Seattle PD Mum On Tracking By Its New Wi-Fi Mesh Network 107
An anonymous reader writes "The Stranger reports that Seattle's police department has installed a Wi-Fi mesh network paid for by the Department of Homeland Security. FTA: 'The SPD declined to answer more than a dozen questions from The Stranger, including whether the network is operational, who has access to its data, what it might be used for, and whether the SPD has used it (or intends to use it) to geo-locate people's devices via their MAC addresses or other identifiers.'"
SPD (Score:4, Insightful)
Stasi Police Dragnet.
Coming soon to a fully-integrated nationwide real time tracking, private records collection, and surveillance system near you.
To fight drug abuse, arrest paedophiles, stop terrorists, and...right?
How long before (Score:5, Insightful)
How long before we see something like this:
Cops show up at "suspects" work or home
Cops: "Sir, your MAC address was at the scene of the crime/terrorist attack yesterday. How do you explain that."
Suspect: "I have no idea."
Cops: "Sir, you need to come with us."
Neighbors or work associates: "WTF?! We were right next to the guy and he's a TERRORIST!"
And in the meantime, the criminals will just leave their electronic devices at home. - at least the smart ones. The terrorists will have none.
Badge + gun == grunt.
All this sophisticated tracking technology will only further destroy our freedoms.
Why should we care... (Score:4, Insightful)
...what some policeman's mother has to say?
Re:changing it is a good idea regardless (Score:5, Insightful)
No doubt there is a provision buried in Law somewhere that says that any attempt to subvert the surveillance system, obscure your identity, or obscure your location, shall constitution obstruction of police powers and land you in jail.
Re: the smart ones (Score:3, Insightful)
No, they will spoof honest citizens mac addresses.
There are no "honest citizens". State authorities ascribe to the doctrine of original sin. Your existence is a crime. There may be mitigating circumstances, but it lies in the hand of law enforcement how much leeway they are willing to give you. Pray, and believe them to know what's good for you with all your heart, or you'll be damned.
Re:changing it is a good idea regardless (Score:2, Insightful)
This is insightful? Really?
The cops aren't setting this up for Joe citizen to use, it's for their use in emergencies. Maybe they can track you, maybe they can't, but we have no idea if they even have any interest in doing that. I live in Seattle and The Stranger is a fun alternative weekly, but they also enjoy stirring the pot and it's probably not a good idea to take their suppositions as fact.
Only on Slashdot can you get the same people freaking out because the police set up a Wi-Fi network that may know where you are even though they may have no intention of ever doing that ... who will turn around and cheer Google for putting up municipal Wi-Fi that is definitely being used to track you and your location, browsing, mail, search and personal buying habits and send you ads. Why is the police Wi-Fi network the one that people are worried about?
Re:changing it is a good idea regardless (Score:5, Insightful)
This is insightful? Really?
The cops aren't setting this up for Joe citizen to use, it's for their use in emergencies. Maybe they can track you, maybe they can't, but we have no idea if they even have any interest in doing that. I live in Seattle and The Stranger is a fun alternative weekly, but they also enjoy stirring the pot and it's probably not a good idea to take their suppositions as fact.
Only on Slashdot can you get the same people freaking out because the police set up a Wi-Fi network that may know where you are even though they may have no intention of ever doing that ... who will turn around and cheer Google for putting up municipal Wi-Fi that is definitely being used to track you and your location, browsing, mail, search and personal buying habits and send you ads. Why is the police Wi-Fi network the one that people are worried about?
The difference is that Google can't put me in jail on trumped up charges, if they don't like what I say where the police can. All Google wants to do is show me easily blocked ads. Giving the cops recored of my location at all times, which they could easily forge to make it look like you were at a crime or anywhere incriminating is not a good idea.