Earlier this year, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez posted these handy instructions on how to protest over on her Instagram feed, telling people that they should not bring their cell phones or, at the very least, have the devices switched to airplane mode because they’re easily trackable if left on.
“Don’t bring cell phone without first turning off Face/Touch ID, going on airplane mode, and disabling data,” she advised:
We bring this up now because the FBI is now reportedly interviewing people whose cellphones pinged off of towers that showed them in the vicinity of the Capitol on January 6:
Washington D.C. residents whose cell phones pinged cell towers/connected to wifi near the Capitol during the storming of the seat of government are getting visits from the FBI asking for evidence from the scene, @wusa9 @BruceLeshan reports. https://t.co/W4drKnuxzb
— Shannon Vavra (@shanvav) January 23, 2021
Oof.
From the article: “an agent [told] them investigators were tracking people whose cell phones connected to wi-fi or pinged cell phone towers”:
Looks like FBI got sweeping court order for cell tower logs and subscriber info for any phone near Capitol during insurrection: "an agent [told] them investigators were tracking people whose cell phones connected to wi-fi or pinged cell phone towers" https://t.co/0MkXK3nXwc
— Kim Zetter (@KimZetter) January 23, 2021
That’s going to be a lot of calls for the FBI to make, if true that is:
Ooof sucks to be a seditionist
“A DC woman said an FBI agent contacted her and said investigators were reaching out to the owner of every phone that touched a cell tower near the riot.” https://t.co/Qlg7V7qqW6
— Alfred Spellman (@AlfredSpellman) January 23, 2021
More from the article:
“Extremely creepy, because he explained that they have everyone’s phone number from pinging off the cell phone towers, and they know basically exactly where you were, within the vicinity of the Capitol,” Stevens said. “And they can actually pinpoint on Google Maps exactly where you were standing. Like, he knew where I was standing on the sidewalk, like specifically, based on my cell phone ping.”
It’s also clear that Facebook is fully cooperating with the FBI’s investigations:
The same social media platforms that helped spread the lies and conspiracies that led to the attack on the U.S. Capitol are now providing the government with the evidence they need to find and convict the Trump fanatics who took part in that attack. https://t.co/b9tWwFz9ZS
— Ryan J. Reilly (@ryanjreilly) January 22, 2021
This example shows how even a deleted account won’t protect the target of the investigation:
Most of the cases the feds are dropping against Trump supporters who invaded the U.S. Capitol are the result of tips from the public, but a couple of recent cases against insurrectionists give us a peak under the hood: https://t.co/b9tWwFz9ZS pic.twitter.com/HKkMlcphuw
— Ryan J. Reilly (@ryanjreilly) January 22, 2021
And, via the HuffPost, “[o]ne key factor that distinguishes a digital dragnet of the U.S. Capitol from a digital dragnet of typical protests is that there’s no First Amendment right to invade the U.S. Capitol”:
One key factor that distinguishes a digital dragnet of the U.S. Capitol from a digital dragnet of typical protests is that there’s no First Amendment right to invade the U.S. Capitol. Anyone in there without authority committed a crime. Here’s @normative: https://t.co/b9tWwFz9ZS pic.twitter.com/lmDeP1TAIW
— Ryan J. Reilly (@ryanjreilly) January 22, 2021
But it sounds like the FBI is already going beyond this, right?
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