Conjecture for Finding Who Owns a Hobby/Burner Phone

[BJerk]

I'm not talking about local law enforcement here though I believe it will get this easy for them someday.
Given the NSA and its easy access to all computer databases, let me speculate at all the ways a hobby phone can be traced to you in a matter of one hour of usage or less, probably seconds but I don't know. Then, all the calls made by the hobby phone are likely yours -Nailed
1. You have a hobby phone in a late model car with GPS. Ping three towers and triangulate on hobby phone, correlate that with car GPS position and ownership. Nailed!
2. You carry a hobby phone in your non GPS car with your personal phone, leaving them both on. (Can they be traced if off?) Match that position after 3 tower changes - Nailed
3. You use your hobby phone surreptitiously at home, work and restaurant you used your credit card. Nailed
4. Use of hobby phone time and date at restaurant along with personal or work credit card usage. Nailed
5. You use a new hobby phone but call the same numbers you called off the old phone from the above locations - nailed
I could go on and on but the moral of the story is - you are being watched, boys - don''t piss off the wrong government agency.

[SpiceItUp]

[RedLeg505]

I'm just curious, how is the government or NSA going to tell YOUR credit card you used at a restaurant where the burner phone was used, ... from the OTHER 30+ folks that used their credit cards at that same restaurant at about the same time you used the phone? Heck, if that's your worry, make sure you don't pay your tab/bill with your CC for an hour after you used the burner phone.

[Keyhole Arc Blow]

From what I've heard(real dependable I know) the GPS, mic and camera can all be activated WHILE the phone is off. The only real way to prevent it is to remove the battery.

Sure local police may get all that tracking tech some day, but for right now the government agencies that have access to it couldn't care less about you calling up a playmate for some illegal boinking, at least not enough to spend the money to do anything about it.

Originally Posted by RedLeg505

I'm just curious, how is the government or NSA going to tell YOUR credit card you used at a restaurant where the burner phone was used, ... from the OTHER 30+ folks that used their credit cards at that same restaurant at about the same time you used the phone? Heck, if that's your worry, make sure you don't pay your tab/bill with your CC for an hour after you used the burner phone.

The US government has been successful in pressuring companies to give up info or give free access to databases containing info about private citizens and when the companies resist the government has been successful in hacking into company databases. Just look at Google, one of the largest companies in the world and they had datacenters hacked by the NSA when they refused to give up info.

If they want to track you then they're gonna have all your credit/debit card numbers etc.

[pyramider]

I use my neighbor's phone.

[BJerk]

Originally Posted by RedLeg505

I'm just curious, how is the government or NSA going to tell YOUR credit card you used at a restaurant where the burner phone was used, ... from the OTHER 30+ folks that used their credit cards at that same restaurant at about the same time you used the phone? Heck, if that's your worry, make sure you don't pay your tab/bill with your CC for an hour after you used the burner phone.

Do you want them to get it down to the last thirty people? How much harder to track you down, then?

[lips in the hills]

Misdemeanor who cares? NSA suck on that! Written from my non hobby personal phones bitches!

[JohnnyCap]

If they're using this type of technology and expense to bring down those who partake in this hobby, I say it's the duty of any respectable taxpayer to light some fires and start some riots.

Whacky thread. Usually when I'm this type of paranoid I can't type so good.

[Cpalmson]

Remember, all of this is in the name of "National Security"-- just like allowing the TSA to sexually assault you before getting on a plane. The USofA in 2014 is 100 times worse than the USSR at the height of the Cold War.

[oldster]

For the tin foil hat brigade, literally:

look up 'Faraday cage'. If you wanted your phone to be offline no matter what, store it in a metal box, preferably grounded. If it does not eliminate the signal totally it will make it weak enough to be untraceable.

That said, if they are looking that closely, they already know who you are and have other ways of finding you. License plate readers, stop light cameras, credit cards, EZ pass, loyalty cards...........

I cannot see them expending that kind of energy for this business.

[BJerk]

Originally Posted by oldster

For the tin foil hat brigade, literally:

look up 'Faraday cage'. If you wanted your phone to be offline no matter what, store it in a metal box, preferably grounded. If it does not eliminate the signal totally it will make it weak enough to be untraceable.

That said, if they are looking that closely, they already know who you are and have other ways of finding you. License plate readers, stop light cameras, credit cards, EZ pass, loyalty cards...........

I cannot see them expending that kind of energy for this business.

I agree the NSA isn't looking at us yet, nor does local law enforcement have this stuff now. But, it always trickles down, and the only thing stopping them from completely tracing down what you are doing is whether they put the effort into it. So, if you are occasionally whoring around, they don't care. But, if you are occasionally whoring around and are also stealing millions from your bank, insider trading, etc - they will embarrass you to get a plea.

[Ed Highlight]

Nobody is trying that hard to find me.......sigh......

[RedLeg505]

Originally Posted by BJerk

Do you want them to get it down to the last thirty people? How much harder to track you down, then?

Hey BJ.. is that part of the reason Obama has racked up so much debt in his 5 years? Paying for NSA/other agencies to research/track the use of burner phones to make appointments with hookers?

[BJerk]

Originally Posted by RedLeg505

Hey BJ.. is that part of the reason Obama has racked up so much debt in his 5 years? Paying for NSA/other agencies to research/track the use of burner phones to make appointments with hookers?

Not at all - that came from giveaways to big businesses like GE.

[RedLeg505]

Originally Posted by BJerk

Not at all - that came from giveaways to big businesses like GE.

Oh, you mean the same GE run by Obama's bestest friend Jeff Immelt, chief of his Corporate Council on Job Creation that moved an entire engine manufacturing plant to CHINA after being named to head that council?

That GE?

Bottom line, some reasonable precautions in using burner phones, etc is a good thing. The likelihood that the government will expend the resources needed ala "Enemy of the State" to track you for calling hookers, is remote.