Tilt
Member
A fbi tracking device taken off a 20 year olds car at a garage. Fbi showed up and took it back. A link to article. http://technolog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2010/10/08/5258219-fbi-busted-tracking-student-demands-gps-spy-gear-return
Big Brother Is Watching
- Thread starter vta
- Start date
A fbi tracking device taken off a 20 year olds car at a garage. Fbi showed up and took it back. A link to article. http://technolog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2010/10/08/5258219-fbi-busted-tracking-student-demands-gps-spy-gear-return
That's embarrasing.
Thanks Tilt!
Thanks Tilt!
Caught Spying on Student, FBI Demands GPS Tracker Back
Granted this guy may be a terrorist...but this story as a little insight
By Kim Zetter
A California student got a visit from the FBI this week after he found a secret GPS tracking device on his car, and a friend posted photos of it online. The post prompted wide speculation about whether the device was real, whether the young Arab-American was being targeted in a terrorism investigation and what the authorities would do.
It took just 48 hours to find out: The device was real, the student was being secretly tracked and the FBI wanted its expensive device back, the student told Wired.com in an interview Wednesday.
The answer came when half-a-dozen FBI agents and police officers appeared at Yasir Afifi’s apartment complex in Santa Clara, California, on Tuesday demanding he return the device.
Afifi, a 20-year-old U.S.-born citizen, cooperated willingly and said he’d done nothing to merit attention from authorities. Comments the agents made during their visit suggested he’d been under FBI surveillance for three to six months.
An FBI spokesman wouldn’t acknowledge that the device belonged to the agency or that agents appeared at Afifi’s house.
“I can’t really tell you much about it, because it’s still an ongoing investigation,” said spokesman Pete Lee, who works in the agency’s San Francisco headquarters.
Afifi, the son of an Islamic-American community leader who died a year ago in Egypt, is one of only a few people known to have found a government-tracking device on their vehicle.
His discovery comes in the wake of a recent ruling by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals saying it’s legal for law enforcement to secretly place a tracking device on a suspect’s car without getting a warrant, even if the car is parked in a private driveway.
Brian Alseth from the American Civil Liberties Union in Washington state contacted Afifi after seeing pictures of the tracking device posted online and told him the ACLU had been waiting for a case like this to challenge the ruling.
“This is the kind of thing we like to throw lawyers at,” Afifi said Alseth told him.
“It seems very frightening that the FBI have placed a surveillance-tracking device on the car of a 20-year-old American citizen who has done nothing more than being half-Egyptian,” Alseth told Wired.com.
Afifi, a business marketing student at Mission College in Santa Clara, discovered the device last Sunday when he took his car to a local garage for an oil change. When a mechanic at Ali’s Auto Care raised his Ford Lincoln LS on hydraulic lifts, Afifi saw a wire sticking out near the right rear wheel and exhaust.
Garage owner Mazher Khan confirmed for Wired.com that he also saw it. A closer inspection showed it connected to a battery pack and transmitter, which were attached to the car with a magnet. Khan asked Afifi if he wanted the device removed and when Afifi said yes, Khan pulled it easily from the car’s chassis.
“I wouldn’t have noticed it if there wasn’t a wire sticking out,” Afifi said.
Later that day, a friend of Afifi’s named Khaled posted pictures of the device at Reddit, asking if anyone knew what it was and if it meant the FBI “is after us.” (Reddit is owned by CondeNast Digital, which also owns Wired.com).
“My plan was to just put the device on another car or in a lake,” Khaled wrote, “but when you come home to 2 stoned off-their-asses people who are hearing things in the device and convinced it’s a bomb you just gotta be sure.”
A reader quickly identified it as an Orion Guardian ST820 tracking device made by an electronics company called Cobham, which sells the device only to law enforcement.
No one was available at Cobham to answer Wired.com’s questions, but a former FBI agent who looked at the pictures confirmed it was a tracking device.
The former agent, who asked not to be named, said the device was an older model of tracking equipment that had long ago been replaced by devices that don’t require batteries. Batteries die and need to be replaced if surveillance is ongoing so newer devices are placed in the engine compartment and hardwired to the car’s battery so they don’t run out of juice. He was surprised this one was so easily found.
