HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK ---------------------------
Comrades, I don't know about analogue phones and phones conforming to North American analogue and digital mobile phone standards like AMPS, D-AMPS (ie. "TDMA) and CDMA. However phones complying to the European Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) digital system use a SIM card (ie. a smartcard) slotted into the phone and it contains account information on the owner, especially if the user has registered for post-paid service where he is billed for usage on a monthly basis. If the user takes his SIM card out of one GSM phone and inserts it into another one, the other phone becomes his phone, complete with his phone number, phone book, etc. GSM systems are popular in Asia and Europe which have 900MHz and 1,800MHz GSM systems and it's catching up in North America which uses the 1,900MHz GSM system (Cingular Wireless, VoiceStream and some others). I've also heard that AT&T is operating a GSM system on its existing 800MHz AMPS and D-AMPS cellular infrastructure in Florida and plans to extend GSM throughout its 800MHz infrastructure in the United States and possibly Canada. One reason GSM is gaining popularity worldwide is that it lets users use their phones while in other countries (ie. roaming) where it works on a roaming partners' GSM networks in respective countries, allowing them to make and receive calls anywhere in the world and have the cost of calls billed to their home account. To roam worldwide, they will also need a tri-band GSM phone which works on all the three frequencies mentioned above. However, I don't know whether such surveilance works if the user has a pre-paid SIM card slotted in the phone. Prepaid SIM cards can be bought off the shelf and don't normally require registration, though some vendors in Malaysia will write down the buyer's particulars and their phone's electronic serial number (called the IMEI number) in the reciept for the pre-paid SIM card. So far, pre-paid cards are popular in Europe and Asia. Pre-paid SIM cards contain a certain stored value which is used up as the user makes calls. To top up the prepaid SIM card's value, users simply buy a top up card off the shelf, scratch off the covering of a code number, dial a specially designated number and key in this code to top up the prepaid amount. They don't pay monthly access fees and are not billed monthly. However, it's still possible to trace the phone through its IMEI number whether the user has a prepaid or post-paid SIM card installed and if the user's personal particulars are recorded in the shop where he bought the phone for warranty and other such purposes, they will have a record of the phone's IMEI number. To find out what your mobile phone's IMEI number is, try keying in *#06# (ie asterisk hash zero six hash) and the number will immediately appear on your phone's screen. However, if you lose your phone, give it away, sell it or it's stolen, the IMEI number follows with the phone and the new owner. If you report your phone stolen to your phone company, they will immediately disable the SIM card installed in it and give you a new SIM card with your old number and account information, though not your phone book which remains stored on the old SIM. GSM and possibly other mobile phone systems let your phone company locate where your phone (and thus you) are in relation to known positions of their cellular base stations even when it's in standby mode. This forms the basis for providing location-based services in cases of emergenices or for commercial services where a advertisement in the form of text is sent to your phone via short messaging service (SMS) telling you for instance that a shop in your area is having a sale of some product you like and offer you a discount on goods purchased and maybe a free coffee if you show the sales clerk the message on your phone. I don't know how the Watson system works but this location capability also lets it be used in surveilance of you and your movements. Charles > HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK > --------------------------- > > > Croatia Using Advanced US-Installed Intelligence Technology > > 3 January 2002 > > Belgrade Glas Javnosti (in Serbo-Croatian), p. 4 > > [Unattributed report: "Croatia Spies on Mobile Phones Throughout > Balkans"] > > The world's most advanced Watson system for analyzing intelligence data > and advanced US equipment for listening in on digital communication have > lately been installed in Croatia. The Croatian intelligence service > received the Watson system and surveillance equipment from the United > States for use in the fight against terrorism and illegal migration. The > equipment and installations have been mounted in all major Croatian > towns. > > After [Croatia's 1995] Operation Storm, dissatisfied that surveillance > equipment was being used for internal political purposes, the United > States started gradually pulling out their equipment and personnel, so > that for a time Croatia was in a total information blackout. However, > the [11 September] terrorist attacks on the United States changed all > this. > > Surveillance equipment received by Croatia in the wake of the terrorist > attacks on the United States also effectively covers the territories of > the neighboring countries: tabs are being kept on telephone > conversations and other forms of communication (electronic mail, fax > messages) being conducted by way of all kinds of digital and analog > communication equipment, especially mobile phones. > > The equipping of Croatia with hi-tech espionage installations shows that > the United States today regards that country as the region's foremost > partner of the antiterrorist coalition. This is also recognition of > Croatia's long years of cooperation in the exchange of intelligence data > with the US intelligence service. This is especially true in the case of > exchanging intelligence on the presence of terrorist groups and > individuals in Bosnia-Herzegovina over the past years. With the arrival > of the new equipment and technology, Croatia has become the biggest > source of intelligence in southeastern Europe for the needs of the > antiterrorist coalition. Cooperation with the US intelligence service > has intensified several-fold. > > The Croatian intelligence service, in cooperation with the Americans and > the