Randahl Fink

Russian Telegram videos now show how ordinary citizens are stopped and having their phones searched.

During these searches, the police writes down their phones' unique International Mobile Equipment Identity number to log their real identity and this number in a database. So every time a citizen turns on his phone, the dictatorship then knows which citizen it is, where he is, what he is doing online, and who he is talking to.

This is not a country. This is the largest prison on earth.

Apr 6 at 12:26pmIvory for iOS
Show threadJan JohannessonApr 6
@randahl I used to be responsible for the IMEI databasevat Ericsson once. It was 20 years ago. I thought they have stopped using it? Ineed to check that.
Show threadChristiaan JacobsApr 6
@randahl just wondering. What is in the databases of the ultrarich behind the Trump regime? It would not surprise me that IMEI is already stored in commercial databases. And that regime doesn’t bother with legal ways to obtain information. They just “buy” it with taxpayers dollars…
Show threadLumiukkoApr 6
@cejjacobs @randahl I was also wondering something similar. I visited another country where my IMEI was noted (probably with my name) during a random police check. I didn't think anything of it. Also AFAIK Dual-SIM phones have two IMEI, so I wonder which one they got :D
Show threadKimApr 6
@randahl it's just a low tech version of what the NSA does
Show threadAndresApr 6
@Ex_spurt @randahl Yeah, this. Though it's interesting to see it happening in meat space, instead of virtually through telco sharing.
Show threadLeelooApr 6

@randahl
We don't need to do this, because unless you are using a prepaid SIM - and never had a subscription SIM in the same phone, Danish and European authorities already have that information.

Did you notice how getting a prepaid SIM became a lot harder a few years ago? I used to have a prepaid SIM that I paid 99,- for per year, and now I'm paying 79,- per month for pretty much the same use, simply because prepaid became too cumbersome.

Russia presumably have a lot more people using prepaid SIMs, so they can't get the information via the phone company.

Show threadCosmicCactusApr 6

@leeloo @randahl 79 Eur per month seems insanely expensive.

Edit: My bad, i'm guessing it's DKK not Eur

Show threadLeelooApr 6
@CosmicCactus
About 10 EUR.
Show threadMartin Schröder 🇺🇳Apr 6
@leeloo
It's impossible to get anonymous SIMs in the EU. And I doubt that it's possible in Russia.
@randahl
Show threadRandahl FinkApr 6
@oneiros they buy their phones and their sims from places like Georgia.
@leeloo
Show threadFlohEinsteinApr 6
@oneiros o.O gibt's in den Niederlanden keine mehr? Gab's doch bei Albert Heijn direkt an der Kasse
Show threadRandom SapiensApr 6
@randahl I had to watch the video to know whether this was about Russia or the United States..
Show threadHalaanaApr 6
@random_sapiens The US already has all that information along with a decades old mass surveillance programme. They'd only do this for the theatrics.
Show threadRandom SapiensApr 6
@Halaana well it's a lot about theatrics lately...
Show threadcauZationApr 6
@randahl Yearning for non-datamining
Show threadkrejgoApr 6
@randahl second largest, after the USA, right? They don't even need to stop you to do this over there.
Show threadKetumbraApr 6
@krejgo @randahl you know Russia is much bigger than the USA right?
Show threadkrejgoApr 6

Hey Captain Obvious 👋

You're talking area @ketumbra while I'm talking population - both of the nation and it's prisons (which is one of the few things the USA is still #1 at)

My primary school grasp of geography remains thankfully intact.

Show threadcalcifer Apr 7
@ketumbra @krejgo @randahl depends if you mean population or land area, I suppose.
Show threadJigen Daisuke, JrApr 6
@randahl this prison has its name already - ГУЛАГ/GULAG.
Show threadBogdan BuduroiuApr 6

@randahl indistinguishable footage, the EU are massive hypocrites and secretly jealous of the control Putin can exert on his population

#EUPol #Europe #AgeVerification #ChatControl

Show threadMartin SeegerApr 6

@randahl I understand why they do it. But they're on the losing end anyway.

They can either disable the mobile network or otherwise the Ukraine will find a way to control their drones.

The corruption in Russia becomes a huge advantage for it's opponents. If you have the money, there will always be a way.

From what I hear, they tend towards rolling back mobile internet. So that country will become even more of a hellhole.

Show threadScotty TreesApr 6
@randahl Can't say I feel bad for them with what they have been doing to Ukraine for years now.
Show threadBodhipaksaApr 6
@scottytrees @randahl The people being searched likely have nothing to do with what's going on in Ukraine.
Show threadSu_GApr 6

@randahl
A very perceptive comment: “This [Ruzzia] is not a country. This is the largest prison on earth.”

