WEBVTT - A Stingray Operation 0:00:04.240 --> 0:00:07.200 Get in touch with technology with Text Stuff from how 0:00:07.240 --> 0:00:14.920 Stuff Works dot Com. Hey there, and welcome to Text Stuff. 0:00:14.960 --> 0:00:18.360 I'm Jonathan Strickland, and today I have a special treat 0:00:18.880 --> 0:00:22.560 for me and for you. I have kidnapped one of 0:00:22.600 --> 0:00:26.120 the other podcast teams here at How Stuff Works, not 0:00:26.200 --> 0:00:30.000 just a host, an entire team stuff they don't want 0:00:30.080 --> 0:00:35.800 you to know represent yea, yeah, all right, and that's 0:00:35.880 --> 0:00:40.760 Matt and I'm Ben. As always, thanks for having us. 0:00:41.000 --> 0:00:44.720 Listeners probably recalled that both Matt and I have appeared 0:00:44.840 --> 0:00:48.760 in different episodes in the past. That's correct, different episodes 0:00:48.800 --> 0:00:51.000 of tech stuff, some of the same episodes of stuff 0:00:51.000 --> 0:00:52.960 they don't want you to know, though, Yes, yes, there 0:00:53.040 --> 0:00:55.920 is a little bit of overlap for that. But we 0:00:55.920 --> 0:00:59.840 were super excited to hear about today's topic because it's 0:00:59.840 --> 0:01:01.760 been something that Matt and I have been talking about 0:01:01.760 --> 0:01:05.160 off air. Is that correct? Absolutely, This kind of technology 0:01:05.400 --> 0:01:07.800 that we're going to get into a little later. Uh, 0:01:07.840 --> 0:01:11.920 it piques our interest, you could say, yeah, mine as well. Uh, 0:01:11.959 --> 0:01:14.240 you know, the stuff they don't want you to know 0:01:14.319 --> 0:01:17.240 shows great show. If you guys haven't checked it out, 0:01:17.280 --> 0:01:19.640 you need to go and and check it out. Check 0:01:19.840 --> 0:01:24.679 check out how you guys are looking into various types 0:01:24.959 --> 0:01:30.880 of conspiracies, things that are happening below the surface level 0:01:30.920 --> 0:01:33.760 that people may not be aware of, and kind of 0:01:34.200 --> 0:01:38.039 sifting through the information to show which parts of it 0:01:38.280 --> 0:01:42.000 are you know, are really solid. You know, these are 0:01:42.000 --> 0:01:44.520 the things that we know for sure. And here's the 0:01:44.560 --> 0:01:47.319 conjecture that's been said about it. You guys do a 0:01:47.319 --> 0:01:49.600 great job with it. And as it turns out, there's 0:01:49.640 --> 0:01:52.080 a lot of stuff out there that can really fuel 0:01:52.800 --> 0:01:57.000 that kind of kind of talk for good reason. And 0:01:57.040 --> 0:01:59.400 I typically am one of those more you know, I 0:01:59.400 --> 0:02:02.480 am a little are conservative and skeptical with my approach 0:02:02.520 --> 0:02:05.760 to these things. But this is a technology we're gonna 0:02:05.840 --> 0:02:10.520 talk about today that I don't know how you could 0:02:10.560 --> 0:02:14.079 go to it being skeptical and say, oh, everything is fine. 0:02:14.520 --> 0:02:19.520 We are talking about sting ray or I AM s 0:02:19.560 --> 0:02:23.040 I catchers, and so stingray is the one that I 0:02:23.120 --> 0:02:25.120 think most people have heard about. That's the one that 0:02:25.280 --> 0:02:28.440 was brought up in a lawsuit in Arizona, UM. So 0:02:28.480 --> 0:02:31.680 I think that that is what most people think about 0:02:31.720 --> 0:02:34.000 when they hear I M. S I catchers, if they 0:02:34.040 --> 0:02:36.720 are aware of that term at all. But of course 0:02:36.720 --> 0:02:40.600 sting stingray is just one version of that, and we'll 0:02:40.600 --> 0:02:43.680 talk about some of the other ones as well. So 0:02:43.760 --> 0:02:49.600 I am s I catchers stands for International Mobile Subscriber 0:02:49.600 --> 0:02:55.520 Identity catchers or locators, and that is a fancy way 0:02:55.520 --> 0:02:58.720 of saying. This is a technology that is able to 0:02:59.040 --> 0:03:05.720 intercept signals from cell phones, ostensibly so that uh a 0:03:05.880 --> 0:03:10.440 law enforcement official could locate a person based upon that 0:03:10.520 --> 0:03:15.040 person's cell phone signaling. And it does