“It has to be able to be removed but also stay in place and not be seen,” he said. “There’s always the possibility that the car will end up at a body shop or auto mechanic, so it has to be hidden well. It’s very rare when the guys find them.”
He said he was certain that agents who installed it would have obtained a 30-day warrant for its use.
Afifi considered selling the device on Craigslist before the FBI showed up. He was in his apartment Tuesday afternoon when a roommate told him “two sneaky-looking people” were near his car. Afifi, already heading out for an appointment, encountered a man and woman looking at his vehicle outside. The man asked if Afifi knew his registration tag was expired. When Afifi asked if it bothered him, the man just smiled. Afifi got into his car and headed for the parking lot exit when two SUVs pulled up with flashing lights carrying four police officers in bullet-proof vests.
The agent who initially spoke with Afifi identified himself then as Vincent and told Afifi, “We’re here to recover the device you found on your vehicle. It’s federal property. It’s an expensive piece, and we need it right now.”
Afifi asked, “Are you the guys that put it there?” and the agent replied, “Yeah, I put it there.” He told Afifi, “We’re going to make this much more difficult for you if you don’t cooperate.”
Afifi retrieved the device from his apartment and handed it over, at which point the agents asked a series of questions – did he know anyone who traveled to Yemen or was affiliated with overseas training? One of the agents produced a printout of a blog post that Afifi’s friend Khaled allegedly wrote a couple of months ago. It had “something to do with a mall or a bomb,” Afifi said. He hadn’t seen it before and doesn’t know the details of what it said. He found it hard to believe Khaled meant anything threatening by the post.
“He’s a smart kid and is not affiliated with anything extreme and never says anything stupid like that,” Afifi said. “I’ve known that guy my whole life. “
The agents told Afifi they had other agents outside Khaled’s house.
“If you want us to call them off and not talk to him we can do that,” Afifi said they told him. “That was weird. [...] I didn’t really believe anything they were saying.”
When he later asked Khaled about the post, his friend recalled “writing something stupid,” but said he wasn’t involved in any wrongdoing. Khaled declined to discuss the issue with Wired.com.
The female agent, who handed Afifi a card, identified herself as Jennifer Kanaan and said she was Lebanese. She spoke some Arabic to Afifi and through the course of her comments indicated she knew what restaurants he and his girlfriend frequented. She also congratulated him on his new job. Afifi recently got laid off from his job, but on the same day was hired as an international sales manager of laptops and computers for Cal Micro in San Jose.
The agents also knew he was planning a short business trip to Dubai in a few weeks. Afifi said he often travels for business and has two teenage brothers in Egypt whom he supports financially. They live with an aunt. His U.S.-born mother, who divorced his father five years ago, lives in Arizona.
Afifi’s father, Aladdin Afifi, was a U.S. citizen and former president of the Muslim Community Association here, before his family moved to Egypt in 2003. Yasir Afifi returned to the United States alone in 2008, while his father and brothers stayed in Egypt, to further his education he said. He knows he’s on a federal watchlist and is regularly taken aside at airports for secondary screening.
Six months ago, a former roommate of his was visited by FBI agents who said they wanted to speak with Afifi. Afifi contacted one agent and was told the agency received an anonymous tip from someone saying he might be a threat to national security. Afifi told the agent he was willing to answer questions if his lawyer approved. But after Afifi’s lawyer contacted the agency, he never heard from the feds again until he found their tracking device.
“I don’t think they were surprised that I found it,” he told Wired.com. “I’m sure they knew when I found it. [...] One of the first questions they asked me was if I was at a mechanics shop last Sunday. I said yes, that’s where I found this stupid device under my car.”
Afifi’s attorney, who works for the civil liberties-focused Council on American Islamic Relations, said this kind of tracking is more egregious than the kind her office usually sees.
“The idea that it escalates to this level is unusual,” said Zahra Billoo. “We take about one new case each week relating to FBI or law enforcement visits [to clients]. Generally they come to the individual’s house or workplace, and there are issues that arise from that.”
