Privacy advocates gained access to a powerful tool bought by U.S. law enforcement agencies that can track smartphone locations around the world. Abortion clinics, places of worship, and individual people can all be monitored without a warrant.

Privacy advocates got access to Locate X, a phone tracking tool which multiple U.S. agencies have bought access to, and showed me and other journalists exactly what it was capable of. Tracking a phone from one state to another to an abortion clinic. Multiple places of worship. A school. Following a likely juror to a residence. And all of this tracking is possible without a warrant, and instead just a few clicks of a mouse.

  • LunarVoyager@lemmy.worldEnglish
    171·
    5 days ago

    Your survival kit:

    Empty GrapheneOS Pixel 6a bought with cash that isn’t your daily driver (last Pixel with snapdragon chip that allows IMEI changes)

    JMP.chat

    Silent.link

    Sensors off (developer options)

    Bluetooth/WiFi/NFC off

    Disable 2G/enable LTE only mode

    Offline maps/airplane mode when navigating/at destination/anywhere near your residence or other frequently visited places that could be associated with you. When changing the IMEI/IMSI combo make sure you go to another location first so that you break the link

    Infrared AND polarized license plate covers. Remove any and all bumper stickers and other accessories that can be fingerprinted

    IR blocking lens sunglasses for facial recognition

    And of course, it wouldn’t be complete without the tor browser over a trustworthy VPN

    So yeah fuck the police

    Edit: I forgot to mention that if you drive a car that is mid-2010s or newer you may have to do some digging to disable telemetry, satellite, cellular and any other dystoptian fuckery they install these days.

    • Fredy1422@lemmy.mlEnglish
      5·
      5 days ago

      how does one change your imei number using a pixel 6a, with a rooted phone with magisk.

      • LunarVoyager@lemmy.worldEnglish
        4·
        5 days ago

        They can triangulate the signal, but in this case it has absolutely no connection to you or your identity, so you don’t need to. Regularly changing esims (IMSI) and IMEI will effectively neuter triangulation. You’re just a random red dot with no name.

        • Trainguyrom@reddthat.comEnglish
          1·
          5 days ago

          The IMEI can’t be changed. That’s the serial number of the cellular modem

          Edit: reviewing the link you shared in another comment that looks plausible. Just be warned good luck on any kind of warranty or insurance claims if you change IMEIs. I used to work for a cell phone manufacturer and we used the IMEI to both identify roughly when the device was purchased to make determining warranty status dead simple, and to identify devices as they went through the repair process.

          Additionally carriers will often blacklist IMEIs for activation (usually on devices which were financed but never paid off) so that’s another potential opportunity for trouble

          • LunarVoyager@lemmy.worldEnglish
            1·
            5 days ago

            Meh, the pixel 6a is pretty cheap. Warranty and creature comforts are for the daily driver.

            Edit: I should add, there are a few mobile hotspots that officially support changing the IMEI

            link