#Russia # Ruzzia #RussiaIsAPrison #gulag

Show threadinpcApr 6
@randahl wouldn't they already be able to access this info?Assuming people mostly get phones on a contract and not buying phones with cash.
Show threadfuzzyfuzzyfungusApr 6

@inpc @randahl Even if you buy with cash you (in most cases) end up 'using' the phone like a normal person; which builds out a combination of location data and contact activity.

Especially with a massive sino-russian border I don't doubt that someone who really cared could make two 'clean' phones and some anonymous IoT SIMs fall off the back of a truck, one to stay with the bomb and one to detonate it with; but users like that aren't getting their phones checked by random street cops.

Show threadRobin BartonApr 6
@randahl Putin is frightened and is hunkering down
Show threadMayor of Nerdocrumbesia 🏡Apr 6

@randahl

Seems incongruous to decry police-state behavior in a police-state with your face visible. Video looks real but, I wonder.

I can definitely see something like this coming to the USA.

Show threadGJ Groothedde 🇪🇺Apr 6
@randahl Has been for over a hundred years. Putin just managed to make it even worse.
Show threadMïkê 👩‍🦯 💚 👑🐉🗡️🏳️‍⚧️Apr 6
@randahl Are you sure the IMEI can tell them what the phone is doing on the internet? I've never heard that before, and I just looked it up and it doesn't seem to be true. All it can tell them is the phone's location.
Show threadRandahl FinkApr 6

@mikelovesbikes I should be more precise: In Russia, they have an extreme internet surveillance system already, which monitors all internet activity. By manually fetching the IMEI from people, I suspect they can now guarntee a connection between the surveillance information and the device owner. So instead of knowing that SOMEONE visited a site sympathetic to Ukraine, they now know WHO did.

Does that make sense?

Show threadGondorApr 6
@randahl
It's only a different way than in other countries. It happens everywhere.
So nothing new or surprising.
Show threadEpistomaiApr 6

@randahl the f**k is that? I meant the police or whatever doing that, not the number.

In 🇺🇸 the IT companies inform the government, for a fee.

The whole world is 1984. Idk which country/government is absolutely free for being monitored. 🇩🇪? 🇫🇷?

Show threadRandahl FinkApr 6
@epistomai Not Denmark, I know that much. We have cameras in the cities and it is illegal to cover your face. Dystopian.
Show threadGondorApr 6
@randahl @epistomai
How does that suit with the law about owning your (digital?) appearance/voice?
I thought no one is allowed to use it without your consent?
Or am i confusing something there?
Show threadhakudzeroApr 6
@randahl Серьёзно? Наверное я живу в параллельной вселенной, где ничего подобного не происходит. Но зато в моей вселенной в мирных русских городах гибнут мирные люди от оружия, которое поставляет НАТО террористам. И эта кровь вопиет к небу.
Show threadRandahl FinkApr 6

@hakudzero Did Ukraine invade Russia in February 2022, or did Russia invade Ukraine?

Once you get that right, you know who the terrorists are.

Show threadhakudzeroApr 6
@randahl поэтому можно убивать мирных жителей? Бить по домам, школам, отдельным людям? Это звучит странно.
Show threadᴮᵉⁿ ᴿᵒʸᶜᵉVOTE IN THE PRIMARIESApr 6

@hakudzero @randahl

Украинцы осторожно уничтожают нефтеперерабатывающие заводы

в то время как русские осторожно бомбят многоквартирные дома, больницы и школы

в войне, которую начала Россия, ради этнофашистского империализма, геноцида и массовых убийств

ты лжец или идиот

Show threadhakudzeroApr 6
@benroyce @randahl Осторожно? Ты сам лжешь. Они бьют по гражданским мирным целям и убивают мирных людей каждый день. Это огромная боль, а таккие как ты не хотят этого видеть и просто закрывают глаза в угоду идеологии.
Show threadᴮᵉⁿ ᴿᵒʸᶜᵉVOTE IN THE PRIMARIESApr 6

@hakudzero @randahl

«Они бьют по гражданским мирным целям и убивают мирных людей каждый день»

Да, это правда.

Именно так Россия и поступает в Украине.

Рад, что ты учишься, безмозглый ватник.

🤣

Show threadhakudzeroApr 7
@benroyce @randahl о, ты переходишь на личности и оскорбления. Это очень демократично, в духе императора Трампа.
Show threadᴮᵉⁿ ᴿᵒʸᶜᵉVOTE IN THE PRIMARIESApr 7

@hakudzero @randahl

Верно.

Я точно такой же, как Трамп.

