Silk Road forums
Discussion => Newbie discussion => Topic started by: clarencegibbons on June 24, 2013, 01:59 am
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OK, As many of you are surely aware, the newest generations of cell phones are coming with a non removable battery. Hmmmm..... Why it this you may ask?
Being as cell phones basically track your every movement, by pinging the nearest tower every few seconds with your current gps coordinates, and can be turned into a "bug"/ listening device by LEOs at will, it seems they'd have a vested interest in getting the manufacturers to design their new phones without a removable battery, making it impossible to go "off the grid" without tearing your phone apart. Powering down the phone also does nothing to counteract these invasive measures.
What I'm proposing, is disassembling the phone, and installing a on/off switch on either the + or - lead between the contacts of the battery and the phone and running this new "circuit" to a sliding on/off switch mounted on the exterior of the phone in a manner which looks almost like a factory installation, ergo one can disable the battery at will.
I have a pretty vast history with repairing/modifying cellular devices myself, just wondering if this would be of interest to any others on the road? With Love, CG
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Sounds neat, but I think one problem might be that people with iphones (what other phones have non-removable battery?) are not the type of people to 1) turn their phones off, ever, or 2) be paranoid about law enforcement snooping on their phone. Probably paranoid people aren't comfortable w/ proprietary apple software on their phones at all, doing who-knows-what.
Maybe selling burner phones on the road would work to cater to the paranoid?
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sounds good. good luck
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The new Motorola and Samsungs are also designed this way. I believe my initial post may have been misconstrued. I'm not looking to market this, just looking for like minded individuals to help perfect this technique.
I have several burners myself, that's a non-issue, but I also have a phone with a major carrier for work/family/friend usage. However, say I want to make a trip into the "hood" to score some goodies?
Without disabling the battery in my contract phone, it's pinging and leaving the itinerary of this phone not only on the tower logs, but this info. is stored in the phone as well, along with any data that has been deleted unbeknownst to most cell. owners. Even the smallest of Police Depts. are now equipped with a device and software (Including adapters to fit all makes and models of cell phones), which when connected with your phone will display and store all of this data. If you are stopped and anything illicit is found in your vehicle, LE now has Carte Blanche to ransack your cellular phone.
Most people who have any type of professional/family life are going to have a personal "contract" phone. What this modification will circumvent it their every move being tracked by the phone they're paying $200 a month for, if they so choose to do for one reason or another.....
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Thoughts?
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there's nothing very informative about my post... sounds like spy vs. spy
but hey - sometimes the game changes, ya know?
i can't say that i have any specifically useful or technical knowledge in the way of phone hacking, so i have to say that although i'd look at your plans/result i probably wouldn't be able offer any quick addition of intellectual support. i do, though, suppose that i can see the appeal of such a setup as you have described.
on the other hand... can we make our own phones? i mean surely.... there is a bag full of ways, i'm willing to bet. again, this is a new subject for me but it ought to be accomplish-able. and i'm down to round-table this and help stoke the creative fire if anyone else is into it. novel idea... ya know, handheld computer thingy that can transmit audio over some kind of network... pirate style. c'mon.
and on the hand, i'm still a fan of telepathy.
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Well even better than just erasing your phone activity, cause that always gets their attention, just cover it up. With some basic computer and cell phone knowledge, you can program your phone to give false reports of your location and activity. That way you won't raise eyebrows when they notice you coming on and off the grid.
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Why not buy a cheap prepaid phone with a removable battery instead of an intrusive smartphone?
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I agree the lack of removable batteries is an issue (but as Jack N Hoff pointed out, there are plenty more with smartphones), but have there been any actual cases of law enforcement pinging phones when off (but with the battery still in)? It is certainly possible, but would require the phone to be built with a backdoor, which while not improbable I haven't actually heard of happening (unlike locating phones when they're on, which seems quite common nowadays).
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The reason smart phones have non removable batteries is not so law enforcement can track you.
They have non removable batteries because a sealed device is more water resistant.
Furthermore current battery technology allows for larger lighterweight batteries that have more capacity while not weighing a fucking ton.
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good luck with that shit
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Guys look to the Firefire OS Phone for privacy.
It's not out yet but it's looking promising. Mozilla is a company which takes privacy into consideration, plus it's non-profit and open source.
Currently it hasn't officially released, they sold a batch of them but they haven't sold any more after that.
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thanks for all the valuable info you are sharing
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1. Switch your phone to airplane mode. I read that by law that your phone can't receive or send signals in airplane mode.
2. On the internet they have a cellphone jacket that has a Faraday cage sewn into the cloth.
3. Get two or more throwaway phones.