"An International Mobile Subscriber Identity-catcher, or IMSI-catcher, is a telephone eavesdropping device used for intercepting mobile phone traffic and tracking location data of mobile phone users. Essentially a "fake" mobile tower acting between the target mobile phone and the service provider's real towers, it is considered a man-in-the-middle (MITM) attack. The 3G wireless standard has some risk due to mutual authentication required from both the handset and the network. However, sophisticated attacks may be able to downgrade 3G and LTE to non-LTE network services which do not require mutual authentication"
I always just put a line when they asked me to sign. Now if they just implemented pin numbers, it would actually make things more secure, like they do in Europe.
"That’s partly why an array of groups have voiced opposition all week on the EPA announcement, which jumpstarts a joint process with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to reset the targets. The Obama fuel economy standards were an insurance policy, they say, so automakers aren’t caught flat-footed if gas prices were to spike and crossover fanatics find themselves in need of something more fuel efficient."
"Granted, modern crossovers and SUVs are far more fuel efficient than the big trucks of old. But beyond all that, U.S. carmakers could find themselves at a competitive disadvantage as China and the European Union implement more stringent standards, while the auto supplier industry—which is already preparing for the 2022-2023 model years—may be thrown into disarray if the standards are seriously weakened."
Of course foreign governments and businesses have IMSI catchers to snoop on the politicians. Probably in Albany too. They don't seem like rocket science to build, as all they really are just fake cellphone towers that mimic real towers -- all well established science. The components are most likely just off-the shelf components, and nothing that exotic. IF the government can do it, then certainly the private sector can figure it out.