Потому что я смеюсь над этим неудачником *ватником*, который защищает этнофашистский империализм самыми идиотскими и абсурдно ложными утверждениями.

Ты такой умный!

Show threadDennis MelhedeApr 6
@[email protected] this actually worked fine, whu can't you post your own videos this way ?
Show threadfuzzyfuzzyfungusApr 6
@randahl I'm morbidly curious if this actually means that there are results that data wonks with access to telco-provided data aren't getting them(since there's basically no difference between 'using a cellphone' and 'bleeding metadata to the carrier' and carriers tend to be pretty cooperative in handing over reports); or if the high-touch IMEI gathering is more or less entirely about informing non-nerds that they are indeed being watched.
Show threadPatrick H. LaukeApr 6
@randahl coming to an everywhere near you
Show threadJonathanApr 6

@randahl

Couldn't the Russian government just threaten a telecom company to give them the whole list of subscriber names and IMEI numbers?

Show threadRandahl FinkApr 6
@jmcrookston Putin's challenge is, some Russians buy their phones and their SIM cards abroad. Georgia is one source.
Show threadJonathanApr 6

@randahl

Ah interesting. And I guess the signals can't be blocked so they can get reception near borders etc

Show threadMattApr 6
@randahl Why do you think pretty much all of us have to show an ID the moment we buy a SIM? Information like that has been hoovered up and stored for decades, here's a story that goes back to 2003:
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-06-04/bali-bombers-caught-with-australian-intelligence-involvement/102362158
The Russians either still have a significant share of unregistered SIMs so they can't associate an IMEI to an owner via the IMSI without even asking, or/and they do this as an intimidation tactic.
How spies used a shard of an exploded Nokia phone to expose the Bali bombers

Political editor Andrew Probyn reveals Australian intelligence's critical role in undoing the men who committed the 2002 Bali bombings — and how a shard from a Nokia phone brought them down.

Show threadLukefromDCApr 6

@menos @randahl At least in the US ID is not needed to buy a SIM. I have never had one purchased wirh a credit card eirher. Never do they get my name.

I would refuse to unlock my phone for cops regardless of law or risk if that brcomes a factor here. Thid in fact is a good use for data-wiping duress passphrases

Show threadMattApr 7
@LukefromDC TIL it's not mandatory in all of North America. Surprising what with PATRIOT et al but it's probably just too hard to implement for lack of standard IDs. It's been rolled out over most of Europe, Australia, Asia and parts of Africa in the last 20 years though. No such thing as an anonymous, legal IMEI in most of the world.
@randahl
Show threadLukefromDCApr 7

@menos @randahl What happened in Mexico (this is as I recall reading of it years ago) was probably what kept it out of the US. The goverment tried to force registration w ID of all existing SIMS, but was met with mass refusal to cooperate. The government had the choice between abandoning SIM registration or cutting phone service to a large part of the population, and they folded.

In the US, they probably find it easier to buy this shit from data brokers, from Google, Apple, and Facebook. Those this will miss (such as myself) are often high value targets but also tough ones likely to find workarounds to almost anything.

Show threadS★m V★rm★Apr 6
@randahl Coming soon to a country near you. Guaranteed.
Show threadohirApr 6

@randahl
> So every time a citizen turns on his phone, ... what he is doing online, and who he is talking to.

Every time a citizen does an on-line purchase their name and delivery address is made avaliable, every time a citizen enters range of a wifi-router whose owner did not care to end its SSID with "_nomap" suffix the oligoship knows where he is, regardless of the GPS being turned off. Usually, said citizen has also a home wifi routed through a telco operator on a long-term contract.

Long story short: one "turns out" their phone with every their move, and s/he is known the moment their device binded to the Google or Apple account.

The rest is taken care for by the dictatorship entities like RosKomNadozor in Russia, and Palantir in the U.S.

> the police writes down their phones' unique IMEI
A dissent prevention theater. The Roskomnadzor knows IMEI number at its first login to the GSM network, and knows who is using this device –by IMSI straight, or via the netlist built to date.

Average people do not know siloviki know. Hence they came with this "write-down" theater.

@briankrebs

Show threadMApr 6
@randahl
The rat did his mess. Now it`s the time for non-stop bullshit.
Show threadDizzyApr 6
@randahl tbh the US is not so far from that.
Show threadJulius Schwartzenberg - ЮліусApr 6

@randahl it seems doubtful they would register IMEIs for that purpose. When I purchased a SIM card in Russia back in 2010 I had to show my passport already and they had to copy everything from it. I know that was already common practice for years at that time.

So for anybody with a Russian SIM card, they already have the ability to look up the IMEI of the device in which a particular SIM is along with the passport of who purchased the SIM.