There is some indication that the two journalists killed in Syria were located by their sat phones. While details are elusive and unknown, here are some posts on why and how it's easy to track a sat phone. As @ioerror has repeatedly stated, be afraid. Be very afraid of sat phones in insecure areas. This from EFF: https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2012/02/satphones-syria-and-surveillance - a good overview This from SaferMobile (disclosure: I run the site/edit content) by Anonymous, a contributor to the site who works in the telco industry: https://safermobile.org/be-afraid-be-very-afraid-of-satellite-phones-in-inse... - detail on how location tracking is possible, easy, and cheap This from David Burgess, fabulous guy and core developer on OpenBTS: http://openbts.blogspot.com/2012/02/some-comments-on-satellite-phones.html - more detail on the technical logistics, nicely complements SaferMobile's post. Katrin Katrin Verclas MobileActive.org katrin@mobileactive.org skype/twitter: katrinskaya (347) 281-7191 Check out the new Mobile Media Toolkit at http://mobilemediatoolkit.org. To "Making Media Mobile!" A global network of people using mobile technology for social impact http://mobileactive.org _______________________________________________ liberationtech mailing list liberationtech@lists.stanford.edu Should you need to change your subscription options, please go to: https://mailman.stanford.edu/mailman/listinfo/liberationtech If you would like to receive a daily digest, click "yes" (once you click above) next to "would you like to receive list mail batched in a daily digest?" You will need the user name and password you receive from the list moderator in monthly reminders. Should you need immediate assistance, please contact the list moderator. Please don't forget to follow us on http://twitter.com/#!/Liberationtech ----- End forwarded message ----- -- Eugen* Leitl <a href="http://leitl.org">leitl</a> http://leitl.org ______________________________________________________________ ICBM: 48.07100, 11.36820 http://www.ativel.com http://postbiota.org 8B29F6BE: 099D 78BA 2FD3 B014 B08A 7779 75B0 2443 8B29 F6BE