Demonstrators protesting Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych suspected their cellphone location data was being tracked since at least last week, when people in the vicinity of a clash between riot police and protesters received a chilling text message. It read: "Dear subscriber, you are registered as a participant in a mass disturbance."
The country's three cellphone companies denied they had turned over subscribers' location data or had sent the message. Instead, some suggested the "Dear subscriber" text, and others like it sent to other protestors, were the work of hackers using rogue base stations that mimicked those belonging to the carriers. Now, the protesters and civil liberties advocates around the world have cited official confirmation of the cellphone monitoring—a ruling made public on Wednesday formally ordering a telephone company to hand over such data.
From The New York Times:
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