this, and we'll 0:03:15.040 --> 0:03:18.840 talk about specifics in a bit, by mimicking a cell 0:03:18.880 --> 0:03:22.080 phone tower. So in other words, your cell phone is 0:03:22.120 --> 0:03:26.600 communicating with this device thinking that this is the actual 0:03:26.760 --> 0:03:31.040 part of the infrastructure that it would normally operate inside. Yeah. Yeah, 0:03:31.040 --> 0:03:33.440 it's sort of the same way that were similar at 0:03:33.480 --> 0:03:37.200 least to the ways in which some animals have evolved 0:03:37.200 --> 0:03:39.520 to have camouflage that makes them appear to be a 0:03:39.520 --> 0:03:43.280 different type of creature, right. Yeah. And one thing that 0:03:43.360 --> 0:03:45.120 I just want to get this out so I don't 0:03:45.680 --> 0:03:49.480 uh moan and complain about it for the whole episode. 0:03:49.720 --> 0:03:52.480 If you ever lost a cell phone or had one 0:03:52.560 --> 0:03:56.880 stolen and had the sneaking suspicion that there might be 0:03:56.920 --> 0:04:00.520 a way for law enforcement to catch it, well, far radically, 0:04:00.960 --> 0:04:03.760 there is. It's just it's just they can't do that 0:04:03.840 --> 0:04:07.040 for everybody because so many people lose their cell phones 0:04:07.120 --> 0:04:09.280 or have them stolen, you know, as long as it's 0:04:09.280 --> 0:04:12.040 turned on right, right, yeah, and as long as well, 0:04:12.080 --> 0:04:14.240 and it also depends on a couple of other things too, Right, 0:04:14.600 --> 0:04:17.960 they have to have the if they're looking for your 0:04:18.000 --> 0:04:20.560 cell phones specifically, they kind of need to know a 0:04:20.600 --> 0:04:23.520 little bit more information, like they need to know something 0:04:23.560 --> 0:04:28.599 specific about that phone or to identify it versus all 0:04:28.680 --> 0:04:31.120 the other phones that will connect to it, right, right, 0:04:31.520 --> 0:04:33.600 because otherwise they just be like, well, it may be 0:04:33.800 --> 0:04:36.599 one of the phones here, and there are different ways 0:04:36.640 --> 0:04:38.680 of looking into that, right. It all depends on what 0:04:38.720 --> 0:04:40.840 the investigation is. And we'll we'll talk more about how 0:04:40.839 --> 0:04:46.160 it's used in investigations. So basically, this is a technology 0:04:46.440 --> 0:04:52.120 meant to help Again, ostensibly law enforcement tracked down the 0:04:52.160 --> 0:04:57.120 bad guys or counter terrorism officials to identify potential terrorist 0:04:57.160 --> 0:05:00.560 threats before they become a reality. That's what it supposed 0:05:00.600 --> 0:05:02.320 to be used for. There are a lot of people 0:05:02.360 --> 0:05:05.680 who have objected to it because it is it is 0:05:05.720 --> 0:05:10.360 taking a very wide approach to targeting something very specific, 0:05:10.760 --> 0:05:13.679 and that can be dangerous for the sting Ray its self. 0:05:13.720 --> 0:05:16.599 It costs between sixty eight thousand dollars and a hundred 0:05:16.640 --> 0:05:20.040 thirty five thousand dollars last I checked. Because there are 0:05:20.040 --> 0:05:22.719 two different models of the sting ray, there's the sting 0:05:22.800 --> 0:05:24.880 ray and sting Ray. To sting Ray two came out 0:05:24.880 --> 0:05:27.440 a few years ago. The sting ray obviously came out 0:05:27.640 --> 0:05:32.560 before that. Because we move in a chronological order, they 0:05:32.600 --> 0:05:35.440 haven't gotten to that quantum effect where the sequel comes 0:05:35.440 --> 0:05:38.840 out before the original. Um. Now it's made by a 0:05:38.880 --> 0:05:43.599 company called Harris Corporation out of Melbourne, Florida, and uh 0:05:43.680 --> 0:05:47.479 and this company makes a lot of technology that falls 0:05:47.560 --> 0:05:51.640 into this general category. Some of the products that they 0:05:51.680 --> 0:05:55.039 make are similar to sting Ray and do similar things 0:05:55.080 --> 0:05:58.640 to that device. Others are more specific and are meant 0:05:58.680 --> 0:06:04.480 to be used in conjunction with a gadget like stingray. Yeah. Yeah, 0:06:04.560 --> 