Unactivated Phone Without Number and The Presidential Alert

originally posted by: abe froman
I saw a post tonight from the crazy Mcaffee guy that says the alert means the government has access to a certain chip, which means

they have access to your phone's microphone, camera, etc etc.

Which sparks my curiosity since, as the title says, I have an unactivated phone, with no phone number, that received the message yesterday.

How are they doing this?

...and does it mean they have access to EVERYTHING ?

Yes, they have had "Access To Everything" for over 30 years.

Every keystroke, every text, every call, everything you do electronically.

Do people really not know this?

www.securityfocus.com...



en.wikipedia.org...(software)

Carnivore, later renamed DCS1000, was a system implemented by the Federal Bureau of Investigation that was designed to monitor email and electronic communications. It used a customizable packet sniffer that can monitor all of a target user's Internet traffic. Carnivore was implemented in October 1997. By 2005 it had been replaced with improved commercial software.

Carnivore grew out of an earlier FBI project called "Omnivore", which itself replaced an older surveillance tool migrated from the US Navy by FBI Director of Integrity and Compliance,[2] Patrick W. Kelley, which had a still undisclosed name. In September 1998, the FBI's Data Intercept Technology Unit (DITU) in Quantico, Virginia, launched a project to migrate Omnivore from Sun's Solaris operating system to a Windows NT platform. This was done to facilitate the miniaturization of the system and support a wider range of personal computer (PC) equipment. The migration project was called "Phiple Troenix" and the resulting system was named "Carnivore."[3]

DCS-3000 is the FBI's new Carnivore
www.wired.com...

The NSA's new $1.7bn facility in the heart of Mormon country has the potential to snoop on US citizens for decades to come
www.theguardian.com...

Welcome to the Utah Data Center, a new home for the NSA's exponentially expanding information trove. The $1.7bn facility, two years in the making, will soon host supercomputers to store gargantuan quantities of data from emails, phone calls, Google searches and other sources. Sited on an unused swath of the national guard base, by September it will employ around 200 technicians, span 1m sq ft and use 65 megawatts of power.

a reply to: theatreboy

On Windows perhaps. I'll never be forced into something like that on arch Linux

originally posted by: Irishhaf
a reply to: ketsuko


That would be amusing I have a Chinese smart phone and did not get the alert and my wifes galaxy did we were in Norman Oklahoma.

International model devices don't have to be e911 compliant or receive any US specific emergency broadcasts (weather, Amber alerts, etc). In the case of Samsung devices, if you flash an international ROM it won't receive the alerts either.

originally posted by: abe froman
a reply to: MisterSpock

The Mcaffee guy said it was the E 911 chip.

Maybe he's not so crazy after all.

John McAfee is that is who you are referring to, is not in any way crazy.

Sanest bloke I've seen.

originally posted by: MisterSpock
a reply to: abe froman

His software is well known to be some of the most bloated and system hogging of all the av software/suits.

That aside, I dont trust anyone of the big tech companies. I'm sure hes right, but he shouldn't pretend he probably hasn't been at the forefront of mining data from personal PCs through his "protection" software.

Cliffs notes: It's not his software. He cut ties with it in 1994.

In fact M$ bought it out and changed the name, what remains was the corporate directed bloatware that led his idea into scamware.

I will forever think of this as the biggest piss take on the whole scene if ever there was one.. I still pmsl..

I am on an unactivated phone.
I am in a good sized town and when the phone was activated I had great reception everywhere.
I was connected to WiFi and sitting inside

I did NOT get the alert.

That got me to thinking. I used to get all of the regular alerts (Amber, Silver, Weather, etc) but don't recall getting any for awhile but I do remember some coming on the radio and TV over the last several months, just not to my phone.

Then I remembered that I had dropped the phone into the bathtub several months back. I took everything apart to let it dry. When I decided to see if it still worked I chose to not put the SIM card back in since it's not activated. With it in, I do get a cell signal and figured that someone was still swiping all my data.

