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Stalking posts

Stalker remotely controls family cellphones, even when they're off

by Conrad Quilty-Harper posted Jun 25th 2007 @ 7:52AM

To use a TV news cliche, it's like a horror movie come true: three families from Fircrest in Washington State are being harassed by a unknown individual, who somehow has the power to turn cellphones on, send messages, and change ringtones. Over the last few months, the families have had calls that threaten death and violence against them, calls that tell the people what they're doing at that time, and calls that originate from the cellphones of other members of the family. In one case, the stalker changed the ringtone of a phone to say "answer your phone." According to one James M. Atkinson, an apparent expert in these matters who used to provide the CIA with advice in counterintelligence, the technical profficiency to pull off this level of stalking isn't that high: if the FBI can do it, why not some anti-social kid, right?

Sprint opens, closes data leak on customer service line

by Chris Ziegler posted Jul 12th 2006 @ 8:29AM

It sure feels like Sprint usually just can't buy a break when it comes to quality customer service. This time around, JD Power's sometimes basement-dwellers have been called out for an automated line that was just a little too ready and willing to dish out customer data to anyone who called in. Basically, you'd call the line, enter any Sprint customer's number of your choosing, and promptly be asked to verify the customer's compu-spoken name and home address --among other juicy details -- while calling another number would spit out their bill balance. Understandably, this raised a ruckus in the user community; to their credit, Sprint patched the system rather quickly and issued a statement to that effect -- but not without going into full CYA mode, pointing out that "this process operated well within the bounds of applicable federal and state privacy laws."

"Love Detector" service now available for mobile matchmaking

by Evan Blass posted May 4th 2006 @ 5:30PM

We're not quite sure that the type of person who uses Nemesysco Entertainment's home or PocketPC (pictured) versions of the "Love Detector" service is out and about all that much, but the Israeli company has nonetheless released a mobile alternative that lets you discover your crush's innermost feelings while chatting on your cellphone. Already "wildy popular" in Israel, "Love Detector" allows you to dial a certain number before calling your intended ~~target~~ sweetie so that the company's server (and no snickering employees, we're certain) can eavesdrop on the coversation and calculate (with deadly accuracy, we're certain) four key parameters that supposedly determine your chances of mating. After the call is over (or the other person hangs up on you), the server delivers a text message to your phone that helpfully breaks the complicated analysis down into plain English, and even more helpfully, offers advice on how to proceed ("Love is detected! Proceed with caution!" or "Never call this person again, you perv."). Besides Israel, the precision service is unfortunately (?) only available in Turkey, Hungary, and the UK for now, but we're sure that once our US readers begin deluging Nemesysco with pleading emails, they'll have a version for the States in no time.

[Via Shiny Shiny and Gizmos for Geeks]