Caught Spying On Student, FBI Demands GPS Tracker Back

[SecularMotion]

Source: Wired

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 their 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

Read more: http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/10/fbi-tracking-device/

[Uncle Joe]

1. What about finders keepers, losers weepers?

:shrug:

Thanks for the thread, SecularMotion.

[Poll_Blind]

8. Hey, you bring up a great point and some good questions:

So, if the FBI plants a GPS tracker on the car and the owner finds it...is it their property? What if the owner sells/destroys it? I'm 100% sure they'd bring charges against the person for doing so but that doesn't mean a judge would find in their favor.

After all, think about this, you're planting something on someone's private property. How can this thing not essentially belong to them, especially when it was clandestinely planted.

Now the funnier part: Does this mean that in the future they're going to have stickers on devices like this saying something like "Removal of this device or tampering with it is a federal crime." and nothing more? Like no contact information, etc?

Wouldn't that be rich? I'm not necessary being facetious but what about an FBI agent who walks up to you on the street and sticks a RFID pin into your jacket or on your purse? The slippery slope is really slippery with this one.

PB

[Evasporque]

13. More disturbing...was this warrantless spying on a U.S. Citizen....?

[EFerrari]

15. According to the article, a 9th Circuit appeals court said

they don't need a warrant to do this.

Unreal.

[Evasporque]

23. Yes to plant a device....but maybe there were wiretaps in addition...

If he was being watched that closely...they had wiretaps on him as well...

[EFerrari]

31. Oh, I see. Yeah, and intercepts on his mail.

At least they didn't raid the house and take all his stuff as they did to those peace activists.

[molly77]

71. That is what happened to gov blago

illegal wire taps. Then the prosecution refused to allow the jury to hear them in the trial. For all the slamming of blago, not too many people have noticed that the bill of rights was ignored.

[EFerrari]

85. I didn't know the taps were illegal. n/t

[Enthusiast]

156. The real danger

is that these wire taps are done to collect information primarily to damage a political enemy. The wire taps can be applied selectively. There is no longer any oversight. Where abuses can occur they will occur.

[truedelphi]

64. My household phone was wiretapped back in the nineties.

My dad kept saying that the tapping noise could only be wiretapping.

He had a friend of his who was retiring from the Bureau call me to listen in and that guy said my phone line "Definitely" was being taped.

That surprised me as I had read countless articles that modern day wiretapping was so seamless no one could hear it.

But it turns out that when the FBI or others go to the trouble of getting a warrant to listen in to you, then the wiretap process causes little if any detectable noise.

When they don't get a warrant, at least in the nineties, they still used the older noisier process.

At the same point in time, The Clinton Adminsitration had started blocking my calls.

And I have no idea which of my pursuits led to this trouble. Getting emails from a Serbian citizen when we had NATO dropping bombs on them? Inquiring too often about Monsanto? Complaining about Depleted Uranium. Investigating HAARP? Being buddies with Jim Scanlon, the first indie reporter to make headway with articles about Global Warming? (Global Warming was pooh poohed by everyone when Scanlon first reported on it in 1995 or maybe even earlier.)


I don't know which. None of these pursuits were illegal. But I could see that flags would be raised by any of them.

[Swagman]

123. you sound pretty dangerous...asking questions

[pinniped]

146. I heard tapping and clicking noise in the 90s, too.

People always say they only hear it when calling me.

It went on for years. Either the technology got better or they gave up.

They knew I knew they were listening in. Just say a few certain words, and there it goes. I always told them to get a life.

[Roon]

150. My buddy found a bug after their house was raided back in the 90's

They found it right away and just took the battery out. It was a great conversation piece for years.

[glinda]

160. Same here as well as one time I heard men's voices in the background.

[cynzke]

161. Happened To Me Too!

Wasn't a phone glitch. My dad and sister worked on nuclear subs, had to have security clearance. As a relative, figured the Feds were keeping an eye on me.

[glinda]

166. Did it sound like older gruff gravelly sounding men? All I could hear was a sentence that sounded

like they were waiting or monitoring or something. It was kinda liked they were bored or something. Took me totally by surprise.

[AngryAmish]

165. I used to hear voices all the time, too. Tinfoil took care of that.

I'm kidding. But I did hear noises - it was the neighbors talking. Back in analog days (AA leans back in his rocker) sometimes the insulation between lines was not 100%, so I heard the neioghbors. They heard us too. Almost like the old party lines.