0:06:06.520 you know, it's like a console, you know, like you've 0:06:06.520 --> 0:06:08.600 got your connect, you've got your you know, your your 0:06:08.680 --> 0:06:11.600 dance pad, You've got all these other things sort of 0:06:11.600 --> 0:06:16.320 the similar thing here, except the devices that Harris Corporation makes, 0:06:17.200 --> 0:06:21.920 some of them boost the signal catching ability of the 0:06:21.920 --> 0:06:26.560 basic technology, like the stingray some of them allow for 0:06:26.640 --> 0:06:30.920 better tracking technology. It all depends on the thing. But 0:06:30.920 --> 0:06:32.279 but you know, you may have heard some of the 0:06:32.279 --> 0:06:40.560 other names. Some of the other names that include trigger fish, kingfish, amberjack, gossamer, harpoon, 0:06:40.720 --> 0:06:45.560 and hail storm. Uh. And not only these are not 0:06:45.680 --> 0:06:49.279 types of stingray. These are all individual devices that work 0:06:49.400 --> 0:06:51.520 in a similar way to sting ray. Some of them 0:06:51.720 --> 0:06:54.600 copy the functionality of stingray, some of them go beyond that. 0:06:54.640 --> 0:07:01.840 In fact, trigger fish is particularly troubling. Um. But uh, 0:07:02.200 --> 0:07:04.359 sting rate self can be really troubling too, if you 0:07:04.400 --> 0:07:07.160 just do a simple upgrade to it. And then you're right. 0:07:07.720 --> 0:07:11.120 The all of these have things in common and that 0:07:11.200 --> 0:07:14.960 they all are meant to detect cell phone usage in 0:07:15.040 --> 0:07:18.280 some way and either identify it or locate it and 0:07:18.440 --> 0:07:22.040 or track it. Um. And it's how you use these 0:07:22.080 --> 0:07:26.360 in combination with one another that determines your ability to 0:07:26.440 --> 0:07:29.760 do that. Now, clearly we're talking about something that's mimicking 0:07:29.800 --> 0:07:32.120 a cell phone tower. You have to have it be 0:07:32.360 --> 0:07:37.400 mobile because otherwise you just have to hope that the 0:07:37.400 --> 0:07:39.840 bad guys happened to go across your part of town. 0:07:39.880 --> 0:07:42.440 You can't take it to them if it's not mobile right. 0:07:42.720 --> 0:07:47.160 So uh. One of the things that this is really 0:07:47.200 --> 0:07:50.040 helpful for as far as law enforcement are concerned, is 0:07:50.080 --> 0:07:52.360 that they can go to a part of town where 0:07:52.360 --> 0:07:56.160 they suspect someone is. They can put out their ears, 0:07:56.240 --> 0:07:58.240 listen for it, look to see if they have any 0:07:58.280 --> 0:08:01.960 hits that relate back to the target they're specifically looking for, 0:08:02.280 --> 0:08:04.200 and if not, they can move on to a different 0:08:04.200 --> 0:08:08.000 part of town. Um. That's also one of the drawbacks, 0:08:08.120 --> 0:08:10.600 as it turns out, at least from from the perspective 0:08:10.600 --> 0:08:15.280 of some people. Now let's see one other thing. Oh, 0:08:15.320 --> 0:08:19.280 I forgot to mention. Gossamer is one of the exceptions 0:08:19.320 --> 0:08:24.240 to this. Gossamer is not about tracking or locating cell phone. Yeah, 0:08:24.240 --> 0:08:26.200 but this is the one that freaks me out the most. Yeah, 0:08:26.200 --> 0:08:29.120 this is not passive. Now, Gossamer is about denial of 0:08:29.120 --> 0:08:33.120 service attacks on a mobile phone. So it's about it's 0:08:33.200 --> 0:08:36.240 essentially a jammer. Now, this is great for all of 0:08:36.280 --> 0:08:39.320 the paranoid people in the audience. Are you getting bad 0:08:39.360 --> 0:08:44.160 reception or are you being gossamer? I actually, and and 0:08:44.559 --> 0:08:47.120 another thing to to mention. I didn't put it in 0:08:47.160 --> 0:08:49.800 our notes, but one of the things these devices typically 0:08:49.800 --> 0:08:52.640 can do, the stingray in particular, can do this is 0:08:52.679 --> 0:08:56.320 it can boost your the signal coming from your phone 0:08:57.200 --> 0:09:00.040 to connect to the tower. It can essentially say I 0:09:00.160 --> 0:09:03.400 need a stronger signal your phone. Then, even though you're 0:09:03.400 --> 0:09:05.760 not using it, like it's just in your pocket, there's 0:09:05.800 --> 0:09:09.040 no vibrating, there's no ringing, there's nothing going on, your 0:09:09.080 --> 0:09:13.080 phone starts sending stronger signals. This drains your battery. So 0:09:13.440 --> 0:09:16.200 if you're the paranoid persuasion, you may also think my 0:09:16.320 --> 0:09:20.480 phone's battery just won't even last like a full day anymore. 