Posted on 09/04/2014 4:58:02 AM PDT by wtd
Seventeen fake cellphone towers were discovered across the U.S. last week, according to a report in Popular Science.
Rather than offering you cellphone service, the [fake] towers appear to be connecting to nearby phones, bypassing their encryption, and either tapping calls or reading texts.
[snip]
Although it is unclear who owns the towers, ESD found that several of them were located near U.S. military bases.
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
You can bet your ass that if you or I were to set up a fake cell tower, the FCC would be all over us faster than you could say ‘fake cell tower’.
My bet would be communications security monitoring in and out traffic from the base looking for espionage, if it were no 6 years into this administration or the actions of DHS since its inception.
I remember the eavesdropping measures to secure the “Cage” at Ft. Monmouth.
Sounds reasonable, yet the uncertainty is unnerving. These towers are conspicuous and it makes no sense that local planning/permits and such weren’t made aware of the legality of these structures. It’s unclear whether the reporters involved checked with local authorities for such documentation - if such exists for the type of surveilance you suggest.
Very interesting. Thanks for posting.
Can, or perhaps I should ask, would you please explain?
This is a government sanctioned activity.
You can do this easily with the right equipment, but it’s easily detectable by any wireless provider or government communications organization.
The purloined cell tower.
This also could be total bullshit and these towers are legitimate, or these towers were mandated by the government and hidden by the wireless providers on purpose.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stingray_phone_tracker
The StingRay is an IMSI-catcher with both passive (digital analyzer) and active (cell site simulator) capabilities. When operating in active mode, the device mimics a wireless carrier cell tower in order to force all nearby mobile phones and other cellular data devices to connect to it.
I’ve been a wireless engineer since ‘88. Unless it is transmitting a signal that interferes with other signals being transmitted, causing someone to complain to the FCC, no one would never know. The FAA otoh would be far more likely to raise a stink if the tower were over, say, over 100’ or so. Anything over 200’ by law has to be lighted. Tower heights for lighting are even lower near airports. So, if someone suddenly put up a 200’ tower and didn’t light it that would definitely get their attention. I suspect this is either NSA or DHS activity, or both. A quick way to find out who owns one is to get the Lat and Long of the site and check the FCC database to see if it’s registered.
Good assumption, but given the TREASONOUS BASTARD in the White House, they could very well be put there by ISIS or the chicoms with Hussein's blessings.
Tear one down, you will soon find out who owns it...
The software that the hackers used to crunch the iCloud passwords of Hollywood elite was intended for use by government agencies.
When I first saw this headline even though BI is mainstream and reputable I thought yeah, right and skipped it. Today it is at the top of some news pages.
Use one of these for target practice and SEE who shows up...
A new tower was put up 3 miles from my house and I thought I was going to get great reception but I barely have any now. Makes me wonder but I have no way of telling.
I’m not near a military base but I am near the border.
it could be a local broadband provider using government grants. One in this are got a huge chunk of Fed. Grant money and has put up a bunch of towers.
Could also be a wireless phone carrier that your service doesn’t use. They need more towers because the digital signal doesn’t carry as far as the older analog system.
And this nugget at the end of the article (with a link)
In an amazing coincidence, police departments in a handful of U.S. cities have been operating “Stingray” or “Hailstorm” towers, which — you guessed it — conduct surveillance on mobile phone activity. They do that by jamming mobile phone signals, forcing phones to drop down from 4G and 3G network bands to the older, more insecure 2G band
Article indicates that these towers actual degrade your performance.
“ComputerWorld points out that the fake towers give themselves away by crushing down the performance of your phone from 4G to 2G while the intercept is taking place. So if you see your phone operating on a slow download signal while you’re near a military base ... maybe make that call from somewhere else.”
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