If you live too close to a powerful am radio source you can get leakage on phone lines too.

[lovuian]

139. thank you Patriot Act

but now we know they are spying on us

[24601]

143. Yes it was - and it's legal. The GPS tracks locations and does not

collect anything requiring a warrant. It's providing the same information that the FBI would get by simply following him from place to place.

The tracker doesn't record conversations or video for which there would be an expectation of privacy and doesn't rise to the level of a search. Never mind the fact that that not all searches require a warrant. Searches incident to arrest or CBP body cavity searches when you enter or leave the country are two examples.

[Just One Woman]

16. I agree with #6

Always assume you are being watched. Keep your side of the street clean.
(Sorry I meant to reply to story..and hit wrong button...my bad)

[Downwinder]

21. Do not remove this tag under penalty of law. n/t

[thanks_imjustlurking]

148. That was my first thought!

:rofl:

[Uncle Joe]

25. Yes, anyone could plant a tracker in your car.

If the owner were to sell or destroy it, how could they be prosecuted, it might belong to the Mafia or a jealous ex?

There would need to be identification and a ph# visible on the tracker, ie: "This is property of the FBI, we fucked up, you caught us, please call BR-549 so that we may pick up our device; until we can find a convenient time to replant it on your automobile at some future date of our choosing."

[OrwellwasRight]

152. Such a tag would inject some humor into being spied upon.

:rofl:

[sfwriter]

49. I'd place it on a freight train...

Let them figure that out...

Or a delivery truck maybe.

[Incitatus]

138. I'm thinking stray cat. n

[CoffeeCat]

151. I was going to say...

...go to an amusement park and put it on a roller coaster.

hehe.

[Vincardog]

86. What if they plant it, the owner finds it, and it 'accidentally' gets put on a long haul truck?

Or falls into the hold of a jet? Or into a Rail road train? What if it finds itself attached to a city bus?

[1monster]

114. Better still, what if it were to somehow find itself stuck to an FBI car?

:rofl:

[Vincardog]

130. Or how about if it found itself stuck to Diaper Dan Vitter's car?

[L0oniX]

109. I would have stuck it on a train box car.

[Shoedogg]

111. I'd have to agree...

If I planted a tree in your yard it's not my tree, is it?

[bkozumplik]

132. city of santa clara planted trees in everbodys yards

we dont own em. We cant cut them down. They dig up my sidfewalks pretty badly, and its my problem, evidently. The good thing is, they will come and trim the tree if you ask.

[Blue_Tires]

22. that would probably fall under "Obstruction of an official investigation"

or something like that....

[Uncle Joe]

28. The mere act of finding it, would obstruct an investigation.

Even if left on the automobile, the owner would be aware of it and could alter his/her behavior to compensate for having a tracked vehicle.

[Poll_Blind]

32. Yes! I think that's sort of what I was thinking but couldn't enunciate.

Like some sort of chimerical Terry-Gilliam-movie-like reality where a person might have a GPS tracker on their car or, hell, a "kick me" (track me?) note on their back but they couldn't take it off, might not be able to even acknowledge it, without being charged with breaking a/the law.

PB

[Uncle Joe]

43. That's what I love about DU, we can all gain from one another, just by reading the comments in your

profile, I was forced to look up the word "phantasmorgic" in the dictionary.

NOTE: Anyone can join Democratic Underground. They can claim anything. Democratic Underground gives no warranty that the people with which you interact on Democratic Underground are Democrats or even Progressives. They may be Republicans, other political agitators or merely the mentally-unstable, heavily intoxicated or deranged personalities whose behavior is best described as "shit-stirring assholes".

Furthermore, reading the first two sentences in the above paragraph, realize that their irrational, inflammatory or destructive behavior may appear to be supported by other individuals or even the bulk of respondents to a given post. However, always applying the above paragraph to certain phantasmagoric situations you may witness in given threads in our fora, you are best served by believing only those ideas that you agree with to be real and the rest highly suspect.

:thumbsup:

[rosesaylavee]

70. Nice!

My day would have been far poorer if I had missed reading this. :rofl:
I have many of those 'phantasmagoric situations'!

[Uncle Joe]

81. Hi, rosesaylavee, anytime that I can enrich your day is a good day.

Peace to you.:) :hi:

[TheMadMonk]

140. Phantasmagoric is one of those words that benefits from a superfluous "al".

Makes it look more phatasmagorical.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

153. that's like the alumni magazine from my law school.

