be used to eavesdrop on you, correct!
- soulofmischief 1y ago
  Lol. The DEA's enemies are created by criminalizing the human right to consume whatever you'd like in your own home, and criminalizing distribution networks that have no right to be criminalized. This criminalization leads to feedback loop with police militarization and violent crime. The DEA has no justification to exist, and the War on Drugs has been used to destabilize dozens of foreign regimes in order to benefit the US' neoliberal policies. It's now being used to take away even more rights as it's being used in part to justify ICE raids, and Trump's imperialist skirmish and attempted regime change in Venezuela. Additionally, the cartel has destroyed northern Mexico and now Trump is floating the idea of "cleaning up" Mexico.
cantrevealname 1y ago
Let's think about possible applications of audio-video recorders camouflaged to look like something in the form factor of credit cards: - Induce your target to apply for a certain credit/debit card, gym/movie/gallery/store membership, airline pass, then mail them a bugged card - Blindly mail a $100 gift card to your target along with a plausible sounding cover letter about why they are receiving it - Give your target a badge to wear when they are visiting your office so you can hear and see what they do when they're not in your presence - Leave your bugged card on the table while having dinner with your targets at a restaurant to hear the conversation while you go to the restroom - Substitute one of the targets legitimate cards with a bugged card via covert entry at the target's home or office - Obtain the cooperation of the target's employer or health club to swap their usual ID card for a bugged ID card - With the cooperation of the target's bank or credit card issuer or insurance provider, send the target a replacement card or "upgrade" card which is now bugged - Issue a bugged driver's license whenever the target goes to renew their license. Or send them a fine by mail to force them to visit the driver licensing office and then invent a reason to reissue the target's driver's license when they visit - Whenever someone applies for or renews a Global Entry, Sentri, or Nexus card, issue a bugged card if they are on the target list
- hiatus 1y ago
  Most of these are obviated by a wallet app on the phone.
  - cantrevealname 1y ago
    What you say is true. But I find it funny that we can prevent expensive highly-targeted individual bugging by using a ubiquitous worldwide realtime tracking and surveillance system (a smartphone!).
- the_snooze 1y ago
  You're missing a very important limiting factor: battery life. You can't fit a lot of battery in the space of a credit card, and you can't exactly count on unwitting carriers to properly recharge and maintain them. Given those constraints, practical applications would be severely limited. As the article mentions, it's probably undercover personnel who are carrying these. The power budget would likely rule out remote access or remote streaming. I'm guessing these credit card snitches are little more than local audio/video recorders with very limited run time.
emorning4 1y ago
[dead]

58 points by toss1 1y ago

That website is an absolute eye cancer on mobile. Actual reading content is curtailed to a third of the screen. Its defaulted legitimate interest cookies include a bunch of predatory firms including Facebook (and I’m in the EU). In one hand these publishers have just cause in complaining about companies like Google and Apple stealing their content, but they really are not helping themselves either. Their website are completely user unfriendly. With that said: https://archive.is/mE44c https://archive.is/mE44c

benregenspan 1y ago
I've seen worse, there's at least not much layout shift there. People will complain about paywalls and they will complain about ads. The money needs to come from somewhere. For ad-supported sites, increased ad blocker use means higher saturation of ads for everyone else. It's always very nice to see a nonprofit journalism outlet with no ads, but donor funding does not scale up to a large newsroom.
ocdtrekkie 1y ago
It's much more readable by default on an iPhone than the archive.is version. Viewport seems fine, don't know what you are using. I have a bunch of gaps in the page content which are probably ads my Pihole ate, but it's pretty readable.
perching_aix 1y ago
With disabled JS I had no such issues with the website.
bstsb 1y ago
you evidently haven't seen the likes of the Daily Mail, or Fandom wikis

Hnrobert42 1y ago

The title sounds sinister. Sure, there are abuses of power. You can disagree with policy of prohibition. The DEA also has important job to do combatting really bad people. Because there is due process and because they don't just disappear people, they need to collect evidence. They can't walk in with a mic strapped to their lapel. A credit card mic seems pretty clever.

47282847 1y ago
> because they don't just disappear people Article states otherwise, at least as far as ICE assistance goes.
- gruez 1y ago
  That might be true but as it relates to this gadget in particular I doubt they're using it to grab people from courtrooms or home depots. Otherwise you can claim an iphone is sinister because DEA uses it, DEA helps ICE, and ICE "disappears" people.
  - 47282847 1y ago
    Any phone is sinister if you care about privacy and could be used to eavesdrop on you, correct!
soulofmischief 1y ago
Lol. The DEA's enemies are created by criminalizing the human right to consume whatever you'd like in your own home, and criminalizing distribution networks that have no right to be criminalized. This criminalization leads to feedback loop with police militarization and violent crime. The DEA has no justification to exist, and the War on Drugs has been used to destabilize dozens of foreign regimes in order to benefit the US' neoliberal policies. It's now being used to take away even more rights as it's being used in part to justify ICE raids, and Trump's imperialist skirmish and attempted regime change in Venezuela. Additionally, the cartel has destroyed northern Mexico and now Trump is floating the idea of "cleaning up" Mexico.

cantrevealname 1y ago

Let's think about possible applications of audio-video recorders camouflaged to look like something in the form factor of credit cards: - Induce your target to apply for a certain credit/debit card, gym/movie/gallery/store membership, airline pass, then mail them a bugged card - Blindly mail a $100 gift card to your target along with a plausible sounding cover letter about why they are receiving it - Give your target a badge to wear when they are visiting your office so you can hear and see what they do when they're not in your presence - Leave your bugged card on the table while having dinner with your targets at a restaurant to hear the conversation while you go to the restroom - Substitute one of the targets legitimate cards with a bugged card via covert entry at the target's home or office - Obtain the cooperation of the target's employer or health club to swap their usual ID card for a bugged ID card - With the cooperation of the target's bank or credit card issuer or insurance provider, send the target a replacement card or "upgrade" card which is now bugged - Issue a bugged driver's license whenever the target goes to renew their license. Or send them a fine by mail to force them to visit the driver licensing office and then invent a reason to reissue the target's driver's license when they visit - Whenever someone applies for or renews a Global Entry, Sentri, or Nexus card, issue a bugged card if they are on the target list

hiatus 1y ago
Most of these are obviated by a wallet app on the phone.
- cantrevealname 1y ago
  What you say is true. But I find it funny that we can prevent expensive highly-targeted individual bugging by using a ubiquitous worldwide realtime tracking and surveillance system (a smartphone!).
the_snooze 1y ago
You're missing a very important limiting factor: battery life. You can't fit a lot of battery in the space of a credit card, and you can't exactly count on unwitting carriers to properly recharge and maintain them. Given those constraints, practical applications would be severely limited. As the article mentions, it's probably undercover personnel who are carrying these. The power budget would likely rule out remote access or remote streaming. I'm guessing these credit card snitches are little more than local audio/video recorders with very limited run time.

emorning4 1y ago

[dead]