However, she said that after learning about Afifi’s experience, other lawyers in her organization told her they knew of two people in Ohio who also recently discovered tracking devices on their vehicles.
Afifi’s encounter with the FBI ended with the agents telling him not to worry.
“We have all the information we needed,” they told him. “You don’t need to call your lawyer. Don’t worry, you’re boring. “
They shook his hand and left.
Thanks to redspaghetti for the link
Granted this guy may be a terrorist...but this story as a little insight
By Kim Zetter
A California student got a visit from the FBI this week after he found a secret GPS tracking device on his car, and a friend posted photos of it online. The post prompted wide speculation about whether the device was real, whether the young Arab-American was being targeted in a terrorism investigation and what the authorities would do.
It took just 48 hours to find out: The device was real, the student was being secretly tracked and the FBI wanted its expensive device back, the student told Wired.com in an interview Wednesday.
The answer came when half-a-dozen FBI agents and police officers appeared at Yasir Afifi’s apartment complex in Santa Clara, California, on Tuesday demanding he return the device.
Afifi, a 20-year-old U.S.-born citizen, cooperated willingly and said he’d done nothing to merit attention from authorities. Comments the agents made during their visit suggested he’d been under FBI surveillance for three to six months.
An FBI spokesman wouldn’t acknowledge that the device belonged to the agency or that agents appeared at Afifi’s house.
“I can’t really tell you much about it, because it’s still an ongoing investigation,” said spokesman Pete Lee, who works in the agency’s San Francisco headquarters.
Afifi, the son of an Islamic-American community leader who died a year ago in Egypt, is one of only a few people known to have found a government-tracking device on their vehicle.
His discovery comes in the wake of a recent ruling by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals saying it’s legal for law enforcement to secretly place a tracking device on a suspect’s car without getting a warrant, even if the car is parked in a private driveway.
Brian Alseth from the American Civil Liberties Union in Washington state contacted Afifi after seeing pictures of the tracking device posted online and told him the ACLU had been waiting for a case like this to challenge the ruling.
“This is the kind of thing we like to throw lawyers at,” Afifi said Alseth told him.
“It seems very frightening that the FBI have placed a surveillance-tracking device on the car of a 20-year-old American citizen who has done nothing more than being half-Egyptian,” Alseth told Wired.com.
Afifi, a business marketing student at Mission College in Santa Clara, discovered the device last Sunday when he took his car to a local garage for an oil change. When a mechanic at Ali’s Auto Care raised his Ford Lincoln LS on hydraulic lifts, Afifi saw a wire sticking out near the right rear wheel and exhaust.
Garage owner Mazher Khan confirmed for Wired.com that he also saw it. A closer inspection showed it connected to a battery pack and transmitter, which were attached to the car with a magnet. Khan asked Afifi if he wanted the device removed and when Afifi said yes, Khan pulled it easily from the car’s chassis.
“I wouldn’t have noticed it if there wasn’t a wire sticking out,” Afifi said.
Later that day, a friend of Afifi’s named Khaled posted pictures of the device at Reddit, asking if anyone knew what it was and if it meant the FBI “is after us.” (Reddit is owned by CondeNast Digital, which also owns Wired.com).
“My plan was to just put the device on another car or in a lake,” Khaled wrote, “but when you come home to 2 stoned off-their-asses people who are hearing things in the device and convinced it’s a bomb you just gotta be sure.”
A reader quickly identified it as an Orion Guardian ST820 tracking device made by an electronics company called Cobham, which sells the device only to law enforcement.
No one was available at Cobham to answer Wired.com’s questions, but a former FBI agent who looked at the pictures confirmed it was a tracking device.
The former agent, who asked not to be named, said the device was an older model of tracking equipment that had long ago been replaced by devices that don’t require batteries. Batteries die and need to be replaced if surveillance is ongoing so newer devices are placed in the engine compartment and hardwired to the car’s battery so they don’t run out of juice. He was surprised this one was so easily found.