I once saw an article that referred to "prestidigious law firms" :rofl:

I knew lawyers could pull the wool over the jury's eyes, but I didn't know they were magicians.

:rofl:

[no_hypocrisy]

27. Abandoned property. FBI loses right to possession.

[rhett o rick]

60. Not abandoned, it was being actively used. nm

[Ian David]

77. Negative-option billing? n/t

[Plucketeer]

87. Had I found that on my car, I would've taken a hammer to it.

Then set a car alarm to go off when it was touched!

[formercia]

94. Cubans are hotheads

They found one of our audio devices once, took it outside and put several rounds into it. Their Technical folks must have been pissed. It makes it very difficult to evaluate.

[ManiacJoe]

52. That only applies when the rightful owner

cannot be determined.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

65. Cue the weeping.

[Name removed]

73. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Initech]

79. I'd put a price tag on it.

[L0oniX]

110. Yea ...sell it on Ebay.

[happyslug]

124. The law as to "lost" goods is simple, it belongs to the person who LOST IT,

Finders Keepers is NOT the law in the US, and has NEVER been the law. Unless you can say the property was "abandoned" it still belongs to whoever "lost" it. This came up in the late 1800s in the dispute between a person who found an old Viking Ship and the person who owned the land the Viking ship was found on. The court first answer the question who "owned" the ship, and the answer was the Viking who lost it, not these two people (The Court then ruled that between two NON-OWNERS of property, it belongs to the person who found it, not the person whose property it was found on).

Please note the law as to "found" property when the real owner is unknown can be complex. If no relationship exists between the person who found it and the property it was found on, the law is simple, the property, as between those two people (i.e. NOT the real owner) the item belongs to the Finder.

Now, if a relationship exists between the two people, the issue become what is the relationship? For example if you hire someone to dig a hole for you, and while doing so he found the Ship, the ship would belong the person who hired the person to dig the whole. On the other hand if the owner had hired the contractor to paint his barn, and while painting notice the viking ship in the ground, then an argument can be made the Painting had nothing to do with the finding of the ship and as such belongs to the person who finds it.

Ownership of lost property (provided we are NOT talking of the person who lost the property) can be complex, but if the issue is between the real owner and whoever finds it, the law is simple, it belongs to the person who "lost" it, in this case the Federal Government.

Now, if you can claim the Government "Abandoned" the property, then you may have an argument, but the law assumes the Government does NOT abandon anything, unlike you and I where the law is a lot more liberal when it comes to when we "abandon" property. Thus "abandonment" is a poor argument in a case like this one.

[Poll_Blind]

133. That was an interesting read- thanks. I realize law-stuff I read on the Internet is...

...inherently suspect but you made some good, sensible points.

PB

[xchrom]

2. Oy. Nt

[ProudDad]

3. Smash the m*therf*cker and give it back to them in a baggie! (n/t)

[wcollar]

18. GPS tracker

Nah, he should have stuck it on a semi headed for the east cost.

[ProudDad]

29. Cute idea...

:rofl:

And probably personally safer...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x9280785

[iamthebandfanman]

104. or better yet, thru a package carrier on an international flight lmao.

[LiberalFighter]

4. Too bad he couldn't had wired the doorway with a way to demagnetized the device

when they left with it. Or wouldn't demagnetizing work?

[Renew Deal]

5. I would have asked them to pay for the trip to Dubai.

And they can come along. Unbelievable story.

[Hydra]

6. Never assume you're not being watched

Because they don't have to have a reason. State secrets and all that.

[DirkGently]

7. Seems like we're determined to alienate and enrage all Arab or Muslim Americans.

[bherrera]

9. The guy was stupid

He should have put the device on a taxi.

[Poll_Blind]

11. Well to cut him slack he really didn't know WHAT it was and who planted it and why.

If you go to the Wired article and maybe the Reddit article it references, the dude's roomate (who was helping him get to the bottom of things) wasn't sure whether it was planted by terrorists or maybe even a bomb of some sort. It apparently made strange noises that started to freak everyone out.

Oh, and IIRC, they were all high on weed around the time they discovered it. Comedy of errors and all that.

PB

[Locrian]

46. wow

>>Oh, and IIRC, they were all high on weed around the time they discovered it. Comedy of errors and all that.

Can you imagine the paranoia they had?!!

