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Dumb Phones
"You know they are listening to us this very moment?" - said Jake to Tom on a party one night. "What are you talking about?" - Tom was obviously confused. So Jake had to continue - "You know the Facebook app and the Google app on your phone is constantly recording what we have to say to each other, forming an opinions on us. They claim it's for advertising. But they can use it for anything they want. You know?". Tom looked at Jake with a slight smile. He knew he had a very good comeback. After a short pause Tom said - "I use a dumb phone." - and went into the party. But Jake didn't stop feeling bad. Jake didn't use no phone at all.
This was a party where a bunch of journalists were invited. And Jake and Tom were journalists. Both knowing very well the dystopian reality of our high-tech world. But while one was properly paranoid. The other wasn't. Tom used a dumb phone, because he believed that the problems are with smartphones only.
After the party Tom went back home. And everything was alright. But then a phone call happened that woke him up in the middle of the night. It was something like 3 AM. He looked at the watch before answering the call. The call didn't go to Tom's dumb phone. He answered using his stationary wire-phone. There was a noise. Then there was a voice. It said - "Password Capital D, 31, percent sigh, h, s, p, m, d, 311 and capital BM." - that was it. Tom took the pencil that was laying beside his phone and wrote down the letters that were spoken to him on a piece of paper that he took out of drawer.
He looked around. Apart from his little night-lamp it was very dark. There was light coming from out of the window from the lamps that light up the road. But that was it. He felt tired but he needed to get up, so he forced himself out of the bed.
With the piece of paper in one hand and a cup of strong coffee in another he sat in-front of his laptop. He opened it up and clicked on a file that was already there. The computer asked him for a password. He sipped some of the coffee. Then he looked on the piece of paper. His eyes couldn't concentrate. So he sipped a bit more coffee and groaned. Something he thought will make him more energetic. Surprisingly it helped. He typed "D31%hspmd311BM" into the password prompt. And the file opened up.
It was a simple 7z file with a .pdf document inside. He dragged the document outside of the archive into a folder. And opened it up. It was full of text. The language was very legal. He looked at it and then at his coffee and got very upset. But there was nothing to do. He started reading.
On the other side of the country a man named James saw a string of numbers separated by dots appear on his screen. It was an IP address of somebody who's computer just tried to download a page from a server that James was operating. He copied the numbers into a program. That program gave him a normal street address. And then he sent that address to somebody in a text messaging app.
In a different place a person just received a message with an address. Her name was Julia. She opened a rather unpleasant looking program. The interface of which was designed by somebody who doesn't know nothing about interface design. But anyway. She searched for the address that she received in this program and it returned a photograph and information about Tom. The one that was reading a document at his house.
The PDF that Tom opened contained a small script that would make a basic HTTP request to James's server. James could see it on his screen. While the HTTP request is being sent, an IP address of the sender is also being sent, so that the server would know where to send back the answer to that request. And an IP address is basically just a weird way to write real life location. The system is way more complicated than coordinates on the map. But with a program that knows how to read an IP address you can get a precise location of that computer in seconds.
Julia worked for the government with James. And her task was to tell the government when somebody unauthorized is reading a top secret document. And so now she knows that Tom. A journalist is reading a top secret document.
Tom was yawning. He desperately needed another coffee. So he walked from the computer towards the kitchen. Suddenly the same telephone, beside Tom's bed, started ringing again. He came to it and answered. There was that same voice - "Dumbass! You opened the file with internet being on. They are coming!".
Tom didn't need coffee anymore. Adrenalin did the job for him. He ran toward the computer, he closed it down and stuck it into a back-pack. He put his pants on as quickly as he could. Took his dumb phone with him. And ran out of the house.
He looked at his car. He thought that it's not good. Perhaps they can track him using the car. He decided to take the bicycle instead. He rode out of there as quickly as he could.
About 15 minutes later he stopped at a park. It was calm around there. And the park didn't have any surveillance cameras. So Tom sat on a bench and opened the computer again. It was hard, but he had to read it. So he did.
It was very silent in the park. So silent that he could hear himself breathe. He could hear the sound of his fingers rubbing the touch-pad while he was scrolling. Suddenly he heard a sound of a car. It was distant. The car just stopped. He was afraid. So he locked down the computer. And drove away from there.