0:09:20.600 --> 0:09:22.800 And it might not be because your phone is old. 0:09:22.840 --> 0:09:26.240 It might be because you're getting you're getting sting rayed. 0:09:26.480 --> 0:09:30.319 You guys, I'm not kidding. That's happening to me right now. Well, 0:09:30.440 --> 0:09:34.000 I'm sorry, Matt, but you should take more care when 0:09:34.000 --> 0:09:37.360 you are browsing on your phone. Also, Matt, Matt, I 0:09:37.360 --> 0:09:39.200 mean not to make you worried or anything, but you're 0:09:39.240 --> 0:09:44.000 definitely on some lists. So I mean you're on our 0:09:44.040 --> 0:09:48.680 list of favorite people. Yeah, there's one right there. So okay, 0:09:48.720 --> 0:09:51.719 So I love this idea about it being mobile. So 0:09:51.840 --> 0:09:57.880 if we take that paranoid example, uh, in the vast majority, 0:09:57.960 --> 0:10:02.000 virtually every time somebody has poor reception or poor battery life. 0:10:02.200 --> 0:10:04.120 It is never going to be something like this, But 0:10:04.200 --> 0:10:07.160 there is a very small chance that if you are 0:10:07.160 --> 0:10:10.280 a victim of this, you could literally have someone following 0:10:10.280 --> 0:10:15.120 you around, right, yeah, I mean, okay, to be fair, 0:10:15.320 --> 0:10:18.760 this technology we're talking about is at a level of 0:10:18.800 --> 0:10:21.120 expense where it's not likely to happen to you. And 0:10:21.559 --> 0:10:25.400 if you are someone who is either hanging out with 0:10:25.520 --> 0:10:30.600 questionable people or you yourself are engaged in some questionable activities, 0:10:31.120 --> 0:10:36.240 then you'd be more likely to have this actually target you. Now, 0:10:37.160 --> 0:10:40.960 because we know that law enforcement agencies across the United 0:10:40.960 --> 0:10:44.720 States and in other parts of the world have used 0:10:44.920 --> 0:10:47.680 this kind of technology, they're the they're the customers, they're 0:10:47.720 --> 0:10:51.080 ones that are purchasing the stuff from Harris Corporation. It's 0:10:51.160 --> 0:10:53.640 very possible you would come into contact with this, and 0:10:53.679 --> 0:10:56.240 it's not that you are being targeted, but you're still 0:10:56.280 --> 0:11:00.160 being affected because it's so broad. Yeah, it's like it's 0:11:00.160 --> 0:11:03.040 mimicking a cellphone tower. It's not mimicking a cell phone 0:11:03.040 --> 0:11:06.120 tower for a single phone. It's been making a cell 0:11:06.160 --> 0:11:11.240 phone tower for the broadcast range of that device. And 0:11:11.360 --> 0:11:15.240 so okay, so their mobile but what what would they 0:11:15.360 --> 0:11:17.319 look like if you just saw one. So they look 0:11:17.400 --> 0:11:19.440 kind of like, uh, I mean, if you've ever seen 0:11:19.520 --> 0:11:23.120 one of those servers, like it looks like just a 0:11:23.160 --> 0:11:26.400 basic computer with lots of ports on it. It's kind 0:11:26.400 --> 0:11:29.959 of like that. It's usually a little bit uh, stumpy looking, 0:11:30.000 --> 0:11:32.240 like it's not as wide as your typical server is. 0:11:32.280 --> 0:11:34.559 It's a little more narrow a little tall. But it's 0:11:34.600 --> 0:11:37.960 meant to fit into racks because you can, you know, 0:11:38.080 --> 0:11:41.400 end up pairing these with other technologies. But it's essentially 0:11:41.440 --> 0:11:43.960 a computer and you hook it up to a laptop, 0:11:44.200 --> 0:11:46.600 so you've got really the basic parts you have are 0:11:46.720 --> 0:11:49.320 the antenna, which is important because obviously it has to 0:11:49.440 --> 0:11:52.920 receive signals sent from cell phones um and a transmitter 0:11:53.000 --> 0:11:54.679 