Think about this while you are driving around this Memorial Day weekend. – The American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan claims that for several years now Michigan State Police have been using portable devices that allow them to secretly extract personal information from cell phones In an article on Help Net Security the ACLU says that the troopers have used the devices on cell phones of people pulled over for minor traffic infractions as well as people suspected of a crime.
The article says most of the devices used are from CelleBrite and can extract a great number of data from most cell phones, including contacts, text messages, deleted text messages, call history, pictures, audio and video recordings, memory file dumps, and more. GeekOSystems says the Cellebrite UFED Physical Pro Scanner (cut-sheet), were tested by the U.S Department of Justice. The DOJ reported the device was capable of pulling all photos and video from an Apple (AAPL) iPhone in under a minute and a half. Cellebrite says their devices also can extract, “existing, hidden, and deleted phone data, including call history, text messages, contacts, images, and geotags.” It can also extract your highly incriminating ringtones. These devices can also get around password protection, and work on over 3,000 cellphone models according to the website.
The ACLU is concerned that the MSP is using these devices to conduct warrantless searches without consent or a search warrant in violation of the 4th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Help Net Security reports that the ACLU of Michigan has been requesting information about MSP’s use of these devices for nearly three years by filing Freedom of Information Act requests to the Michigan State Police. The ACLU wants the troopers to reveal the data it collected, but it has had no luck so far. The article indicates that the MSP is stonewalling the ACLU’s Freedom of Information (FOIA) requests resulting in possible court action.
Following those accusations, the Michigan State Police posted their side of the story in an official statement published on its website according to another Help Net Security article. The MSP says it has, “fulfilled at least one ACLU FOIA request on this issue …” The web-posting also claims that devices that the MSP has in its possession can’t extract data without the officer actually having the owner’s mobile device in his hand and they claim the scanners are properly used, “The DEDs (data extraction devices) are not being used to extract citizens’ personal information during routine traffic stops,” it explains. “The MSP only uses the DEDs if a search warrant is obtained or if the person possessing the mobile device gives consent.”
rb-
Wonder why the government keeps trying to make talking on a cell phone while driving a primary offense? Could it be so the government has an excuse to stop people and collect their personal data? The last sentence from the MSP is particularly chilling since people are strongly encouraged to cooperate with the police even when they know they did nothing criminal. Warrantless searches violate the protection against unreasonable search and seizure guaranteed by the 4th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
Secure motoring in Michigan!
What do you think?
Does anyone care about privacy anymore?
Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.
DarkReading reports that a Michigan woman pled guilty to selling more than $400,000 worth of counterfeit computer software. The conviction was announced by Assistant Attorney General of the Criminal Division Lanny A. Breuer and U.S. Attorney Barbara L. McQuade for the Eastern District of Michigan. The report says Jacinda Jones, 31, of Ypsilanti, Mich., pled guilty to one count of willful copyright infringement before U.S. District Judge David M. Lawson in Detroit.
Darkreading cites court documents which say, between July 2008 and January 2010, Ms. Jones earned more than $400,000 by selling over 7,000 copies of pirated business software at discounted prices through the website www.cheapdl.com (which no longer appears active). The Business Software Alliance (BSA) says that Ms. Jones also used Cheapsoftwaredownloads.net, and JJ’s Discount Electronics (jjsdiscountelectronics.com) for her activities as well.
The software in question was from Microsoft (MSFT), Adobe (ADBE), Intuit (INTU) and Symantec (SYMC) had a retail value of more than $2 million. According to court documents cited by Darkreading, Ms. Jones’ activities came to the attention of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, who made several undercover purchases of the pirated business and utility software.
At sentencing, Ms. Jones faces maximum penalties of five years in prison, a $250,000 fine, and three years of supervised release. During her guilty plea hearing, the article says Ms. Jones also agreed to forfeit any illegal proceeds from her criminal activity and pay restitution to the victims. Sentencing has been scheduled for Aug. 15, 2011, at 9 a.m.
The post says Assistant U.S. Attorney Terrence Berg of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Michigan and Trial Attorney Thomas Dougherty of the Criminal Division’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section are prosecuting the case. The Field Support Unit of the National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center (IPR Center) and by ICE’s Office of Homeland Security Investigations in Detroit conducted the investigation.
Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.
InformationWeek says IPv4 addresses will run out by the end of 2011. The plethora of mobile devices and an increase in Internet services to the home have led to a shortage of Internet addresses, which could run out by the end of 2011 according to InformationWeek. “We now face an exhaustion of IPv4 addresses,” Lawrence Strickling, administrator of the U.S. National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), said in the meeting, Reuters reported. There’s only room for 4.3 billion IPv4 addresses and the U.S. owns more than 90 percent of public IP addresses globally. The U.S. has used about 94.5 percent of its public IP addresses.
The recent surge in tablet computers like the Apple iPad and Research in Motion Blackberry smartphones are depleting the supply of available addresses. The remaining 5.5 percent of the IPv4 addresses will be distributed among the Regional Internet Registries by next summer Reuters reported. New IP-based technologies such as LTE and WiMax have also contributed to the dwindling number of IPv4 addresses. M2M devices and smart technologies in consumer products like refrigerators, dishwashers, and vehicles also decrease the number of addresses available. “Fortunately, IPv6 will support 340 trillion, trillion, trillion addresses,” Strickling is quoted in Reuters, and appealed to businesses to widely roll out and integrate IPv6.
The reason is that IPv6 is a much longer address, but it makes up a lot more possible numbers, said Todd Day, industry analyst, Mobile & Wireless Communications, Frost & Sullivan. “It’s similar to a phone number with many digits, so it’s like having a longer phone number.” Switching to IPv6 could be costly for businesses and the technology might not integrate well with what they are using. “Ultimately you have equipment that has to be replaced in order to support IPv6, you have software changes and upgrades in other pieces of equipment and testing and actual implementation costs,” Day said.
In spite of the challenges, the new protocol has its advantages, he said. “There are definitely a lot of benefits to IPv6,” Day said. “In the bigger picture, it allows for more security, video and voice streaming, and better quality of service.“
rb-
This is not a U.S.-specific problem as InformationWeek would have their readers believe. This is a worldwide problem. John Curran President and CEO of ARIN pointed out in the article, “some other countries have already set their IPv4 depletion / IPv6 adoption plans.” Of course not in the US, there are so many other important issues for the Feds to worry about, like the noise level of TV commercials.
This gadget has been developed by Takashi Arano, Intec NetCore
Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.