Duuuude... wtf is THAT?! OMG OMG OMG !!

[Poll_Blind]

50. LOL, when I was typing that up I was thinking about how that went down.

But, really, IMO weed paranoia exists in this little envelope of safety in which there's nothing to really be worried about. Every time I've been high and something has happened that I've had to deal with I've snapped out of any sort of paranoia and gone into dealing-with-it mode.

However, especially if we've been smoking mad weed, I'll totally freak out after the airbus touches down because "We're not stopping! We're not stopping, dude! We're all gonna roast in this thing!"

And then my co-pilot hits the reverse thrusters and pats me on the arm condescendingly.

's cool though, we just bring the soundproof foam and put it up against the cabin doors so the passengers don't hear. Also filters out the smoke pretty well so we don't have to use those paper towel tubes and dryer sheets anymore.

PB

[lumberjack_jeff]

88. Rofl! n/t

[1monster]

162. I haven't been around anyone smoking weed since the '70s, so things may have

changed, but then, had anyone discovered such a device, the reaction would have been a very laid back,

"Like wow, dude! Wouldja look at that? Wonder what it is?"

"Looks like a tracking or listening device, bro. Cool!"

"Hey man, hand me the hemostats, okay? I'm burnin' my fingers on this joint."

loud inhale

"This is some seriously good shit, man. Wonder if its the locals, the county mounties, or the feds?"

"Here, I just rolled another one."

"Don't matter. This stuff is so good, we'll just offer 'em a hit or two and they'll join us."

"Far out!"

"Peace man."

[Incitatus]

141. x

[icnorth]

19. I kind of like Fed Ex to

Cook Inlet, Wasilla, Alaska c/o S. Palin.

[flyarm]

26. or put it on a train..or subway!! eom

[RaleighNCDUer]

35. Or a boat -

"So, where is he now?"

"About 20 miles off Malibu."

"???"

[icnorth]

47. Uhh, Agent Mike...

I seem to be getting a false positive. ;-)

[NYMdaveNYI]

74. I’d duct tape that shit to a deer. have the FBI chase it through the woods. nt

[emmadoggy]

78. Ok, that just made me bust out laughing!

:rofl:

[EFerrari]

36. On one of those mechanical ponies that kids ride for a quarter outside of Safeway. n/t

[Xithras]

93. Nope. Go to a truck stop and plant it under someones trailer.

If you really want to screw with them, find one with Mexican or Canadian plates.

[Lochloosa]

10. He should have talked to a lawyer and let him/her talk to the FBI. "Where is your warrant?"

[texastoast]

63. That would have worked before Raygun

But not since.

We are getting to the bottom of his slippery slope.

[old mark]

12. I wonder how many of us on DU are under FBI or other Fed surveillance,

seriously. It seems whoever is directing these assholes has no idea who are Americans and who are our enemies...like the right wing armed jerks running around in the woods "training"...

mark

[James48]

39. HI MOM! n/t

[era veteran]

48. You're only paranoid if it's liable not to happen.

I'm sort of hoping to see if they had any pictures of me in the '70's. Using Freedom of Information Act.

[old mark]

51. I had an FBI file from '67 or so...I went to a peace march in NYC one Saturday

afternoon, and it kept me from getting a Top Secret clearance when I was in the Army 3 years later, which kept me from getting a promotion to Sergeant.

I have little doubt that file has been re-opened since I have been posting here.

Maybe we will run into each other in some federal re-education camp...we should have some sort of recognition signal....:hi:


mark

I don't know if I'm kidding or not any more....

[era veteran]

69. I was at Out Now Mayday April 1971, In front of FBI BLD

the chant Fuck Hoover, who was looking, went up by tens of thousands. Somehow I still got a secret clearance but in reality I was the patriot not the 'man'. Lots of photo ops for the shiny shoe FBI boys running around. Yell Yorktown real loud and I'll find you. / Yorktown, code for 'friendly' tactical nuclear strike , call word for the inmates. /// I wonder if they do have shit on us? Fuck them if they do.

[old mark]

96. I'd bet there is someone that reads this site every day, makes copious notes....

Maybe even more than that, who knows, with the "Homeland Security" garbage, all leftists are probably suspected of something....


mark

[texastoast]

66. I've had an FBI file on me since the 1980s

I'm one of those damned environmental peacenik activists.

I worked with an ex-U.S. marshal who still had all his connections and he confirmed that.