“It has to be able to be removed but also stay in place and not be seen,” he said. “There’s always the possibility that the car will end up at a body shop or auto mechanic, so it has to be hidden well. It’s very rare when the guys find them.”
He said he was certain that agents who installed it would have obtained a 30-day warrant for its use.
Afifi considered selling the device on Craigslist before the FBI showed up. He was in his apartment Tuesday afternoon when a roommate told him “two sneaky-looking people” were near his car. Afifi, already heading out for an appointment, encountered a man and woman looking at his vehicle outside. The man asked if Afifi knew his registration tag was expired. When Afifi asked if it bothered him, the man just smiled. Afifi got into his car and headed for the parking lot exit when two SUVs pulled up with flashing lights carrying four police officers in bullet-proof vests.
The agent who initially spoke with Afifi identified himself then as Vincent and told Afifi, “We’re here to recover the device you found on your vehicle. It’s federal property. It’s an expensive piece, and we need it right now.”
Afifi asked, “Are you the guys that put it there?” and the agent replied, “Yeah, I put it there.” He told Afifi, “We’re going to make this much more difficult for you if you don’t cooperate.”
Afifi retrieved the device from his apartment and handed it over, at which point the agents asked a series of questions – did he know anyone who traveled to Yemen or was affiliated with overseas training? One of the agents produced a printout of a blog post that Afifi’s friend Khaled allegedly wrote a couple of months ago. It had “something to do with a mall or a bomb,” Afifi said. He hadn’t seen it before and doesn’t know the details of what it said. He found it hard to believe Khaled meant anything threatening by the post.
“He’s a smart kid and is not affiliated with anything extreme and never says anything stupid like that,” Afifi said. “I’ve known that guy my whole life. “
The agents told Afifi they had other agents outside Khaled’s house.
“If you want us to call them off and not talk to him we can do that,” Afifi said they told him. “That was weird. [...] I didn’t really believe anything they were saying.”
When he later asked Khaled about the post, his friend recalled “writing something stupid,” but said he wasn’t involved in any wrongdoing. Khaled declined to discuss the issue with Wired.com.
The female agent, who handed Afifi a card, identified herself as Jennifer Kanaan and said she was Lebanese. She spoke some Arabic to Afifi and through the course of her comments indicated she knew what restaurants he and his girlfriend frequented. She also congratulated him on his new job. Afifi recently got laid off from his job, but on the same day was hired as an international sales manager of laptops and computers for Cal Micro in San Jose.
The agents also knew he was planning a short business trip to Dubai in a few weeks. Afifi said he often travels for business and has two teenage brothers in Egypt whom he supports financially. They live with an aunt. His U.S.-born mother, who divorced his father five years ago, lives in Arizona.
Afifi’s father, Aladdin Afifi, was a U.S. citizen and former president of the Muslim Community Association here, before his family moved to Egypt in 2003. Yasir Afifi returned to the United States alone in 2008, while his father and brothers stayed in Egypt, to further his education he said. He knows he’s on a federal watchlist and is regularly taken aside at airports for secondary screening.
Six months ago, a former roommate of his was visited by FBI agents who said they wanted to speak with Afifi. Afifi contacted one agent and was told the agency received an anonymous tip from someone saying he might be a threat to national security. Afifi told the agent he was willing to answer questions if his lawyer approved. But after Afifi’s lawyer contacted the agency, he never heard from the feds again until he found their tracking device.
“I don’t think they were surprised that I found it,” he told Wired.com. “I’m sure they knew when I found it. [...] One of the first questions they asked me was if I was at a mechanics shop last Sunday. I said yes, that’s where I found this stupid device under my car.”
Afifi’s attorney, who works for the civil liberties-focused Council on American Islamic Relations, said this kind of tracking is more egregious than the kind her office usually sees.
“The idea that it escalates to this level is unusual,” said Zahra Billoo. “We take about one new case each week relating to FBI or law enforcement visits [to clients]. Generally they come to the individual’s house or workplace, and there are issues that arise from that.”