so that you can send stuff back through if you 0:11:54.720 --> 0:12:00.640 need to. You've got the computer itself, which is processing 0:12:00.640 --> 0:12:03.920 the signals and identifying where those signals are coming from, 0:12:03.960 --> 0:12:06.560 both what type of phone it is by you know, 0:12:06.600 --> 0:12:09.800 giving you the identification numbers of that phone, the phone 0:12:09.880 --> 0:12:14.000 number that's associated with that phone, and the location of 0:12:14.040 --> 0:12:16.920 that phone based upon some triangulation. You might actually have 0:12:17.000 --> 0:12:21.720 to physically move the technology around to get the triangulation. 0:12:23.040 --> 0:12:27.000 You could theoretically communicate with another cell phone tower, and 0:12:27.040 --> 0:12:30.079 by getting comparing numbers, you know you know you can 0:12:30.120 --> 0:12:34.160 generally tell the direction from which the signal comes and 0:12:34.280 --> 0:12:37.240 its strength. That gives you an idea of it's it's 0:12:37.360 --> 0:12:41.800 general location in that like you know roughly what distance 0:12:41.840 --> 0:12:45.040 it is from your your base station. So it's one 0:12:45.040 --> 0:12:47.440 of those things where if the signal gets stronger, it's 0:12:47.440 --> 0:12:51.080 closer to you, right, and if it's if it's if 0:12:51.080 --> 0:12:53.400 the signal, if the cell phone signal is getting weaker 0:12:53.440 --> 0:12:55.880 than you know that the target cell phone is moving away. 0:12:56.520 --> 0:12:58.560 If you were to move the van to a second 0:12:58.600 --> 0:13:01.800 location and do those measure a mints, then because you 0:13:01.880 --> 0:13:04.200 have the two points on a on one part of 0:13:04.200 --> 0:13:06.800 a triangle, the cell phones the third point, then you 0:13:06.880 --> 0:13:10.360 know where the person is. It's the same way that 0:13:10.760 --> 0:13:13.800 cell phone towers are able to give an approximation of 0:13:13.880 --> 0:13:17.080 where you are, even if your phone doesn't have GPS. Right, 0:13:17.280 --> 0:13:20.120 it's sending the signals and based upon the strength of 0:13:20.160 --> 0:13:22.319 the signal, how long it takes to get there, all 0:13:22.320 --> 0:13:26.520 of these sort of things, it can approximate where you are. Now. 0:13:26.800 --> 0:13:30.440 By by approximate, I mean within a few you know, meters, 0:13:30.480 --> 0:13:33.640 So it's not like as as a specific as GPS 0:13:33.720 --> 0:13:37.680 can be, but it's still good enough for law enforcement 0:13:37.760 --> 0:13:40.679 to hone in on a on a particular location and 0:13:40.720 --> 0:13:43.960 people can sent to the use of GPS. But yeah, 0:13:44.320 --> 0:13:46.120 uh So there's a question that I'm sure a lot 0:13:46.160 --> 0:13:49.439 of people are wondering, which is this stuff sounds kind 0:13:49.440 --> 0:13:53.400 of space a g but how how new? Is it 0:13:53.640 --> 0:13:58.640 not that new? Uh? The the information I found said 0:13:58.679 --> 0:14:02.200 that at least the giger Fish version of this technology 0:14:02.240 --> 0:14:04.680 has been in use since the late nineteen nineties, Like, 0:14:06.480 --> 0:14:08.600 uh yeah, And to keep keep in mind, like this 0:14:08.640 --> 0:14:12.120 technology has been in some form of development or another 0:14:12.200 --> 0:14:16.720 and been available to different types of agencies, specifically the 0:14:16.800 --> 0:14:20.160 FBI would be a big one. Um. And it's just 0:14:20.240 --> 0:14:22.960 that over the past few years it has become more 0:14:23.200 --> 0:14:27.920 common for local law enforcement to get their hands on this. 0:14:28.360 --> 0:14:31.360 Before it was something that only you know, the federal 0:14:32.240 --> 0:14:36.680 law enforcement officials were able to access. But now we're 0:14:36.680 --> 0:14:40.560 seeing local law enforcement. Not everybody's owning up to it, 0:14:40.560 --> 0:14:43.239 but we're seeing a lot of local law enforcement offices 0:14:43.720 --> 0:14:46.640 adopt this technology, and they're doing it in kind of 0:14:46.640 --> 0:14:52.080 a kind of a back door Shenanigan's