It was already morning, so businesses started opening up. He came into a library. He didn't have a plan to stay. It was evident by how he put his bicycle outside. He came to the computers in the library. He didn't have a USB stick or anything. So he had to do something tricky. He sent the PDF file to himself through email. Fortunately the email was encrypted. He logged into that email from a computer in the library. And now he needed to open the file as quickly as he could and print everything on paper. He did just that, paid for the ink and ran away as fast he could from that library.
He was on the other side of the city when he decided that he was far enough. He found a place to sit in a cafe and started carefully reading the papers. With his computer turned off. He was far away from the window, but he could see the outside well enough. He was confident that he got away from whoever could be after him. So he kept on reading.
On the other side of the country James was looking at his screen. Julia was with him. She traveled to see him in person. James just was authorized the access to a cell network APIs. And he was noticeably gicking out. He read carefully the options that were available to him. And then typed a phone number into the console.
The computer was loading something for a few seconds. And then he received a list of IDs and Signal Strengths. Those were IDs of cell towers that had an active connection with the number that James typed earlier. And the strengths of the connections to that phone. He typed in those IDS. And received locations in coordinates. And then he opened up a calculator and did some math. Triangulating the exact location of that phone based on the strengths of the connections. Now he had precise coordinates of the phone's location. He said - "Okay, now I know how to do it. Would you give me 5 minutes to automate it?"
Julia said - "Sure". Five minutes passed as James was typing something onto the computer. Then he said - "Okay so, ah... Here it is. I just sent you a link.". Julia took out her phone and opened a link that James sent to her. It was a map with a point on that map. James looked at it and said - "Ah... this is the location of Tom, you have to refresh the page every ones in a while. It doesn't update automatically.". She looked at him with a face that implied - "Are you serious?". And so James said to it - "Oh... okay. I'll include an auto refresher. 3 seconds good enough?".
Tom was sitting in the cafe reading still. As he heard somebody enter the place. He looked up and saw two guys. Both wearing black. He was afraid for a moment, but then thought to himself that here he was fine. But the two guys were walking towards him. And one of them moved his jacket a little, just enough to reveal that he had a gun. Tom tried to think that they weren't for him and that everything was okay. But they were getting closer. Tom tried to not think about it and to concentrate on the papers. But they were getting closer. So Tom ran away.
There was no way to run outside, because the two guys were there, blocking the way, so he ran into the kitchen of the cafe. Un-surprisingly the two guys ran after him. He met with the worker on the inside and said - "Hello, I'm sorry." - to him. Just before the first gunshot was fired. One of the guys in black was desperate, I guess.
Tom yelled, but was able to get to the back door without a scratch. But now what would he do? The bicycle is on the other side of the cafe. And it is chained up. Not cool. And the guys are coming. Something has to be done. No time to think, Tom simply ran.
A few seconds later the two guys emerged from the same door. Guns cocked and shooting. And they ran right after him. Tom have never felt that much Adrenalin in his life. He was running so fast! And yet he was not getting tired at all. For a second he thought how interesting it is. Just to be reminded to not get side-tracked by a bullet that flew right passed him. He turned into a corner and kept running like wind.
For a second there, there was a possibility that he outran the two guys. Nobody was shooting at him anymore. And he stopped to take a breath. He hid himself into a trash container and closed himself there. He felt that like this at least those guys would not see him if they would pass.
The guys were much more tired that he was. They were not in mortal danger. So their bodies got tired way earlier. But they looked at their phones to locate Tom using the web-page that James designed.
Tom took out his dumb-phone and dialed a number. He was very quiet. The other side answered and Tom whispered - "Hi, I'm chased by two guys. Their are trying to kill me. Help.". The voice on the other side asked angrily - "You are still using the computer?". Tom said - "No. It's turned off. I have it printed.". The voice on the other side didn't know what to say, he said - "Well, then... I don't know."
A few moments later, the voice said - "Fuck! Tom! You are calling from a fucking smartphone!". And Tom whispered back - "No, I'm not that stupid. It's a dumb phone!" - just before the container was opened. And a mortal head-shot had ended Tom's life. The guys found his dumb phone.
Happy Hacking!!!
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