Picked up my iPhone from LE Recently, Have a Few Questions.

I was arrested for my first felony some time ago. I'm a senior in college and through means which I won't disclose because they are kinda specific, the case was dismissed for lack of evidence. This had nothing to do with darknet orders, it was a drug case, however.

The local PD seized my phone at a time when I just restored to a previous version and was about to jailbreak it, thus, I hadn't re-enabled my passcode before they got their hands on it. I was finally able to pick it up recently. I plan on resetting the phone to factory defaults.

My (likely paranoid) concern is that they may have opened a cellular wiretap (if they even have the capabilities) through a court order or something. I'm sure it would be sealed, so I doubt my lawyer would have access to it.

As long as a reset my phone to factory defaults, I'm probably good, right? It doesn't look like my phone has been taken apart and tampered with in any way.

I'll use encrypted messaging obviously, I'm just concerned about voice calls being monitored. Maybe you guys can help me out with suggestions/countermeasures. I'd appreciate it. I can't ever have a felony on my record and I've not ordered any drugs since the incident. I also moved and have a different address where I can't have stuff mailed to me anyway.

What can I do to protect myself besides what I've already mentioned? I doubt changing my number would make a difference but I would appreciate any advice or suggestions on countermeasures or detection of a transmitter of some sort (it's a long shot, I know)

I apologize in advance for the text wall.

EDIT: Thanks for the replies, keep them coming. I think I'll end up selling the phone, but am I correct in assuming that even though my case was dismissed (without prejudice I'm assuming) I could still have a case opened and possibly be electronically or physically surveilled? They probably think I'm a drug dealer but I'm not, I'm just a college student who uses recreationally. They demanded I go to treatment and I haven't so much as smoked a joint in 3 months, not that I buy into that NA/AA cult bullshit. Like another poster mentioned, I just wanted to lower my profile and certain substances (looking at you, benzos) impair judgment even at low doses. I'm trying to be careful. I'm severely depressed, however, I'm doing well at school but low doses of drugs (benzos, opiates/opioids) were the only things that helped me after trying literally dozens of antidepressants. I'm not on one now and feel a little better, but not much.


Comments


[12 Points] None:

[deleted]


[2 Points] Dnm_cunt:

If it's an iPhone I would take that shit straight to the Apple store and get a replacement (just make something up and whine enough, it's easy).

I would also get a new number asap. Or at least switch carriers, in the UK that is a simple process. Not sure about the US.


[2 Points] y_s_l_:

For fuck's sake, use a burner like every other drug dealer that's halfway decent at what they do.

Buy an at&t go phone at wal-mart in cash, buy a minutes card for it in cash, and you're ready to go.

Any sort of wiretap is done at carrier level (as in, they listen to your calls at the Sprint/Tmobile/whatever level. Above your phone) to your name. If you got a new phone on your same plan you'd still have it tapped.


[2 Points] None:

Get a prepaid phone.


[2 Points] maddaddam90:

For voice calls, if you can get an entirely new iPhone, you can also use an app called Signal for voice calls. Here's a (clearnet) link to a story about it. Open source iPhone app from a company whose sole purpose, it seems, is creating securely encrypted products. http://www.wired.com/2014/07/free-encrypted-calling-finally-comes-to-the-iphone/


[2 Points] lordredvampire:

If you want to place a call on your phone encrypted, use Red Phone via Googe Play/Apps Store - it's from openwhisper, and it's open source. Remember, both parties must have Red Phone installed for encryption feature to work.

That would be a moot point if your phone was bugged/backdoor'd via hardware layer. I would advise you to get a new smartphone and new phone number.


[1 Points] now_its_a_dick_joke:

Sell your phone. Buy a Cricket or Metro PCS. They don't require contracts. Every phone I get from them is in the name of a different character from the series Lost. So far so good.


[1 Points] Tune-chi:

The radio firmware is not accessible so factory reset wouldn't touch that. As others have stated they wouldn't back door the phone they would intercept at carrier level or stingray if they really had a hard on.


[1 Points] Hank_Vendor:

if they had the necessary warrant they would send the phone to apple and apple would return it with a cd cotaining all the data they could pull off it... Which will be more than you could pull off it before you wiped it.


[1 Points] Lucid_Enemy:

If your being electronically monitored your IMEI that's tied to this phone is what's in the warrent and also how they will record your calls... The only way to do that is change phones however you can cause some obfuscation if you use a different simcard since your pseudo IMEI will be different making it harder for them to pick up once they notice this then you'll need a new sim
Edit: for gsm (att and T-Mobile ) as for CDMA your fucked and will need a new phone CDMA is alot less secure having a ESN that is broadcast in every thing you do over a cellular connection


[1 Points] elesdi25:

Don't use your main phone for drugs dealing and the like. Buy a cheap prepaid with cash. For personal stuff that you want kept private, use signal and convince your friend to get it as well. Anyone you would send something illegal to.


[1 Points] 666fun:

If they know your phone number and have a wiretap order for your number, reseting your phone to a factory fresh state will accomplish nothing.


[1 Points] None:

Ross spoke about encrypted end to end communication becoming the norm one day in one of his diary entries. I think I will take on the challenge of creating an encrypted mobile communication network for my fellow darknet associates and whomever interested in keeping their text logs private and out of reach of the government.

For the meantime, please use older model Blackberry phones and take advantage of its PGP feature that comes with it. Encrypted communication scares the shit out of LE and the government, let's start making this the norm.


[1 Points] LysesDNM:

If it is true and it's hardware it'll be in your phone, if not it's software and I doubt you're a smarter programmer than a police IT guy so go to someone who knows what they're doing. Better safe than sorry.


[1 Points] lordredvampire:

Burn your phone and buy another one, man up. 90 years in prison isn't worth over LE-confiscated phones.


[1 Points] honestlyimeanreally:

How were you targeted for your drug case?

If you're tapped it's at the carrier-level. Burner will work.


[1 Points] DexOyama:

You should try shrooms to help with the depression. Sorry thats all I have to offer

edit added link to article about shrooms helping with depression


[1 Points] LuckyQWER:

They put put microcontrollers or some shit on there so I'd suggest getting a new phone cuz factory-resetting the software won't do shit


[1 Points] ImmortalDong:

Don't make phone calls


[1 Points] RedCrossMedCare:

get a new phone an change companies or use a burner for all shit you'd need to hide


[0 Points] dontbeagoddamnidiot:

Please for the love of dear god, stop. The phone they gave back to you is tapped 100%, either through the carrier or through the native software or most likely, both. Assume anything you say on that line is being surveilled, anything else would be idiocy. Get on that phone and send dummy messages to friends who are in on it where you say: "This is ridiculous, the cops have the wrong guy! I've never committed a crime in my life". Everything else from here on out should be along those lines, basically you don't own that phone anymore, don't give that number out and don't accept calls on it. Go buy a burner prepaid phone, at&t go phone is the best, activates right out of the box. Use the burner phone for your normal activities and start using Wickr. Good luck, you sound dumb.


[0 Points] None:

Regardless of what you do or do not do with that phone and regardless of whether you buy a new phone or not, you must assume that you are going to be under LE scrutiny in ways that extend far beyond your little phone.

Keep an extremely low profile for 2 years. Your days of texting even your closest friends to grab an 8th or vice versa are over, including using little code words. Take it upon yourself to keep any drug related communication off of anything electronic for 2 years, even casually, unless it's PGP encrypted comms.

PS: I hope keeping that phone wasn't even on the table in your mind, whatsoever. If it was, you should decrease your drug consumption to let your problem solving abilities grow and mature.