Utility Box Exposed As Spy Cabinet In the Netherlands 179
First time accepted submitter thejezus writes "A spy cabinet has been exposed on a public road in The Hague, the Netherlands (Google translate here). The cabinet was disguised as telecom-cabinet and was detected by the maintenance crew of Ziggo (a triple-play provider) because it was not listed as a property of the company. Upon opening, it was revealed the cabinet contained a camera and UMTS equipment. Later that day, the cabinet disappeared. 1984 much?"
Quis Custodiot Ipsos Custodes (Score:5, Interesting)
One of the most important tasks when discovering an electronic intruder or monitor is to trace if they try to clean up and remove their tracks. This is as true for electronic "spy boxes" as it is for unauthorized network taps, rootkitted servers, and hacked websites. It's too bad the discoverers didn't have the resources to set up a webcam to monitor the spy box, itself, to get data on the vehicle or faces of those removing the spy box.
Re:My question is... (Score:5, Interesting)
A square. Dutch editions of the news speculate that it was there to monitor the coming and goings of militants. Might be related to recruiting of Jihadists for Syria too, at least that has been a big news item in these parts recently.
Re:I could be wrong but.... (Score:2, Interesting)
That time you called to say goodbye to your dying uncle... that time you sent a nude picture to your girlfriend... that time your daughter sent one to her boyfriend... the order you placed at Amazon.com... the three bottles of whiskey you put on your card... your rent check... your hot chat with that girl via text... the bill you paid for your vasectomy... the log-in times to Google, Facebook, Netflix, and other online services and how heavy your usage was.... your picture tagged by a friend on facebook... every word you type on /b/ unless you're proxied...every email you have sent or received from an IP remotely associated with you or sent unencrypted or associated with an email address remotely associated with you... your physical location within 100 meters... all unencrypted data on your phone... all data on your Google, Microsoft, and Amazon cloud drives...
These things are obtained at a moment's notice with (at most) a rubber stamp warrant.by any one of hundreds of federal, state, local, and international government agencies.
Are you sure we're not approaching 1984?