[Dash87]

112. I seriously doubt they waste their time on a website. lol

Except maybe those crazy hate-websites like Stormfr*** where those people are probably really creepy in real life (or just 12 year old trolls posting from daddy's computer).

I think the lesson of this is don't use a keyboard sized tracking device. That can only lead to problems. :rofl:

♥

[boppers]

121. The FBI generally doesn't do much website scraping.

They don't have the resources. That's another agency. :)

[old mark]

154. Probably the NSA or similar....nt

[Blue_Tires]

14. if only they put that much effort into finding real criminals

[Demeter]

155. Or Prosecuting the White Collar Fraud at the Too Big to Fail Banks

W pulled the FBI off that case, in particular, when it was under investigation...
mortgage fraud, they called it then. Now it's called the Greatest Scam Ever.

[hunter]

17. It's such a downer when they tell you "...you're boring."

:(

[flyarm]

20. start looking in the books you buy!! I found a computer chip in Jesse Ventura's book I bought!

it is enveloped in a very small white paper it was adhesived on the next to last page..in by the binder..

I was reading the book on the beach this summer..and when I got to the next to last page I saw this little white paper attached to the page..I peeled it off..and in the summer sun, I could see the computer chip inside the paper.

I have kept it..but my first response, I was damned pissed off, and thought of going to the grocery store parking lot and attaching it to somebody's truck..or car! And let the damn thing drive around all over the place!!

But I have kept it and have tried to get to Jesse to let him know, to no avail..but I put it in a tin box..wrapped in cellophane and aluminum.

Not too paranoid here......lol..

I have showed it to many people and have warned people to look in the books they buy ..and check out for anything attached inside the books pages!

I bought this particular book at an airport .

oh the Book is American Conspiracies by Jesse Ventura

[gilpo]

37. that was an anti-theft device

triggers the beeper at the door if it isn't deactivated before the book leaves the premises.

[flyarm]

41. no it was not..is was very very tiny..not a door security tag..it is a computer chip!

I showed it to my local police Chief..who is my next door neighbor..and dear friend..he said it looks like a tracking chip!

Even the Chief of police said that scared the ever loving shit out of him, that that kind of chip/device would be placed in a book!

[RantinRavin]

40. Sounds like the RFID tag

used for the store's anti-shoplifting system.

[flyarm]

42. nope that is not what it is. eom

[X_Digger]

53. Yes, actually, that was what it is

http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2008/08/homeland-securi/

http://www.explainthatstuff.com/rfid.html

[SomeGuynTexas]

55. "Not too paranoid here......lol.." That's an understatement.

"Not too paranoid here......lol.."

Not too smart either.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio-frequency_identification">RFID....oh and by the way...it can read your brain wave. As in the one.

How can you be tech savvy enough to recognize the "thingy" as foreign to the book and yet not know about RFID inventory control tags?

Do you live in 1980 or what?

Sheesh.

[Ian David]

80. The publisher probably put it there as a publicity stunt hoping people would find it. n/t

[Dash87]

158. Are you sure it wasn't an RFID chip?

I can almost assure you that nobody has the technology to track a book across the country on a small chip like that. Think how many chips they would have to follow. Even if the technology existed, it would be a waste of time.

♥

[DeSwiss]

24. K&R

- When one lives in a police state, this is what they do.......

[icnorth]

30. Only 6 agents?

One would think at least a platoon would be required for an exercise of this magnitude. :sarcasm:

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

33. Caught Spying on Student, FBI Demands GPS Tracker Back

Source: Wired

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 their 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. (...)

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.

Read more: http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/10/fbi-tracking-device/all/1

---

PLEASE tell me the boy has a case.

[OnyxCollie]

34. "State secrets" claim in 3... 2... 1... nt

[liberation]

97. That device was probably made in China anyways....

[kirby]

107. The surveillance company is in Canada n/t

[flyarm]

45. good on the ACLU..I think I will give another donation today to them!! Thank god for ACLU! eom

[Sentath]

56. ACLU

so much of what they do is so good, but I'm going to have to sit a couple years out after http://www.aclu.org/free-speech/citizens-united-v-federal-election-commission

[James48]

38. I bet someone who signed the hand receipt is not happy

seeing as the Model ST820EC GPS tracking unit is a very expensive piece of equipment.