However, she said that after learning about Afifi’s experience, other lawyers in her organization told her they knew of two people in Ohio who also recently discovered tracking devices on their vehicles.
Afifi’s encounter with the FBI ended with the agents telling him not to worry.
“We have all the information we needed,” they told him. “You don’t need to call your lawyer. Don’t worry, you’re boring. “
They shook his hand and left.
Thanks to redspaghetti for the link
you should smash it immediately and let em pick up the pieces
CanIgetsum
Member
He prolly was bein watch b/c his religion ( Muslim ) IMHO the agents who were watching him/them should be fired for not doing their job 
nobody noticed until they posted pics online, fools.... better them than me.
nobody noticed until they posted pics online, fools.... better them than me.
David762
Member
It's worse than you think ...
It's worse than you think ...
standard cell phones, when they are turned on, can be silently "pinged" by the cellular phone company, and triangulate your location within 30 meters (about 100 feet). Turn your standard cell phone off when engaging in possibly illicit actions.
But if you are using a GSM / GPS-enabled cell phone, you will want to turn it off AND remove the battery. Check this out:
< http://www.naturalnews.com/021240.html >
/snip
(NaturalNews) NaturalNews has learned that the FBI has developed a technique that can remotely activate a nearby cell phone's microphone, thereby turning it into a listening device.
The "roving bug" technique was approved by U.S. Department of Justice officials for use on members of an organized crime family in New York that was getting increasingly suspicious of tails, wiretaps or other traditional surveillance techniques.
/snip
Not only can LEOs use your cell phone's GPS for determining your location, but also turn on other cell phone features, like the mic.
Oh, and your fancy auto might also be your very own snitch, since if it has GPS on-board, it will store your way-points itself. And if you have On-Star or other satellite GPS road service features, LEO can access that info at will also -- no warrant needed. All they need to do under US Patriot Act is mention the possibility of issuing a National Security Letter. Google this stuff -- I'm not making anything up.
The police state is already here, and we're all fucked. Be advised.
It's worse than you think ...
standard cell phones, when they are turned on, can be silently "pinged" by the cellular phone company, and triangulate your location within 30 meters (about 100 feet). Turn your standard cell phone off when engaging in possibly illicit actions.
But if you are using a GSM / GPS-enabled cell phone, you will want to turn it off AND remove the battery. Check this out:
< http://www.naturalnews.com/021240.html >
/snip
(NaturalNews) NaturalNews has learned that the FBI has developed a technique that can remotely activate a nearby cell phone's microphone, thereby turning it into a listening device.
The "roving bug" technique was approved by U.S. Department of Justice officials for use on members of an organized crime family in New York that was getting increasingly suspicious of tails, wiretaps or other traditional surveillance techniques.
/snip
Not only can LEOs use your cell phone's GPS for determining your location, but also turn on other cell phone features, like the mic.
Oh, and your fancy auto might also be your very own snitch, since if it has GPS on-board, it will store your way-points itself. And if you have On-Star or other satellite GPS road service features, LEO can access that info at will also -- no warrant needed. All they need to do under US Patriot Act is mention the possibility of issuing a National Security Letter. Google this stuff -- I'm not making anything up.
The police state is already here, and we're all fucked. Be advised.
Dr. Buddington
Member
If I found a tracking device - I'd smash it ASAP. When pigs raid you, they wont hesitate to damage your equipment, why should you preserve theirs?
darby crash
Member
Why destroy it? I'd mail it to the Land Down Under
just to see if the fuckers could figure that one out.
Walmart photo employee are also told to tell if anyone comes in with photos with cannabis on them.. peace out Headband707
If your dumb enough to get film developed anywhere showing illegal sh*t or take digital card to same to get prints to "show off" you deserve to get caught!
Hey are you calling me dumb ??!!! LOL LOLIf your dumb enough to get film developed anywhere showing illegal sh*t or take digital card to same to get prints to "show off" you deserve to get caught!
maybe alittle 
Well yes it is for the film getting developed lol.. They also asked them to keep their EYES open LOL for potheads lol just like YOU!!!! fucking potheads lol..