SFOR [Stabilization Force] Command in Bosnia-Herzegovina, has been > instrumental in keeping under surveillance and arresting collaborators > of > Bin Ladin's network in Bosnia-Herzegovina. It has greatly reduced the > transfer of foreign nationals across the Croatian border, and as the > Zagreb Nacional magazine learns, claiming that discovery and arrest are > imminent for war criminals Ratko Mladic and Radovan Karadzic, who are > already being kept under successful surveillance from Croatia by the new > espionage equipment. > > The US side had noticed that, because of an inability to invest in > equipment for electronic surveillance within the NSEI [National > Electronic Surveillance Service], the Croatian intelligence service was > no longer > capable of offering quality information, as it had done last year. > This > made the installation of the new equipment and the Watson system for > automatic analysis of intelligence data in fact mutually advantageous. > Nacional's source confirms that electronic surveillance had lately been > in deep crisis, but the advent of the new surveillance equipment and new > programmatic solutions for databases as surveillance support have > changed the situation overnight. > > After the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, the US > Administration declared war on terrorism using all weapons. It > designated Croatia, because of its prior positive record in intelligence > exchange, as a very important partner in this part of Europe, especially > because of the presence of mujahedin and foreign terrorists in > Bosnia-Herzegovina, and > attempts at illegal migration to the west via Croatia. From the early > days, Croatia has been actively involved in the antiterrorist coalition, > not only declaratively, but also through specific activities in > intelligence exchange. > > Over the past two months, Croatian President Stjepan Mesic met with the > greatest and most important world leaders, presenting a series of > proposals for the struggle against terrorism and trying to win > recognition for the role played by Croatia in the antiterrorist > coalition. > > Mesic also recently met with US President Bush, who paid tribute to > Croatia for its struggle against terrorism. And while he has been rather > misunderstood and ignored at home, the international coalition against > terrorism has recognized the importance of Croatia in the antiterrorist > coalition, and the United States, as the leader of the coalition, has > made an effort to provide technological assistance. > > The importance attached by the United States to strengthening the > Croatian surveillance system by providing the state-of-the-art Watson > program for analyzing intelligence data is best illustrated by the fact > that General Michael Hasden [name as published], director of the US > National Security Agency (NSA) -- the most powerful US intelligence > service -- has been directly involved since the very start of > negotiations between Croatia and the United States in September of this > year [as published]. The NSA is the US secret service with the highest > budget in charge of monitoring and decoding all kinds of communication > worldwide, and relies in its work on the Watson system, which has lately > been present also in Croatia. > > The United States has maintained successful cooperation in the > intelligence area with the Croatian intelligence community since the > early 1990's, both in the planning of military operations in the > Balkans, and in the struggle against terrorism. This positive > experience, despite the concern of US intelligence operatives over > frequent scandals and conflicts in the state leadership on influence > over the secret services, has led to a renewed full employment of the > Croatian secret services in intelligence cooperation with their US > colleagues. > > The Croatian intelligence community can now monitor all kinds of digital > and mobile communication, whose surveillance has so far been hampered > and > limited. Previously Croatian intelligence operatives had at their > disposal > technology that could successfully monitor only the 099 analog network, > while with two German-made vans and NSEI surveillance equipment it > monitored digital mobile phones. This kind of monitoring was exhausting > for the operatives, so that their concentration would flag, while > expenses far outstripped the hoped-for results. The equipment for > monitoring digital mobile communication is very expensive and > unavailable on the free market. > > Today, all intelligence data collected is incredibly swiftly analyzed > automatically by the Watson program. For example, in just a few seconds > it responds to a single question about a person or event graphically or > visually by collating and processing all available data, conversations, > financial transactions -- of which there might be thousands -- and > presents a complete picture for the user that can be displayed in the > form of a diagram, map, chain of command, or the like. What Watson can > do in a few seconds might take a team of analysts days, Nacional's > source claims. > > Apart from listening in on digital communication and mobile phones, the > US intelligence gathering system in Croatia also traces the movements of > a person under surveillance if the battery is in the mobile phone. > > Every town in Croatia where part of the surveillance equipment has been > installed covering the territory within a certain radius follows a > traveler with a mobile phone and, the moment the traveler moves out of > range of one surveillance station, he is picked up by another in the > next town thanks to the identification code of each phone under > surveillance. Surveillance equipment in Croatia operates in the same way > as in foreign countries. > > Surveillance by way of mobile phones even when the instrument is turned > off is carried out by the relevant services dialing the number of the > mobile phone and then, before dialing the last digit, running a > particular code that turns on the microphone. The telephone thus becomes > a "bug" which conveys all sounds up to 15 meters in diameter. This kind > of surveillance can be disabled only by removing the battery from the > mobile phone. > > Each use of such sensitive surveillance equipment necessarily raises the > question of abuse of the system. It is easily possible that, by using > this technology, individual politicians in power may consult about their > political rivals and then obliterate all trace of this, and without > those who requested the surveillance being held to account for the > abuse, because no evidence is forthcoming. The situation on the Croatian > political scene and in the structures of the intelligence community is > far from stable, and the use of a system such as Watson requires the > preconditions of a democratic organization and a stable state in order > to avoid the possibility of political abuse. > > It is no secret that the EU members have similar systems, which they use > for discovering terrorist and criminal activities in the Union > member-states. However, they are all countries with long democratic > traditions, political stability, and precisely defined mechanisms for > the control and supervision of secret surveillance and tapping, unlike > Croatia, Nacional's source claims. > > Leading men in the intelligence community do not meet and coordinate > their activities -- each is accountable only to their immediate > political controller; the law on national security that is still in > force is not being implemented, while no new law is forthcoming; and > abuses are easiest now, because nobody knows who controls whom and who > is accountable to whom. > > Some intelligence community leaders would neither confirm nor deny > Nacional's claims. The SZUP [Constitutional Order Protection Service -- > Croatia's intelligence service] explicitly claims that, if such a system > does in fact exist, it is not under their control, and a senior > intelligence community official confirms Nacional's discovery and opines > that the system operates as part of the NSEI, in view of the fact that > the NSEI already has sufficiently skilled personnel and equipment > capable of being easily enhanced. Nacional's sources agree on one point, > however -- to wit, that Croatia and its national security needed such a > system after the intelligence blackout of the National Electronic > Surveillance Service [NSEI]. > > Because of technological insufficiencies and an inadequate technological > superstructure on the one hand, and because of the modernization and > introduction of digital equipment and telecommunications by the > neighboring countries on the other, the NSEI was no longer capable of > effectively eavesdropping on outside lines. The introduction of the US > Watson analytical system will totally do away with the insufficiency of > intelligence data in Croatia and outside its borders. > > Although Croatia has acquired substantial technological advantage over > the neighbors in intelligence data gathering, it is still regional in > character. The biggest states, which have spy satellites, can record all > telephonic communication (conversations, fax messages, e-mail messages, > communication via the Internet) anywhere in the world. > > An instrument radiates enough for the conversation to be picked up by > satellite. Such conversations are then classified by computer and > analyzed on the basis of the numbers of the transmitting and receiving > phones, the location of the transmitting and receiving phones, time of > the conversation, language, key words, and voice typing. Once classified > and analyzed, the conversations are sent to analysts for checking. > > Protection against this kind of surveillance is possible only if both > the transmitting and receiving instruments are in rooms built on the > lines of the Faraday Cage, and if all electrical cables and connections > that transmit the signal are buried deep under the ground. If an > intelligence service has "friendly ties" with the local telephone > company, not even this kind of protection is safe. > > Protection against attack by the new digital communication surveillance > system, and especially mobile phones, boils down to only one option: the > battery and any other power source should be completely removed. That > is > to say, there is no efficacious protection. It is possible -- the source > claims -- to choose a somewhat less secure option of frequently changing > the type of mobile phone and numbers by way of SIM cards and coupons, > but this is totally uneconomical, while the least secure option is to > become a subscriber to a mobile telephony network. > > [Box] Against Corruption and Pedophilia > The Watson system was used to smash an Internet pedophile chain in 1996 > and expose corruption in Italy in 1997. The Watson program software is > the product of a US company for information management based in the US > state of Massachusetts. Watson has lately been present in the Croatian > intelligence community as well, being used for analyzing thousands of > intelligence and other data that pours daily into its database by way of > surveillance stations in Croatia. > > [Box] For Combating Terrorism > By the end of the year [as published], the Republic of Croatia will have > submitted a report to the [UN] Security Council on measures taken to > combat > terrorism. By embracing the Security Council's Resolution 1373 on > suppressing international terrorism, Croatia has undertaken to keep the > Security Council informed about the results of the campaign. First, > Croatia must submit its report to the East River by the end of the year > and, for the purposes of efficacious control, the government has set up > an interdepartmental task force directly accountable to the UN Security > Council. The task force comprises members of all governmental > departments, headed by Josko Klisovic, head of the Foreign Ministry's > Department for the United Nations. Resolution 1373 of the UN Security > Council obligates all states efficaciously to combat terrorism, money > laundering, international and financial crime, and to cooperate towards > opening air space, freezing suspect bank accounts.... Each state must > collect and share information on criminal activities and pass laws to > combat these activities. The new Watson system will be of great help to > Croatia in this respect. > > [Description of Source: > Belgrade Glas Javnosti in Serbo-Croatian > -- independent, widely read daily] > > > ==^================================================================ This email was sent to: archive@jab.org EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.a9WB2D Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================