way, I would say, yeah, 0:14:52.520 --> 0:14:55.760 so uh, you know, these things can be pretty expensive, 0:14:55.880 --> 0:14:58.560 and obviously law enforcement has a budget that they have 0:14:58.600 --> 0:15:01.800 to answer to, so some of them are funding the 0:15:01.880 --> 0:15:06.000 purchase of this material by filing it under counter terrorism 0:15:06.320 --> 0:15:12.120 uh um strategies. Yeah. Essentially they say, we want to 0:15:12.160 --> 0:15:14.520 participate in this, you know, we want to make sure 0:15:14.560 --> 0:15:18.560 we help protect national security doing it on a local level. Uh. 0:15:18.560 --> 0:15:22.000 And then they get the federal grant to purchase this stuff. 0:15:22.040 --> 0:15:25.680 But then they're using it on a much broader scale. 0:15:25.800 --> 0:15:29.280 So it's not like they're not using it specifically for 0:15:29.440 --> 0:15:31.840 counter terrorism. They're using it in all sorts of cases. 0:15:31.880 --> 0:15:35.480 There was a story about a sheriff whose own vehicle 0:15:35.600 --> 0:15:39.720 got broken into and uh and whose phone was stolen, 0:15:40.040 --> 0:15:43.160 who decided to use this stuff to try and ostensibly 0:15:43.320 --> 0:15:47.200 to try and stop the the string of car break ins. 0:15:47.240 --> 0:15:50.720 Some people would say that perhaps it was more personal 0:15:50.760 --> 0:15:53.960 than that, but the point being that this was not 0:15:54.040 --> 0:15:57.120 a counter terrorism issue. This was you know, someone breaking 0:15:57.120 --> 0:15:59.840 and entering into cars, which is you know, that's that's 0:15:59.840 --> 0:16:03.400 a crime. But you people have been arguing, like what 0:16:03.520 --> 0:16:07.240 at what level of crime do you consider the use 0:16:07.320 --> 0:16:12.000 of this particular type of technology necessary to employ? Yeah, 0:16:12.080 --> 0:16:15.400 especially given the expense not just in financial terms, but 0:16:15.520 --> 0:16:20.400 in terms of manpower or time. So that's that's one problem, 0:16:20.480 --> 0:16:23.720 but it's my spider sense is telling me that you 0:16:23.760 --> 0:16:26.440 have a bigger problem. I've got so many problems with this, 0:16:27.080 --> 0:16:29.880 So let's let's talk about how it works first, because 0:16:29.920 --> 0:16:32.400 this is this is what leads into where the biggest 0:16:32.400 --> 0:16:36.640 problems that I have where the technology come from. So uh, 0:16:36.960 --> 0:16:39.000 to understand how this works, you've got to know how 0:16:39.080 --> 0:16:42.640 cell phone works, all right, And we're gonna be super 0:16:42.720 --> 0:16:45.160 high level here because I could do a full episode 0:16:45.160 --> 0:16:48.680 on how cell phones work, and you guys would be 0:16:48.880 --> 0:16:52.280 stabbing me because you're wondering why I've pulled you in UM. 0:16:52.320 --> 0:16:55.480 But typically the easiest way of explaining it as cell 0:16:55.480 --> 0:16:59.200 phones broadcast over radio frequencies, and you have cell phone 0:16:59.240 --> 0:17:03.280 towers that present a broadcast area. The towers are able 0:17:03.360 --> 0:17:07.080 to accept the incoming signals from a cell phone and 0:17:07.119 --> 0:17:09.480 outgoing signals that are going to cell phones within that 0:17:10.200 --> 0:17:13.720 UM service area. They're doing so over specific frequency to 0:17:13.800 --> 0:17:17.880 the phones. Your phone knows which frequency quote unquote knows 0:17:18.000 --> 0:17:20.320 which frequency to be in because there's a master control 0:17:20.359 --> 0:17:23.600 system that's telling the phone tune into this frequency so 0:17:23.640 --> 0:17:27.280 that you can receive and transmit information. Technically you're using 0:17:27.320 --> 0:17:29.560 too frequencies so you can receive and transmit at the 0:17:29.600 --> 0:17:33.920 same time. Then as you leave one cell phone service 0:17:34.040 --> 0:17:37.240 area and you're starting to get closer to another, then 0:17:37.400 --> 0:17:40.440 you have to be handed off right because if if not, 0:17:41.040 --> 0:17:43.240 once you move too far away from the base