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Rebels Hijack Gaddafi's Phone Network

A team led by a Libyan-American telecom executive has helped rebels hijack Muammar Gaddafi's cellphone network and re-establish their own communications. The new network, first plotted on an airplane napkin and assembled with the help of oil-rich Arab nations, gives more than two million Libyans their first connections to each other and the outside world after Gaddafi cut off telephone and internet service a month ago.

The network has enabled rebel leaders to make calls needed to rally international backing, source weapons, and strategize with their envoys abroad. To make this possible, engineeers hived off part of the Libyana cellphone network -- owned and operated by the Tripoli-based Libyan General Telecommunications Authority, which is run by Gaddafi's eldest son -- and rewired it to run independently of the regime's control.


http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703841904576256512991215284.html

Filed under: Etisalat Huawei Internet Libya Libyana Revolution Telecommunications Thuraya
 

Mobile Phones Are Tracking Devices
Media_httpimageszeitd_lcgla

Most people's understanding of what can actually be done with the data provided by our mobile phones is theoretical; there were few real-world examples. That is why Malte Spitz from the German Green party decided to publish his own data collected from August 2009 to February 2010. However, to even access the information, he had to file a suit against telecommunications giant Deutsche Telekom.

The data were contained in a massive Excel document. Each of the 35,831 rows of the spreadsheet represents an instance when Spitz's mobile phone transferred information over a half-year period. Seen individually, the pieces of data are mostly inconsequential. But taken together, they provide what investigators call a profile -– a clear picture of a person's habits and preferences, and of his or her life.

The profile reveals when Spitz walked down the street, when he took a train, when he was in an airplane. It shows when he worked and when he slept, when he could be reached by phone and when was unavailable. It shows when he preferred to talk on his phone and when he preferred to send a text message. It shows which beer gardens he liked to visit in his free time. All in all, it reveals an entire life.


http://www.zeit.de/digital/datenschutz/2011-03/data-protection-malte-spitz
Filed under: Mobile Phone Privacy Security Telecommunications Tracking
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