That is my conclusion as to why I did not receive the alert...no SIM card. I understand that not everyone will have the same experience but just my own experience.

originally posted by: theatreboy
Trust me, within 5 years...2 is my bet, they will hit ALL electronic devices. Even laptops and towers.

Now that's a load of invasive, steaming bulls#. Someone will find a way to block that crap and I'll be the first to buy & download it. Either this alert crap -- and I don't give a flying piece of feces who's idea it was, so shove it already -- becomes Opt-In, or someone's going to make a fortune from blocking software.

a reply to: MisterSpock

It might have his name still but he has nothing to do with it anymore.

a reply to: Tanga36

I think without the sim card installed the phone doesn't know which network to connect to, so doesn't connect to any.
I believe it could still be used on wifi.

Could be the easiest way to make any cell phone truelly private when not in use, remove the sim.
Kind of a pain in the snip, but if someone is worried about those things...

It works the same way the amber alert works.

For effs sakes people.

We've had a system like this for decades, and it use to be called the Emergency Broadcast System.

The tech changed from tv/radio to what just about everyone carries around with them.

originally posted by: neo96
It works the same way the amber alert works.

For effs sakes people.

We've had a system like this for decades, and it use to be called the Emergency Broadcast System.

The tech changed from tv/radio to what just about everyone carries around with them.

You mean they hacked our TVs too in the past?!?!? It wasn’t just Trump texting away until his thumbs were bloody to pwn all of our phones?!?!? Inconceivable!!!
/s

originally posted by: notsure1
I never got the text. My wife got it on hers but I didnt get one on mine

I'm not in the US, but the same happened with my phone when our province did it's initial tests of the Emergency Alert System here last month I think it was.

One of my kids and I didn't get the alert. We have the same phone model. Other 3 in the fam did. Different model phones. So, I hit up our net provider's site and did some digging around. Not all phone models were supported for the alerts. My daughter and my phone were a no go. Unsupported despite them being Samsung Galaxy A5 (2017)'s. Not high end enough, I guess.

It's not just the "Presidential Alert". It also works that way for weather alerts.

About two years ago we had a tornado warning in my area, and my phone, my wife's phone, PLUS two of our old phones that were NOT activated for cell service but still could be used to browse the internet when connected to Wi-Fi (devices we still use daily for music, podcasts, and such) all sounded the shrill alert sound. Granted, we had those devices set to give us weather alerts, Amber alerts, etc.

So, yeah -- it seems likely that this presidential alert would ne able to do the same thing.

Many Tracfone's did not receive the Presidential Alert.
And i understand most low income phones and basic service phones also did not receive it.

Looks like the government does not want to warn the poor or elderly in a Presidential Alert.

originally posted by: ANNED
Many Tracfone's did not receive the Presidential Alert.
And i understand most low income phones and basic service phones also did not receive it.

Looks like the government does not want to warn the poor or elderly in a Presidential Alert.

Either that or idk maybe this is the reason you make real world tests before you have to rely on the system so you can find issues like this....

Standard old style cell phone. No paid texting service. Get the text from phone company about bill every month. Also have seen a weather alert. No president alert received.

Most likely marked as minor level citizen by NSA and phone company.

a reply to: VictorVonDoom

I was on the phone with some one when they got it. It just went silent on my end. I dont get amber alters n stuff either. I might have "opted out" somehow in the past, something I would have researched at one point. My holey brain doesn't remember that well.

originally posted by: VictorVonDoom

originally posted by: MisterSpock
a reply to: VictorVonDoom

Poor reception might be the culprit.

If anyone didnt get it, are you rural? An area you normally have spotty reception? Etc?

Nope. There is a cell tower less than half a mile from my house.

Being that close to a cell tower means that you're in the "cone of silence" at least for that tower. The signal reaches ground level way beyond half a mile.