station, 0:17:43.359 --> 0:17:45.959 you would no longer have service. So this is similar 0:17:46.000 --> 0:17:48.000 to when you move into an area that doesn't have 0:17:48.400 --> 0:17:52.159 the towers that support the service you use. So if 0:17:52.160 --> 0:17:53.879 you're like an a T and T customer and you 0:17:53.920 --> 0:17:56.240 go into an area that's not supported by a T 0:17:56.320 --> 0:17:58.960 and T, then you're out of luck. Your phone becomes 0:17:59.000 --> 0:18:02.160 a brick, right, or whatever's on your phone, that's all 0:18:02.160 --> 0:18:06.160 you can use. So you have to have this handoff 0:18:06.160 --> 0:18:11.160 technology for one tower to hand off the the service 0:18:11.280 --> 0:18:14.400 to another tower as you're moving between them. So what's 0:18:14.400 --> 0:18:17.720 happening is your phone is constantly sending little signals even 0:18:17.720 --> 0:18:22.440 when it's not directly in use to to say here 0:18:22.480 --> 0:18:27.520 I am. It's essentially saying I'm here almost yeah, it's 0:18:27.520 --> 0:18:30.320 exactly like paying a server. It's doing this about every 0:18:30.359 --> 0:18:33.600 seven to fifteen seconds. So this is why even if 0:18:33.600 --> 0:18:37.880 you don't use your phone, the battery life gradually decreases. 0:18:38.600 --> 0:18:42.040 So the reason it does this is very important because 0:18:42.040 --> 0:18:44.840 if it didn't tell the cell phone towers, hey here 0:18:44.880 --> 0:18:47.200 I am, you would never get texts or cell phone 0:18:47.600 --> 0:18:49.840 or you never get a call. You couldn't you just 0:18:49.880 --> 0:18:53.879 play solitaire or whatever. Yeah, because because the system wouldn't 0:18:53.920 --> 0:18:55.520 know where your phone is, so it wouldn't be able 0:18:55.560 --> 0:18:58.240 to send the signal like it doesn't when someone dials 0:18:58.280 --> 0:19:02.040 your number. It doesn't magically connect to your phone. The 0:19:02.119 --> 0:19:04.280 system has to be aware of where you are, and 0:19:04.320 --> 0:19:07.320 it has this constant game of Marco Polo to ensure 0:19:07.359 --> 0:19:10.719 that there's this seamless transition. Right because you as a person, 0:19:11.480 --> 0:19:14.760 you are mobile, so you can move from location to location. 0:19:14.800 --> 0:19:17.399 You are not always going to be next to the 0:19:17.520 --> 0:19:21.240 same cell phone tower all the time. So your phone 0:19:21.240 --> 0:19:24.680 has to constantly, like every seven to fifteen seconds, say 0:19:24.760 --> 0:19:27.480 I'm here. Because if you're in a car and you're 0:19:27.520 --> 0:19:30.320 traveling down the road, you're moving in and out of 0:19:30.400 --> 0:19:34.359 different you know, cell tower ranges, so the different cell 0:19:34.359 --> 0:19:36.679 towers have to be aware of where your phone is 0:19:36.720 --> 0:19:39.480 so that you can continue to receive messages, phone calls. 0:19:39.520 --> 0:19:42.639 That kind of stuff or make them. Yeah, the problem 0:19:42.720 --> 0:19:44.840 is that because of this technology, you know that this 0:19:44.920 --> 0:19:48.760 is what makes cell phones useful, but because of that 0:19:48.840 --> 0:19:53.280 same technology, it's also what makes this sting ray technology possible. So, 0:19:54.000 --> 0:19:56.719 because your phone is sending out these messages and your 0:19:56.760 --> 0:19:59.480 phone doesn't know where the next cell phone tower is, 0:19:59.600 --> 0:20:02.359 it's podcasting these little messages and the cell phone towers 0:20:02.400 --> 0:20:04.680 pick it up. Based upon the signal strength, the cell 0:20:04.720 --> 0:20:07.080 phone tower knows if you are moving toward it or 0:20:07.119 --> 0:20:11.280 moving away from it. The sting ray ends up mimicking 0:20:11.520 --> 0:20:14.000 the cell phone towers. So your little cell phone sends 0:20:14.000 --> 0:20:16.240 out a message and the stingray picks it up. Sting 0:20:16.280 --> 0:20:18.040 ray now knows where your phone is, or at least 0:20:18.240 --> 0:20:21.600 knows that your phone is in that area. As the 0:20:21.640 --> 0:20:23.919 signal gets