Device Finds Child Porn on WiFi

CommanderFrank

CommanderFrank

Cat Can't Scratch It
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A device that can locate and track down child pornography on WiFi networks is been marketed by Fluke Networks. The device is used to aid police in the locating and identifying traffickers of child porn back to the home or business. The device is called the Aircheck WiFi Tester and also has other uses in locating internet crimes.

"Police have found that they are able to pick this tool up, and within minutes, they know how to use it, and they know how to use it effectively," said Mark Bauman of Fluke Networks.
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So basically they're wardriving and packet sniffing? Doesn't this constitute 'hacking'? As such, wouldn't this be in clear violation of the fourth amendment? (Yes, I know someone will disagree and go on about how you can't expect something transmitted over the air to be private etc. etc.)
 
The problem is, when they misuse real problems, it kind of trivilizes it. But I suppose all those people "thinking of the children" will be buying a gazillion just to be safe.
 
pothb said:
My question is... how does it identify what's what?
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From the article, it sounds like its used to analyze a network and pinpoint the person suspected of child pornography. It doesn't find child pornography on its own.

"The directional antennae on the device scans a building or home for WiFi connections. Aircheck can tell if a network is open or password-protected, then pinpoint the person who handled the illegal content. That way, police can confidently identify their suspects and make a quick arrest."
 
pothb said:
My question is... how does it identify what's what?
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If I were to wager a guess...

It captures packets related to images and analyzes them, similar to how Google image search can analyze an image and find similar ones for you.

It may also be checking to where and from where traffic is going and compare it to known websites. Alternately, it could capture and save all image traffic and be scanned through manually by an officer.
 
Genny said:
So basically they're wardriving and packet sniffing? Doesn't this constitute 'hacking'? As such, wouldn't this be in clear violation of the fourth amendment? (Yes, I know someone will disagree and go on about how you can't expect something transmitted over the air to be private etc. etc.)
Click to expand...

I seem to remember there was a law(s) passed about people with unsecure connections could be prosecuted for illegal downloads, even if it was someone else just using their connection as a waypoint. It wouldn't be a far stretch to say that this means all unsecured connections will be treated like a door left ajar, the police are free to come in and search.
 
Nice..... I currently don't have my wifi passwrod protected.. I just don't transmit the SSID.

Only thing I really use it for is my phone.. but if this thing can erroneously detect stuff.. and I can pretty much assure you that it isn't perfect.. then I may just have to disable my Wifi or maybe at least put a huge long password on it.

Thank you freaks for ruining it for the rest of us. :mad:
 
odysseus145 said:
From the article, it sounds like its used to analyze a network and pinpoint the person suspected of child pornography. It doesn't find child pornography on its own.

"The directional antennae on the device scans a building or home for WiFi connections. Aircheck can tell if a network is open or password-protected, then pinpoint the person who handled the illegal content. That way, police can confidently identify their suspects and make a quick arrest."
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I read that... but that doesn't seem to be anything spectacular. It seems to be a guessing game which would suck for someone falsely accused.
 
If they aren't using an encrypted VPN, then they are morons anyway. But, they're child porn purveyors; I didn't say they were smart.
 
pothb said:
I read that... but that doesn't seem to be anything spectacular. It seems to be a guessing game which would suck for someone falsely accused.
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No kidding. I wonder when they'll take this from just purely "thinking of the children" to blowing the lid wide open on this technology and some more blind men gets taken to court by the media industry for sharing porn.
 
Eisenblut said:
If they aren't using an encrypted VPN, then they are morons anyway. But, they're child porn purveyors; I didn't say they were smart.
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Well the 'and other illegal activity' really stood out to me. I believe this to simply be wrapped in the guise of preventing child porn.
 
Astronomica said:
That's even worse than not having a secure network.
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Yeah... but the only people that live near me are old and, as far as I know, don't even have a computer. The closest house where people might actually own a computer is across the main road and I very much doubt that the person living there would even know how to hook up a power gain antenna in order to maybe even be able to pick up my Wifi.

I used to have an encrypted and passworded Wifi setup, but any time I had somebody over that wanted to use it, it wouldn't work half the time due to outdated drivers or incompatibilities.

I got tired of troubleshooting problems with other peoples equipment.

If somebody wanted to connect to my Wifi and they were wardriving, they would pretty much have to park in my yard as there isn't really anywhere to pull off on the side of the road that is close enough for them to even get a signal from my router.

If I lived in a housing developement of an apartment complex it would be a totally different story.
 
Genny said:
If I were to wager a guess...

It captures packets related to images and analyzes them, similar to how Google image search can analyze an image and find similar ones for you.

It may also be checking to where and from where traffic is going and compare it to known websites. Alternately, it could capture and save all image traffic and be scanned through manually by an officer.
Click to expand...

I'll wage another guess, and say it's not even that sophisticated. Someone jumps on another network and uploads kiddy porn (or whatever)... authorities find the IP address, and then a physical address. Of course by the the wifi thief probably isn't even downloading anymore.. so perhaps they do a stakeout and wait for that IP addy to download again, then go searching for where (if any) the signal is coming from and busts the person.
 
Will be fun when all that anti terrorist/anti child pornography soft and tools get retooled for political censorship.

Will it be 1984 then or maybe rather Simulacra where "free" people can vote for their next president :D
 
Device finds child porn on WiFi
Should read: Device finds what ever we want on WiFi, but we are going to get around that by saying it is for child porn so no one dare complain. George Orwell just rolled over in his grave again!
 
cyclone3d said:
Nice..... I currently don't have my wifi passwrod protected.. I just don't transmit the SSID.

