this post was submitted on 10 Jul 2025
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Exclusive: Evidence of cell phone surveillance detected at anti-ICE protest (san.com)
submitted 1 week ago by Domino@quokk.au to c/technology@lemmy.world
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[–] TheLoneMinon@lemmy.world 23 points 6 days ago (4 children)

One thing I'm noticing in these comments, and in a lot of comments threads is the "well yeah, duh. Everyone already knew that" and while I'm definitely in that camp and have done that myself, I am starting to wonder if there is danger there.

Like, this is a significant breach of privacy and trust and the kind of thing that we should be up in arms about. But we already assume the government is doing the worst movie villain shit imaginable, so when we have evidence of it we shrug it off as just another Tuesday.

Yeah, waters wet. We should still be alarmed when we see a puddle of it somewhere it shouldn't be. (I don't know if that analogy actually tracks but I'm sticking with it).

[–] NauticalNoodle@lemmy.ml 5 points 6 days ago

You're not wrong, but these days the number of members of the public that truly cares (to point of taking action) about privacy is an extreme minority.

[–] KingPorkChop@lemmy.ca 4 points 6 days ago

I think you can just assume at this point the US government does not care about the constitution or it's people and will use any means necessary to collect data on those who wish to counter its growing authoritarian nature.

If you go to a protest, only take a burner phone or no phone at all. If you must take your phone, turn it off and Faraday cage it.

The US has become a failed state. Leave if you can. Things will only get worse before it completely implodes.

[–] slaveOne@reddthat.com 1 points 6 days ago

Like in a water cooled PC

[–] jeromyokc@lemmy.okla.social 4 points 6 days ago

Saw a job posting yesterday to assist a contractor with installing a system used by police to monitor school camera feeds directly "to support law enforcement". jesus fuck man

[–] Tracaine@lemmy.world 182 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

I mean...is that not assumed to be the default? Cell phone surveillance is pretty much just business as usual in this country is it not?

[–] roofuskit@lemmy.world 131 points 1 week ago (13 children)

This is illegal without a warrant. And judges have been denying broad sweeping warrants that would cover such situations.

[–] eclipse@sh.itjust.works 3 points 6 days ago

The US Government only gives a shit when they are caught. You'd have a damn hard time trying to prove mass surveillance to a court even though we all know they do it.

[–] Pulsar@lemmy.world 114 points 1 week ago (2 children)

We are in different times. This administration doesn't care about warrants.

[–] Anahkiasen@lemmy.blahaj.zone 92 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (3 children)

It honestly doesn't care about "illegal" much either 😅

Edit: for themselves of course! Everyone else...

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[–] Vanilla_PuddinFudge@infosec.pub 44 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

pardon me, sir, but this is illegal withou-

click

hey! Uncuff me! This is illegal!

car door shuts

Hey! Let me out of this car!

vroooooom

Where are we going!? You can't take me to jail!

arrives at jail

Dear family, they call this place prison, it looks like prison, and I've been issued what they're calling a "lawyer", but impossible as that may be considering they didn't have a warrant, I can only deduce that I've been kidnapped by a vigilante to a remote location pretending to be a prison!

[–] micka190@lemmy.world 33 points 1 week ago

Pretty sure this kind of thing has been illegal since before Edward Snowden became a whistleblower, tbh. The US Government hasn't cared about people's privacy and the laws surrounding it for decades.

[–] DeathByBigSad@sh.itjust.works 27 points 1 week ago

Relying on the rule of law is reactive.

Ditching the phone is proactive.

Be Proactive.

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[–] RaoulDook@lemmy.world 154 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Even though most of the comments here point out the obvious that phones are a risk, this kind of journalism is still important for spreading awareness and documentation of illegal surveillance for the record

[–] kautau@lemmy.world 32 points 1 week ago (47 children)

Yeah lemmy is mostly a left echo chamber, which is generally a net positive. But someone like my cousin who still gets their news from Facebook but might want to protest now they are thinking about their views would benefit from this journalism

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[–] KbSez@piefed.social 144 points 1 week ago (9 children)

If you attend a protest, you need to read this and follow it:

https://ssd.eff.org/module/attending-protest

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[–] GreenKnight23@lemmy.world 102 points 1 week ago (7 children)

once again.

do not take your phone to a protest

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[–] Deflated0ne@lemmy.world 73 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (12 children)

Please dont take your fucking phone to a protest. Buy a burner if you must.

You will be tracked. And spied on. And facial recognitioned. Etc.

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[–] ScoffingLizard@lemmy.dbzer0.com 42 points 1 week ago (8 children)

So basically, one could go to ICE protest and troll with fake conversations about attack points and watch them scatter to control nonexistent issues.

[–] bold_atlas@lemmy.world 3 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (1 children)

You could then troll them even harder by giving them a real threat to scatter over.

[–] theangryseal@lemmy.world 1 points 6 days ago

Very bold…atlas.