See the price list here:

https://www.gsaadvantage.gov/ref_text/GS07F9227S/GS07F9227S_online.htm


I'd say the person who found that ought to put it on Ebay and see what it is worth.

[jsgindc]

44. I would of put it in 3 small ziplock bags

wrapped a piece of raw meat around it...and go out about 3 miles off shore and let the current take it for the sharks to swallow

[texastoast]

68. Love. That. n/t

[Dash87]

115. lol "wtf? Is he on a submarine?"

They would think he was the world's most sophisticated terrorist. :fistbump:

♥

[mistertrickster]

54. Any word on whether there was a warrent for this survellience? nt

[rhett o rick]

62. LOL, warrents are so '90's. nm

[No Elephants]

57. Young, Arab and male.

[texastoast]

67. A little random profiling?

I would say yes.

[rhett o rick]

58. They need a tag on their tracking devices reading: "If you find this on your car, please drop in

the USPS mail with free postage to the FBI".

[Dash87]

113. Or at least have the decency to tell someone you're putting a secret tracking device on their car.

:)

♥

[baldguy]

59. He should have taken it and installed on a city bus.

Or a police car.

[The Backlash Cometh]

61. They want the evidence back?

Why would they reveal themselves?

[Vinca]

72. He ought to put it on ebay at a foolishly high price and let them buy it back.

[Xenotime]

83. ah yea....that would work.

:eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes:

[cstanleytech]

91. Actually I was thinking he should have overnight expressed it to a friend in canada

who then does the same with it to japan and then from there another friend sends it to china, now that would have been entertaining to watch.

[Ter]

75. What I want to know is why was it so big?

The FBI has to use a GPS tracker that's a foot long? Why not the size of a quarter?

[Ian David]

82. The smaller ones probably have shorter range and shorter lifetime.

The kid was probably a low-priority target, and they wanted something they could drop-and-forget, without having to stay within 100 yards of him all the time.

[Ter]

89. Then what about the GPS units for your car?

Some are 3", and can track you anywhere.

[ManiacJoe]

99. The ones you attach to your windshield are only receivers.

[Ian David]

125. Good point. Maybe they require extra time to install? n/t

[progressoid]

84. No kidding. That friggin thing is huge.

They must be running low on the Jason Bourne quality trackers and had to get out the old ones.

[liberation]

98. The bulk is mostly the batteries...

... I assume these devices are supposed to be on the field for months at a time. Then again, it is hard to be on the field for more than a few hours not being noticed at that size....

I am sure some contractor providing those black boxes is getting some nice dividends off some technology that could not compete in the open market (I am also certain the CEO of said contracting firm is a die hard free market fundamentalist).

[kirby]

106. 4 D Cell Batteries...

That is why the 'tube' looks like a flashlight, to hold the batteries.

[Ian David]

76. It sounds like abandoned property to me. n/t

[provis99]

90. should've taken it to the local city dump.

Let the FBI fuckers troll through tons of garbage to find it.

[jimlup]

92. He should have put it on a cross country truck

just to give them a little excitement while retrieving it...

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

95. a private investigator put a bug in my car,

The husband of a woman I work with was convinced we were having an affair, we were doing no such thing, or atleast I wasn't and this chick began following me for the better part of a month and a half. I noticed something was wrong because the stereo kept making the choppy interference a GSM cellphone makes... except I have Verizon.

It wasn't very hard to find since it had just been tossed in the window that was open a crack and landed in the passenger side door compartment. So I set about making sure it was recording the most disgusting sounds the human body was capable of creating. When the battery died I drilled a hole in it and left it on the antenna of the investigators car, while she was in it.

[DeSwiss]

100. He should have dropped it in the toilet.

- Then gave it back to them.

[RobertBlue]

101. The Shape of Things to Come...

:(

[DeadManInc]

102. He should have taken it off and put it on someone

elses car.

[GETPLANING]

103. I would have boxed it up and sent it to

FBI headquarters in Washington DC. C.O.D.

[kestrel91316]

105. If I ever find one, I'm gonna slip it into the shopping cart of the stinkiest,

craziest homeless person I can find.

[RufusTFirefly]

108. Paging Pastor Niemoller! n/t

[Diclotican]

116. SecularMotion

SecularMotion

If this had happened to me, I would be pissed off. But rather than let them came to me.. I would have walking up to the nearest FBI office, and told them I was given back a device I belive was their property.. And also tellt hem, that next time, they better hide the device better next time...