Only thing I really use it for is my phone.. but if this thing can erroneously detect stuff.. and I can pretty much assure you that it isn't perfect.. then I may just have to disable my Wifi or maybe at least put a huge long password on it.

Thank you freaks for ruining it for the rest of us. :mad:
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I am going to be brutally honest.

Leaving your wifi not password protected is just as stupid if not more so than leaving your front door unlocked. There are plenty of ways to find non SSD transmitting wifi, and the people looking for those are the ones you certainly don't want on your network.

Concerning this, I find myself torn.

On one hand, I find pedophiles revolting and basically feel they deserve whatever they get. On the other, this wreaks of a HUGE violation of constitutional rights and I see someone effectively fighting it.
 
This does not sit well with me. Reminds me of the scene in V for Vendetta with the guys driving around in vans listening in on people in their homes...
 
Genny said:
Well the 'and other illegal activity' really stood out to me. I believe this to simply be wrapped in the guise of preventing child porn.
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That does seem to be the trend these days. I'm all for nailing child porn, but we're not all fools. We've been burned enough times, we're familiar with the political dance routine and it's only a matter of time before this also mutates into something that completely violates civil rights.

It's going to be real ironic one day when our grown up kids turn around to look at us and asks, "How were you protecting us by silently letting these things pass, dad?" I don't think I'll be able to give them a good answer.
 
cyclone3d said:
I used to have an encrypted and passworded Wifi setup, but any time I had somebody over that wanted to use it, it wouldn't work half the time due to outdated drivers or incompatibilities.

I got tired of troubleshooting problems with other peoples equipment.
Click to expand...

Here's a little better solution:

I have my current Wifi etup securely.

However, I had an older router that I turned off the DHCP, changed into an access point (most routers will support this) and set it to unsecured. I normally leave it unplugged, but if someone comes over and needs access, I can simple plug it in and instantly have an open acces point available. When thier done, I can just unplug it again.
 
stiltner said:
I'm sorry, but you cannot put this shit any better. Fluke Networks can dive off a cliff.

VERY NSFW for VERY TRUE:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7_zMdNRAmo
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OUTSTANDING!!!

on the other topic, I have a confession to make, I run an open node hooked to three panel antennas in the attic...I think everyone should open their routers and make access so random and ubiquitous that nobody cares anymore.

or we can hunker down in fear and wait for the boot...I guess
 
WPA2 AES gl with that oh and i use a totally random key thats like 32 long or longer
kinda looks like this
sdighjri0g[h0=349694=u9gu9sOSJ}G9=34i043i6039640)*()$_*&(_$&^GIO)JNR[/QUOTE]
yea totally going to brute force that any time soon
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Elios said:
WPA2 AES gl with that oh and i use a totally random key thats like 32 long or longer
kinda looks like this

yea totally going to brute force that any time soon
Click to expand...

I'm going to redirect you here for more information: http://xkcd.com/936/ Now i realize yours is totally random and not just letter substitution. But there is no way in hell you are gonna remember that without writing it down.
 
great, but its illegal wire tapping... not all 100+ million internet users with wireless networks are kiddie porno creepos. there are better ways! the feds and international efforts this year have been great at arresting dozens at once... similar tactics to what they did with the mob earlier this year or last year.

someone should teach them about p2p lol
 
Genny said:
So basically they're wardriving and packet sniffing? Doesn't this constitute 'hacking'? As such, wouldn't this be in clear violation of the fourth amendment? (Yes, I know someone will disagree and go on about etc. etc.)
Click to expand...

Their, "how you can't expect something transmitted over the air to be private", arguments become moot the moment we look at precedent regarding cell phone taps. They seem to be wearing the "terrorist" card pretty thin. They are just moving on to CP to gain acceptance, or at least silence from the masses.

CP is bad, we get it, so is rape, murder, and a few hundred other things. This NOT about CP at all.
 
As always, gross violations of citizens rights are always first justified as "for the children".

Terrorism and CP, the two tools that government will use to erode your rights if people don't speak up. I still can't believe that our government actually passed the Patriot Act, and that even democrats like Obama are on bored and extended it.

Yay for what should be illegal wire and internet taps.
 
Whisperfang said:
I'm going to redirect you here for more information: http://xkcd.com/936/ Now i realize yours is totally random and not just letter substitution. But there is no way in hell you are gonna remember that without writing it down.
Click to expand...
Pass phrases do work, but most sites either have character limits for passwords or at least only actually count the first eight or ten characters, and typically have punctuation and special character requirements. It is also tiresome to have to type in an entire sentence every time you want to logon.

Some of us also have a pretty good memory, so its a non issue. You can also make it easier on yourself by using common character substitutions for gibberish words or acronyms that only make sense to you, along with number strings that represent dates that you would know.

If you have a military background for example, you might use Lr$pr@C05142008
(long range special reporting and coordination with the date of your anniversary)
 
Whisperfang said:
I'm going to redirect you here for more information: http://xkcd.com/936/ Now i realize yours is totally random and not just letter substitution. But there is no way in hell you are gonna remember that without writing it down.
Click to expand...

its in a text file on a USB drive on my key ring lol so its always on me even if you found it you wouldnt know its a key for any thing as there is other text in the file lol
 
I used a 256-bit encrypted VPN when browsing newsgroups. Good luck getting through that.
 
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