Except for Henry Bowman. Henry Bowman notices them:
Posted on 11/14/2014 4:22:00 AM PST by John W
(Reuters) - An agency of the U.S. Justice Department is gathering data from thousands of cell phones, including both criminal suspects and innocent Americans, by using fake communications towers on airplanes, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday.
The program run by the U.S. Marshals Service began operations in 2007 and uses Cessna planes flying from at least five major airports and covering most of the U.S. population, the newspaper said, citing people familiar with the operations.
The planes use devices made by Boeing Co that mimic the cell phone towers used by major telecommunications companies and trick mobile phones into revealing their unique registration data, the report said.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
Good thought......
Cessna 2014 = Piper cub of yore
It is sometimes called a ‘pico-cell’. It is no bigger than a small computer. 6 inches by 8 inches or something like that. Airlines are starting to use them on aircraft so you can connect with your phone without bothering with all the wi-fi stuff. Your phone just see it as a tower that has a roaming agreement with your normal service provider. It is totally seamless.
The real bad thing, is that Apple products can’t have the battery removed.
They can fly slow and no one ever notices them
That was not my point. I am very familiar with the capabilities of small aircraft.
However, there are dozens of manufacturers besides Cessna who have produced small aircraft over the years. Cessna is a brand name, it is not a synonym for “small airplane”.
Unless all of the planes used in this spying operation are actually Cessna aircraft, then calling them “Cessnas” is tantamount to calling all tractor-trailer trucks “Macks”.
Except for Henry Bowman. Henry Bowman notices them:
Does the FCC know of this? Do the cellular service providers know the government is wiretapping their networks, because that is what this is?
LOL!!
I don’t think MAC addresses transmit.
LMAO!! You guys belong on the Friday Silliness thread!!!
There could be unintended consequences. ;)
Smart enough or brave enough?
I have a friend that jokingly refers to every small plane as either a “Cessna”, or “Johnsonville Cloudhopper”. Every military jet is called a “Tankbuster”. It’s hilarious going to an airshow with him.
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