stronger, the stingray knows that your phone is 0:20:23.920 --> 0:20:27.800 getting closer to it. If you have triangulated this, then 0:20:27.920 --> 0:20:30.040 it knows where you are. Or if you have one 0:20:30.040 --> 0:20:33.159 of the other devices that pair with the sting ray 0:20:33.240 --> 0:20:36.280 that can help track and locate, the sting ray knows 0:20:36.280 --> 0:20:38.520 where you are. There's a laptop that you would connect 0:20:38.600 --> 0:20:41.199 to this device that would give you the redoubt that 0:20:41.200 --> 0:20:43.399 would be useful for a human being because right now 0:20:43.440 --> 0:20:46.880 we're talking all about technology that and data that machines 0:20:46.880 --> 0:20:49.320 could use, but it's not useful to us because we 0:20:49.359 --> 0:20:52.719 wouldn't be able to see it. But the laptop expresses 0:20:52.760 --> 0:20:57.480 that in ways that make it possible for you to see. 0:20:57.760 --> 0:21:02.760 Maybe with mapping software, it's plotting the location against a map, 0:21:03.280 --> 0:21:07.639 as well as identification of the phone numbers UM and 0:21:07.800 --> 0:21:12.639 the I D number that's unique to that particular mobile phone. 0:21:13.640 --> 0:21:19.800 So the issue here is that this this sting ray, 0:21:20.840 --> 0:21:25.600 well accept all of those incoming messages, all those Yeah, 0:21:25.640 --> 0:21:29.159 anything that's within the area that that the sensitivity of 0:21:29.160 --> 0:21:32.360 that antenna, it will pick that up. So is it like, 0:21:32.520 --> 0:21:37.560 is it just metadata? Well yes, originally, first it's just, 0:21:38.560 --> 0:21:46.320 first of all, just metadata, just metadata, because metadata you 0:21:46.359 --> 0:21:48.480 don't need very much of it to start making some 0:21:48.680 --> 0:21:53.080 very scary conclusions. You can start to really narrow down 0:21:53.080 --> 0:21:56.960 who a person is based upon some metadata routines what 0:21:57.000 --> 0:21:59.199 they do in the real world and when they do it, 0:21:59.280 --> 0:22:02.800 the phone numbers they might be in contact with at 0:22:02.840 --> 0:22:05.159 that time. The phone number of the device itself obviously 0:22:05.200 --> 0:22:08.400 would be very important. So let's say that you two 0:22:09.119 --> 0:22:15.200 YouTube and Ben you are you are. You are the cops. Okay, okay, 0:22:15.240 --> 0:22:18.560 you're in your van power Yeah, I know, it's not 0:22:18.640 --> 0:22:22.800 go crazy. You do not have a tank. We're not 0:22:23.200 --> 0:22:27.679 We're not in Swanny. Was Swanny? Wasn't it? I was 0:22:27.680 --> 0:22:31.480 thinking Swanny? By the way, listeners, is is just to 0:22:31.560 --> 0:22:34.400 the northeast of Atlanta. It's a little part of Metro 0:22:34.480 --> 0:22:39.320 Atlanta area. Um and they have a tank. So anyway, 0:22:39.720 --> 0:22:42.919 you are in a van. You have heard about tanks, 0:22:42.960 --> 0:22:45.840 but you do not currently own one. You've got plenty 0:22:45.840 --> 0:22:48.800 of donuts to get you through the day. By the way, 0:22:48.800 --> 0:22:50.919 if you are in law enforcement, and I am offending you, 0:22:50.960 --> 0:22:55.119 dear listeners, I'm merely poking fun. I love you guys 0:22:55.320 --> 0:22:57.239 at any rate. So you guys are are looking at 0:22:57.280 --> 0:23:00.800 the incoming messages that are being hit. We're on our laptop. 0:23:00.920 --> 0:23:04.880 You are looking specifically for a phone number associated with 0:23:04.920 --> 0:23:08.280 a suspect, a person of interest. You want to be 0:23:08.359 --> 0:23:11.399 able to track this person down, but so far have 0:23:11.600 --> 0:23:14.159 been unable to do so. You have heard that this 0:23:14.240 --> 0:23:16.560 person may in fact be in this particular part of town, 0:23:16.600 --> 0:23:19.040 which is why you have parked your van, And all 0:23:19.119 --> 0:23:21.280 you are doing is looking for a hit of that 0:23:21.320 --> 0:23:24.760 particular number as it moves through, and once you do, 0:23:24.840 --> 0:23:28.280 you then try to triangulate, you locate, and then your 0:23:28.480 --> 0:23:32.920