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[–] hiramfromthechi@lemmy.world 33 points 1 week ago (2 children)

I am once again recommending idcaboutprivacy

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[–] super_user_do@feddit.it 30 points 1 week ago (3 children)

and they criticize china for this bruh

[–] DeathByBigSad@sh.itjust.works 7 points 6 days ago

Reminds me of:

Samsung: "Apple Bad! They removed headphone jack and the charging brick."

Also Samsung one year later: "sAvE tHe eNvIrOnMeNt 🤡"

[–] kebab@endlesstalk.org -4 points 6 days ago (2 children)

Just a friendly reminder that China is still much worse than any flawed democracy when it comes to freedom

[–] db2@lemmy.world 3 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Just a friendly reminder that less evil, even if true, is still fucking evil.

[–] Plurrbear@lemmy.world 1 points 6 days ago

Agree! I have family in China, Hong Kong, and Saigon, and you are correct evil is still evil just in different ways!

[–] Plurrbear@lemmy.world -1 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Have you ever been to China? (I have, family is from there and lives there, Hong Kong, and Saigon). Because their crime rate is a hell of a lot lower than ours. Even Hong Kong, had like 5 homicides late year… (China is trying to take over the island). They have cameras EVERY. WHERE. Therefore, you can’t get away with crimes. Sucks it has to be that way… but don’t do a crime and don’t have to worry, common sense.

America is horrid right now, tear gassing peaceful protesters, hitting them with rubber bullets which some victims have been lost eye site because they were hit in the face, no affordable healthcare options, MASSIVE FALSE information, govt approving bills that only help the rich, etc. The thing that is the worse is that if we cannot use tear gas in WAR why the FUCK are we using it as a weapon for our own people… the policing force and govt is now being the citizens enemy!

Yes, China is horrid for workers but like the previous comment “evil is still EVIL!” Is it that much better in America when we have people living paycheck to paycheck, homeless, can’t afford anything, etc. most of us still can’t afford damn healthcare… so China vs America… BOTH ARE FUCKING EVIL in their own ways! Our country is a laughing stock, people are flooding out and NO ONE is visiting or wants to come here anymore. We are the ONLY country with a DECLINE in tourists… not even China had a decline… that’s embarrassing!

Basically, evil is still evil not matter the degree!

[–] kebab@endlesstalk.org 0 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (1 children)

Yes, I’ve been there multiple times. I have seen people who went to jail for sending a political meme on a private WeChat group because Xi felt insulted. Even in the US which is in a huge democratic backsliding for years, it’s nowhere that bad. In China there’s also “massive false information” but the thing is, it’s all government-run propaganda only and the rest of the world’s media is blocked. In the US, you can read Al Jazeera if you don’t like the American media narratives. In China you can’t. In USA, you can use Lemmy to laugh about Trump’s fake tan. In China Lemmy is blocked and even if it wasn’t, laughing at Xi gets you in jail. There’s no political freedom in China, even if it’s in shambles in the US now, let alone countries with a working democracy like Switzerland.

Hong Kong is not mainland China, you picked one of the only two places (alongside Macau) that doesn’t have a censored internet in China. Regular Chinese need to pay $30 for a visa/entry permit to Hong Kong. Hong Kong has a different system than Mainland China. When taking about China, I am talking about mainland China and not a special administrative region of Hong Kong, obviously.

Regarding the economy (I’ve never mentioned it and it has nothing to do with democracy but ok), many people in China also can’t afford health care and are living paycheck to paycheck (or worse). China is not just Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen. Do you think 120 yuan pension is enough in the Chinese village near Chengdu? That’s what grandparents of one of my Chinese friend make. Asked her if that’s enough, she laughed and replied “of course not!”. Do you think they were able to before retiring, working their whole lives as farmers? Do you really think such people don’t live paycheck to paycheck and it’s USA-exclusive issue than China doesn’t have? Do you know how many months of a median wage you need to work for a house in any major city in China vs in the US (spoiler: it’s even longer than in the US).

Summing up: the political freedom is still lower in China than in any flawed democracy (as I stated before), and China also has its economic issues which you seem to neglect. Yes, USA has those too, but it’s still among the richest countries in the world. You would be better off in many European countries if you’re poor but not in China.

[–] super_user_do@feddit.it 0 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Bro found out that poverty exists everywhere

[–] kebab@endlesstalk.org 1 points 1 day ago

There are different levels of poverty. Poverty in Somalia and poverty in Scandinavia or Western Europe are two different levels of poverty that do not compare

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[–] toast@retrolemmy.com 28 points 1 week ago (2 children)

You probably wouldn't want to bring a phone to some types of events, but as the number of these events increase, the odds of you just happening to be close to such an event during the course of a normal day might increase. Maybe it's best if we turn off 2g reception on our phones. No reason to be swept up in warrantless sweeps if not necessary.

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[–] pineapplelover@lemmy.dbzer0.com 22 points 1 week ago

I mean who doesn't know this cmon

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