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if this becomes common practice it's time for another million man march on washington.
Actually I think there needs to be about a ten million man march on washington for the last 10 years now. civil rights vilolations are out of control in this country! We have multiple government organizations that are not even constitutional.
1. The DEA
2. Homeland Security
3. The IRS
4. The FBI
3. The CIA
4. FIMA
5. the FDA
6. The DMV
I can keep going, but the point is that every single one of these organizations' existance is unconstitutional according to our founding fathers. They are also perfect examples how people in america are sheep. they gave up their freedom for potential saftey, but really they dont help us at all. If organizations like this did not exist there wouldnt be near as many enemies to the USA, period! why because we would be minding our own damn business. That is why other countries hate us. I blame it in the white Christians, combined with cold war fear too. The Christian attitude, of always spreading their religion by force also slowly transferred to their politics over time, where as before religion was left out of politics even by the most religious. I think big brother really got out of control in the cold war, but began with the formation of the FBI long before that.
Actually I think there needs to be about a ten million man march on washington for the last 10 years now. civil rights vilolations are out of control in this country! We have multiple government organizations that are not even constitutional.
1. The DEA
2. Homeland Security
3. The IRS
4. The FBI
3. The CIA
4. FIMA
5. the FDA
6. The DMV
I can keep going, but the point is that every single one of these organizations' existance is unconstitutional according to our founding fathers. They are also perfect examples how people in america are sheep. they gave up their freedom for potential saftey, but really they dont help us at all. If organizations like this did not exist there wouldnt be near as many enemies to the USA, period! why because we would be minding our own damn business. That is why other countries hate us. I blame it in the white Christians, combined with cold war fear too. The Christian attitude, of always spreading their religion by force also slowly transferred to their politics over time, where as before religion was left out of politics even by the most religious. I think big brother really got out of control in the cold war, but began with the formation of the FBI long before that.
Nah just follow the money::
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XkRcKuGBmSg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XkRcKuGBmSg
I
Indian Culture
You guys are mean! I've always loved my big brother. Ok maybe I'm just being paranoid.
I agree with most of your statement, and I am not in any way trying to sound unkind. I must take issue with one point of your comment on all Americas woes being the white Christian, due to the forceful spread of our religion. That's insane. The complete message of the Christian faith is that of love. I seriously doubt you're a Christian, and therefore you may not know all it is about Christianity. Furthermore, if there is a religion that spreads its word by force, I believe you should read up on Islam. Perhaps you should review the Hitler regime and his Atheistic world view. It is not the Christian way to spread the Word by force.
See Mark 6:8-11
8These were his instructions: "Take nothing for the journey except a staff—no bread, no bag, no money in your belts. 9Wear sandals but not an extra tunic. 10Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you leave that town. 11And if any place will not welcome you or listen to you, shake the dust off your feet when you leave, as a testimony against them."
Some may claim that their obvious madness is driven by God, but those folks just are not true Christians and do not follow the teachings of Jesus Christ.
Now, back on topic, I would have to say that all of these agencies in our government are in place for some truly good reasons, but are subverted by their politrickster bosses. I can see having an ID card or a driver’s license, but I can't see having a national ID. I can see the point of a crime fighting agency that is in place to stop the import of cocaine and heroin, but I can't see one using it's mega force to bust a medical grow in a state in which it is lawful to have a medical grow.
We must have rules or we would implode. We must have leaders who actually represent the people, who are not career politricksters, who get their hands out of our wallets and their eyes and ears away from our personal space.
Oh didn't you guys hear they have turned these agencies over to the private sector lol lol.. so ppl are really fucked.. "infaguard" peace out Headband707
Yup apparently they are contracting out and we will always be on RED alert to keep these guys in their jobs...!!!!... Just look at how many times you have heard about the red/yellow alert when really nothing is going on since the booming in Oklahoma or atleast thats what they are saying lol..The whole thing is pretty twisted and we get to pay for it. The organization is called Infaguard and was formed after Oklahoma.. Tell me they aren't using this to their advantage.. lol.. ya right .. lol.. peace out Headband707