Diclotican

[ThomCat]

117. What are the odds that they had a warrant for any of this?

:grr:

Just one more example of the FBI being a rogue agency, out of control and needing desperately to be either reined in or abolished.

When are we going to get a president who restores the rule of law in this country?

[Mr_Jefferson_24]

145. Rogue agency is right...

...and the CIA is the same way. Exactly who they report/answer to, I couldn't say, but clearly it's NOT our government.

[fascisthunter]

118. Hilarious, Depressing and Embarrassing all in one

oh and just fucking stupid on the part of the FBI

[EVDebs]

119. Sounds like a huge waste of taxpayer dollars all the way around

The only ones going to make $ off this now are the lawyers. Besides, a tracking device that big and clunky looking ? C'mon, the NSA has got to have better than THAT now, don'tcha think ?

[earcandle]

120. bizarre! An American citizen, a student.. jeez.. I am glad the kid found it.

[Ian David]

127. If it was THAT big, maybe he was MEANT to find it?

As a warning to stop whatever it was he may have been doing to annoy The FBI.

[earcandle]

129. That would have been extraordinarily kind and compassionate of the FBI. Are they capable of that?

[boppers]

122. "You don’t need to call your lawyer. Don’t worry, you’re boring."

Cute.

[madokie]

126. If I found it on my car I'd give it a drink

[Ian David]

128. I'd go to a truck stop and put it on an 18-wheeler with out-of-state plates.

I'd think about mailing it to Pakistan, but that would likely raise too many questions.

[madokie]

157. Actually I'd take it the shop and tear it apart and see whats inside

see if maybe there'd be something in it that I might use on another project some other day. If I then seen that there was nothing worth keeping I'd throw it in the wood stove in the shop and burn the pieces into unrecognizable junk.
I like your idea too but me being a tinkerer I'd have to tear it up first to see whats inside.

[Sirveri]

131. All wrong. You take it apart and take pictures of every component.

Then you post them on the internet. Then you, with batteries still connected, submerge the device in a large tub of water. Then you throw it in the trash.

[Kolesar]

134. If you put it into a steel trash can, they cannot track it

I love your idea, though.

[Sirveri]

147. a mylar bag might also work. But destroying the device costs them money.

That is the real secret.

[Ian David]

164. Mylar just gave me an idea! Attach a bunch of mylar helium balloons to it and send it flying! n/t

[TheMadMonk]

144. If still in college I'd visit the electronic's department.

Shouldn't be hard to make up a few transmitters to spoof the real GPS signals. Then I'd "write" messages across the landscape.

Shouldn't take even the FBI too long to realise that people don't generally drive copperplate routes.

Or maybe a vector rendering of Goatse might get the message across.

[DissedByBush]

135. Be a good citizen, mail it back

To FBI headquarters.

Given the look of part of the system it's sure to give them a scare that it's a bomb.

[inna]

136. just saw this story on local news. this is starting to get out of control, seriously.

[grahamhgreen]

137. They gave it to him when they put it in his car, by definition.

[Dirigo]

142. GPS attached to student's car by FBI

It would appear the Feds had reasonable cause to track the student's car. Since the news account doesn't state the detail and facts of the case at hand one must conclude that given the Feds wanted their tracking device back, and since they were monitoring his communications (computer, phone, mail, etc) they learned he had found the device rather quickly. Also two Feds approached his car in the apartment parking lot and there were two other SUVs with more Feds and police officers for that jurisdiction present there had to be some major concern about this student. Maybe they didn't like his communications to middle eastern countries if any, maybe they didn't like what he was reported to have said to others and reported it to the authorities, maybe they don't like his friends and contacts. Maybe they don't like his google searches or e-mail list or what he writes. In the end the Feds don't have to explain to the public why or how it conducts its investigations. I would have to give the Feds the benefit of the doubt here. If and until the ACLU which has expressed an interest in this matter litigates the legality of tracking the student we will have to wait and see.

[usregimechange]

149. Show me the warrant

[urgk]

159. Can't the FBI make a tracker that doesn't look like a movie prop?

They might as well have written "tracking device" on the case.

[zehnkatzen]

163. So now they don't even care if they get caught any more? k/r n/t

[The abyss]

167. Frankly I love this story!

The closer this entire house of cards comes to crashing down, the more insane “the machine” becomes.

The best way to expose a psychopath is to allow them to act naturally.



Damn – I love it!