Very interesting, thanks for sharing! Here's an article by the writer of the X account in the second link. So to conclude: likely a spam farm, secret service lied to make it sound more nefarious...
The correct quote from any expert is that this looks like a normal criminal SIM farm, that’s used for a wide range of purposes, often SMS spam. They are pretending to be thousands of normal mobile phone users to prevent the mobile phone companies from shutting them down. Some miscreant likely used the service to hide the origin of threats sent as SMS messages to politicians, which is why the Secret Service is involved. Theres no evidence the Secret Service is involved due to some actual national security or espionage threat — that’s just propaganda they are hyping.
So to conclude: likely a spam farm, secret service lied to make it sound more nefarious for... Reasons.
Glad to hear there was (probably) no nefarious plot this time. On the other hand, this may now give criminals ideas if they hadn't thought of crashing cell towers before, so yay for that...
Yeah there's a lot of annoying reporting going on in all directions for this. "Near the UN" is a huge area. Lots of crime is committed "right as world leaders are gather" because its always...
Yeah there's a lot of annoying reporting going on in all directions for this.
"Near the UN" is a huge area. Lots of crime is committed "right as world leaders are gather" because its always happening. Nothing has been shown about this to prove its anything other than an illegal (or possible even legal) cell farm style operation.
I was about to ask about the legality of it. Assuming all the bills are paid, etc., what crime is being committed here? It's totally shady (and dangerous) but I'm left wondering if it was actually...
I was about to ask about the legality of it. Assuming all the bills are paid, etc., what crime is being committed here? It's totally shady (and dangerous) but I'm left wondering if it was actually in the USSS's authority to raid the place.
I believe that all depends on use case and clients. Obviously if i'm just selling numbers that might be legal. If i'm selling numbers to terrorist cells so they can kill people, that very much...
I believe that all depends on use case and clients.
Obviously if i'm just selling numbers that might be legal. If i'm selling numbers to terrorist cells so they can kill people, that very much isn't, and they do have a right to raid and investigate further should they have proof.
The utter lack of any expertise from the media on anything these days mixed with the literal performative nature of our law enforcement makes it nearly impossible to tell though.
Posting this here instead of ~society because it's not really about politics. If Tildes had cross-posting or allowed you to tag multiple groups I'd also tag it with ~tech. This is honestly a bit...
Posting this here instead of ~society because it's not really about politics. If Tildes had cross-posting or allowed you to tag multiple groups I'd also tag it with ~tech.
This is honestly a bit chilling. It's scary to think about everything that would happen if this system were used, both in terms of the impact on regular people, and also the other plans that would be enacted alongside the blackout.
While close to 150 world leaders prepared to descend on Manhattan for the U.N. General Assembly, the U.S. Secret Service was quietly dismantling a massive hidden telecom network across the New York area — a system investigators say could have crippled cell towers, jammed 911 calls and flooded networks with chaos at the very moment the city was most vulnerable.
The cache, made up of more than 300 SIM servers packed with over 100,000 SIM cards and clustered within 35 miles of the United Nations, represents one of the most sweeping communications threats uncovered on U.S. soil. Investigators warn the system could have blacked out cellular service in a city that relies on it not only for daily life but for emergency response and counterterrorism.
Officials also warned of the havoc the network could have caused if left intact. McCool compared the potential impact to the cellular blackouts that followed the Sept. 11 attacks and the Boston Marathon bombing, when networks collapsed under strain. In this case, he said, attackers would have been able to force that kind of shutdown at a time of their choosing.
This one may not be quite what it's been claimed to be. Also here
Which is an interesting story in itself, of course.
Very interesting, thanks for sharing! Here's an article by the writer of the X account in the second link.
So to conclude: likely a spam farm, secret service lied to make it sound more nefarious for... Reasons.
Glad to hear there was (probably) no nefarious plot this time. On the other hand, this may now give criminals ideas if they hadn't thought of crashing cell towers before, so yay for that...
Yeah there's a lot of annoying reporting going on in all directions for this.
"Near the UN" is a huge area. Lots of crime is committed "right as world leaders are gather" because its always happening. Nothing has been shown about this to prove its anything other than an illegal (or possible even legal) cell farm style operation.
I was about to ask about the legality of it. Assuming all the bills are paid, etc., what crime is being committed here? It's totally shady (and dangerous) but I'm left wondering if it was actually in the USSS's authority to raid the place.
I believe that all depends on use case and clients.
Obviously if i'm just selling numbers that might be legal. If i'm selling numbers to terrorist cells so they can kill people, that very much isn't, and they do have a right to raid and investigate further should they have proof.
The utter lack of any expertise from the media on anything these days mixed with the literal performative nature of our law enforcement makes it nearly impossible to tell though.
Do you think that’s his real name or did he get to pick? I’m cracking up, he even looks like he’s from the movie Kingsman.
Posting this here instead of ~society because it's not really about politics. If Tildes had cross-posting or allowed you to tag multiple groups I'd also tag it with ~tech.
This is honestly a bit chilling. It's scary to think about everything that would happen if this system were used, both in terms of the impact on regular people, and also the other plans that would be enacted alongside the blackout.