SoylentNews

AnonTechie writes:

This week, the Associated Press reported that the FBI is regularly flying "spy planes" over American cities (we covered it, too). It's the latest in a series of media reports about government-operated planes outfitted with technology that mimics a phone tower to pick up information from the phones of people below, allowing agencies to locate fugitives on the run, for example. But when the planes fly overhead, they pick up on phone information from lots of innocent people as well (and, annoyingly, can disrupt phone service).

The report, which revealed the front companies the FBI uses to fly the planes, wasn't a surprise to John Wiseman, a technologist in Los Angeles. Based on public records, he had already figured out some of the planes the FBI was flying and, using a device he programmed to intercept airplane transmissions, had identified over the last month the ones flying overhead in L.A. in real time.

The thing is, when you fly planes in the U.S., you have to fill out lots of official forms that become part of the public record. Because the FBI didn't want to publicly acknowledge it was sending "spy planes" out to circle American cities (and potentially alert its targets), it created front companies for them. It seems the FBI is uncreative when it comes to spy craft; the fake companies tracked down by the AP and by Wiseman mainly had three-letter names, including FVX Research, KQM Aviation, NBR Aviation and PXW Services. Because flight records in the U.S. are public, and planes are trackable on radar, the AP was able to track down where these planes flew.

You can also track them fairly easily if you're so inclined. Wiseman used public records to get flight routes, and real-time local information using a customized radio receiver that picks up on transmissions sent by aircraft overhead in his hometown of Los Angeles. Wiseman wrote in a Hacker News comment in May about his findings, revealing a month ago what the AP reported today. He also summed up his findings in a blog post Tuesday.

http://fusion.net/story/143739/how-you-can-track-the-fbis-spy-planes/

How John Wiseman tracked FBI aerial surveillance