[embedding-shape]

Basically: if it has a modem in it, it can be used against you in some way. Phones, routers, cars, public signs, cameras.

It's been so turbulent lately, that it's hard to register events that would have blown our minds if so many things didn't also happen around the same time. Remember when Israel made a bunch of pagers explode indiscriminately across Lebanon and Syria? So many things going on, one worse than the other, that it is hard to stop and really consider the implication of these single events fully.

[ActorNightly]

Its important to not be hyperbolic in these times.

The two technologies ICE uses rely on permission for apps tonuse geolocation data for advertising purposes. Same reason you start seeing ads for local things when you travel.

Technically they can subpoena cell records to see which towers your phone connects to, but this is not viable for multiple people.

For privacy, if you care, having a rooted degoogled phone with no sim card is sufficient enough. You can check its signature by using your laptop as a IGW and capturing traffic to see if any apps or services ping anything.

If you want off grid comms, meshtastic devices are very nice, me and my wife use LilyGo Tdeck pluses for comms and finding each other at festivals. The portable modems are also nice because you can use them for GPS for your phone vs built in location services.

[buran77]

> phone with no sim card is sufficient enough

It's most certainly not. Phones connect to a cell tower even without a SIM to make emergency calls. The phone can still be tracked and it's not a difficult leap from there to identify the owner of the phone.

[embedding-shape]

Strikes me as almost negligent to say to "not be hyperbolic" and then completely downplay exactly how they can track you in the real world.

[beecasthurlbow]

That may be true for this specific use case, but the protection on bigger services could be easily rolled back. E.g., law enforcement was able to ask Google for "tell me everyone who was in this specific area during this time" [0] and is still able to ask "give me everyone who searched for a specific term" [1].

[0] https://www.forbes.com/sites/larsdaniel/2024/10/08/google-to... [1] https://reason.com/volokh/2025/12/16/are-there-fourth-amendm...

[soco]

Nevertheless, it's eerie that we are even having this discussion today. I didn't say "scary" because I'm far away from these events, but definitely uncomfortable - I know, the "events" may approach sooner or later my location too...

[AndrewKemendo]

There’s millions of people who have been dealing with this daily for the last few decades. The sim swap networks and VPN/TOR users across the world live like this.

When I was in Iraq it was basically expected that all of your communications are totally pwnd, if you live in China you’re totally pwnd.

Cell trackers like described in the article have been in use for the last 15 years by police and law-enforcement inside the US.

why you think its eerie?

[muwtyhg]

> why you think its eerie?

You typed out how awful the situation is, and how you cannot trust anything, and then ask why it's eerie? I feel like you answered your own question before you even asked it.

[AndrewKemendo]

It’s only eerie if it isn’t common

[baggy_trough]

Indiscriminately?

[embedding-shape]

Yes, seemingly so. I guess we'd have to wait for full investigations to conclude before saying for sure, but sure looks like it.

> “To the extent that international humanitarian law applies, at the time of the attacks there was no way of knowing who possessed each device and who was nearby,” the experts said. “Simultaneous attacks by thousands of devices would inevitably violate humanitarian law, by failing to verify each target, and distinguish between protected civilians and those who could potentially be attacked for taking a direct part in hostilities."

> “Such attacks could constitute war crimes of murder, attacking civilians, and launching indiscriminate attacks, in addition to violating the right to life,” the experts said.

https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2024/09/exploding-pa...

[lobf]

I mean, who else is using a pager in Lebanon? That's not a tool a normal consumer uses, it's only used by people to evade phone surveillance. I think it sounds like a high probability that anyone receiving one of these pages in Lebanon is part of Hezbollah.

[embedding-shape]

> I mean, who else is using a pager in Lebanon?

But they can impossibly actually know who physically has the pager next to them, when they're triggering them. This is the "failing to verify each target" part.

[baggy_trough]

That's not a very realistic standard for a wartime covert operation.

[embedding-shape]

Maybe that's the wrong way to think about it? Maybe these "wartime covert operations" need to read up on Human Rights and figure out a way to work within it?

[lobf]

Is this a SoP in wartime?

[hnaccount_rng]

I mean in the case in Lebanon they knew. They sold those pagers to Hezbollah.

[potato3732842]

They only discriminated to the extent to which the specific product they went after correlated with the people they actually wanted to kill.

[standardUser]

The locations of the detonations were indiscriminate, the intended targets were not.