GPS 'kill' switch allows state police cruisers to go dark and disable tracking

https://www.boston25news.com/news/local/25-investigates-gps-kill-switch-allows-msp-cruisers-go-dark-disable-tracking/5OKMJEUJDNAVXPLN4WKFADNPLM/

by harambae • 9 months ago

141 83 9 months ago

boston25news.com

https://archive.ph/2Xln7

spacedcowboy• 9 months ago

Ironically enough on a “going dark” post, trying to access the site from outside the US is forbidden…

rbanffy4• 9 months ago

A completely inappropriate use of the 451 HTTP status code. Europe is not censoring anyone. It’s just a website that refuses to protect user privacy.

BTW, https://archive.is/2Xln7

parineum• 9 months ago

It’s just a website that refuses to protect user privacy.

To be pedantic, they aren't refusing to protect privacy, they're refusing to comply with GDPR which requires more than just protecting privacy.

It could be that they just don't want to put a big dumb banner on their site.

troad• 9 months ago

There are a thousand and one legal reasons one may wish to block a region, including Europe. From anti-gay speech laws in Hungary, through the VAT/tax obligations that kick in at one cent, to all sorts of watershed rules and disclaimers and alien and unjust laws (such as lese majeste laws, or absurd British 'online safety' laws).

Every day I see Europeans on here sharing tips how to de-cloud and de-America, bemoaning the open Internet, yearning for Balkanisation. Cool. Well, this site does it for you. You're welcome! Enjoy!

jchw2• 9 months ago

While it may not look flattering, it is absolutely a correct usage of the 451 status code. From the standard itself[1]:

    This status code can be used to provide transparency in circumstances
    where issues of law or public policy affect server operations.  This
    transparency may be beneficial both to these operators and to end
    users.

    ...

    This status code indicates that the server is denying access to the
    resource as a consequence of a legal demand.

You could get pedantic over whether or not this counts as a legal demand, but the example makes it relatively clear that "legal demand" here is fairly broad.

GDPR law does indeed make it illegal to serve certain web pages to EU visitors. If the operators are not willing to make amendments to comply with the law, then responding with HTTP 451 is the most correct thing to do. It doesn't mean the law is inherently bad, but it does mean that serving the request would be illegal, because that is how the law is written.

If this feels "completely inappropriate", then maybe it's because the modern web platform is completely ass-backwards in the first place. One must wonder why we're continuing to tolerate giving effectively static web pages so many privileges on our computers passively. I think browsers should flat-out start removing said privileges from websites that abuse them.

[1] https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc7725

Marsymars• 9 months ago

FWIW, it works for me from Canada.

lmz• 9 months ago

Good. Those countries claiming global reach of their laws and regulations should not be surprised when people elsewhere refuse to serve their people.

mtmail• 9 months ago

mirror https://archive.ph/2Xln7

reaperducer2• 9 months ago

I like the use of "go dark" when discussing police, considering so many American police agencies now use black patrol cars with black lettering on them so they can't be seen.

Meanwhile, in the UK, police cars are tarted up with fluorescent geometric patterns to make them as visible as possible.

It certainly shows a contrast in intent. One is "Here I am, come to me for help!" and the other is "I'm the secret police, show me your papers while I switch off my body camera."

ocdtrekkie2• 9 months ago

Yeah this is a silly cultural thing. I participate in a non-law enforcement, completely volunteer emergency response organization, and other members will buy black tactical vests that "look cool" with their name and the organization on them. Meanwhile... I wear the... brightest most neon thing I possibly can because when I am in the middle of a four lane road directing traffic, I want to be brighter than the sun because I don't want to get hit.

From volunteers up to the ICE gestapo, people watch too much TV where the cops get to shoot things up and look awesome doing it, and that's often what they want to be.

SoftTalker• 9 months ago

It’s like when governors or mayors wear DHS windbreakers after some emergency, as if they’ve just come off the front lines of the response.

gishh2• 9 months ago

I participate in a non-law enforcement, completely volunteer emergency response organization

Can I ask you to expand on this part? I’m really, sincerely curious.

ThrowawayTestr• 9 months ago

The UK has unmarked police cars.

aerostable_slug• 9 months ago

Generally agencies on both sides of the pond maintain a small variety of vehicles; horses for courses.

OptionOfT• 9 months ago

Most countries have both marked and unmarked police cars.

Now, there are counties / cities in the USA where the requirement on contract between text color and body color aren't as clear, and then are abused by the police to have even their marked vehicles blend in more.

happymellon• 9 months ago

It certainly shows a contrast in intent

If the police were intentionally there to help then they wouldn't be abusing this loophole, or the people making the rules would correct it. The fact that they don't is the tell.

gblargg3• 9 months ago

I'd rather the bad guys have a harder time spotting police when they're going to get caught.

reaperducer2• 9 months ago

Real life isn't like the movies. It's not a game of cops and robbers or cowboys and Indians.

Police are supposed to "protect and serve."

netsharc• 9 months ago

I feel like people who lived in corrupt countries have a lot to teach Americans, who now live in an openly corrupt one... How to grease wheels, how to make powerful friends for one's own advantage.

(Sure maybe the "elite" were already obviously openly corrupt, but now that it's reached to the lower levels of society...).

CSMastermind• 9 months ago

America is not a corrupt country in the sense that places overseas are. You will go to jail for trying to openly bribe the police here and political hysterics aside rule of law generally prevails.

What has happened is that America has slipped from being a high trust society to a medium trust one.

tyingq• 9 months ago

It does vary. Rural sheriff departments being one example.

LeoPanthera• 9 months ago

You will go to jail for trying to openly bribe the police here

I am absolutely not convinced of this. I truly believe a significant fraction of US police would, and perhaps do, accept bribes.

jasonlotito• 9 months ago

You will go to jail for trying to openly bribe the police here

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-aide-homan-accepted-5...

In addition:

Things you can do in the USA right now without punishment (as long as you the corrcect kind of Republican)

* Try to kill the vice president.

* Terrorize the capital

* Try to kill police

* Rape

* Being a pedophile

Things you can and will be killed or punished for, or that the government is getting vigilantes to go after.

* Walking

* Exercising your rights under the Bill of Rights

* Literally upholding the law

* Speaking negatively about the President

* Following Christianity

* Being Jewish

So, yeah, it's fairly corrupt.

I haven't even talked about the white collar crimes that are happening every day. But none of the above is hyperbole.

fnord772• 9 months ago

here in SF it's pretty common to bribe officers with gift cards to get traffic tickets dropped.

it's been like that as long as I can remember

also, in the late 80s I remember my GF's father bribing the SF building inspector to overlook something.

dataflow• 9 months ago

rule of law generally prevails

Not going to agree or disagree, but I just want to make sure you're claiming that while being fully aware of, say, the following:

https://www.insidernj.com/the-abcs-of-pba-cards/

forgotoldacc• 9 months ago

Not really. The difference is police in poorer countries can be bribed with the amount of cash you can keep in a wallet. In the US, it requires a large public donation to a political campaign or "charity". Bribes very much exist, and if you think you can't do it, that just means you're not rich enough. In poor countries too, the ones getting arrested are the ones who can't afford the bribes.

ribosometronome• 9 months ago

Bribe? No no, it's a tip.

Waterluvian• 9 months ago

from being a high trust society to a medium trust one

I think both falsehoods here are things many people want to believe because not being just like all those other places “overseas” is important to the cultural identity.

fakedang• 9 months ago

Have you been to rural America? Flyover country? The south?

Gigachad• 9 months ago

Link is broken

rbanffy4• 9 months ago

https://archive.is/2Xln7

rbanffy4• 9 months ago

From outside the US, you can use https://archive.is/2Xln7

kylecazar• 9 months ago

I'm more concerned that multiple of the people mentioned think it's OK to drink, on the clock, with a badge and a gun.

Maybe cops should start logging a breathalyzer result at clock in/clock out.

gs172• 9 months ago

They should, but I'm sure they would find a way around it.

0xbadcafebee• 9 months ago

I'm pretty sure most people apply for positions of authority so they can abuse it

angry_octet2• 9 months ago

I have never seen this from a US website before:

We’re Sorry! This website is unavailable in your location.

Error 451 It appears you are attempting to access this website from a country outside of the United States, therefore access cannot be granted at this time.

bloudermilk2• 9 months ago

I spent a couple years in Europe and found that most local news websites in the US blocked access entirely. My guess was that they all share IT resources / policies of the conglomerate news corp, who decided it would be cheaper to simply ignore traffic from GDRP countries.

rkomorn• 9 months ago

I have the same experience. I assumed it was a mix of (as you say) not wanting to deal with EU rules, but also not wanting to deal with licensing concerns (eg "do I have the right to show this media in this country").

Part of why I assumed the latter is that sports, in particular, had a high occurrence of "this content isn't available where you are" blocks.

angry_octet2• 9 months ago

Except I'm not in Europe.

firebot• 9 months ago

GPS works on triangulation. You need inputs from multiple satellites. Yes, clearly you can just ignore those signals.

gblargg3• 9 months ago

It would have been comical if someone had altered the kill switches to instead alert someone to put extra scrutiny on the location when enabled.

zomg• 9 months ago

ma resident here. there's massive corruption within the ma state police. the karen read trial uncovered a fair amount but i suspect we've only seen the tip of the iceberg. stories like this sadly don't surprise me.

GPS 'kill' switch allows state police cruisers to go dark and disable tracking

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