Mobile Calls on Aeroplanes
.
Back in November 2006 I wrote here at trewmte.blogspot a brief piece regarding "Switch On, Update, Lose Evidence":
.
.
The discussion thread related to the same but more indepth discussion in "Switch On, Update, Lose Evidence" that could be found in MTE (Mobile Telephone Evidence) Newsletter - copy of the May 2006 Newsletter can be downloaded here:
.
.
The purpose of the indepth discussion related to how evidence can be corrupted and contaminated where poor Seizure, Handling and Examination Procedures had been adopted. The discussion illustrated where a user with a mobile telephone steps off an aeroplane and the attempt to discover where the mobile phone had been used.
.
I had been aware for some years before I wrote the MTE Newsletter article that Airline companies were looking at and developing ways passengers could use their mobile phones on planes. At the time of writing the article it wasn't too difficult to imagine that "Switch On, Update, Lose Evidence" implicitly gave a heads up as early as May 2006 to pay attention to formulating various procedures for mobile telephone evidence at airports. Importantly, the indepth discussion wasn't then and isn't now intended to suggest victimising everyone who gets off a plane holding a mobile phone as being involved with something suspicious.
.
It would appear that the MTE Newsletter advanced warning though was well placed, for it now appears March 20th 2008 that according to BBC online middle east news that "Dubai-based airline Emirates has become the first commercial airline to allow passengers to make mobile phone calls during flights. Emirates said the first permitted mobile phone call was made on a flight between Dubai and Casablanca.":
.
.
The technology behind Emirates being able to offer mobile calls on their flights originates from http://www.aeromobile.net using pico-cell radio access technology inflight:
.
"AeroMobile allows the use of GSM phones and can also support GPRS mobile data (for BlackBerry’s etc), Wi-Fi, CDMA and 3G/UMTS. AeroMobile comprises an aircraft cabin ‘pico cell’ system that interfaces with the aircraft’s air-to-ground communications systems, typically a satellite-based system. Once transmitted to the ground, signals are sent to AeroMobile’s ground system and on to the destination mobile phone and telecoms networks around the world."
.
Evidentially, this could be very interesting but the use of mobile phones on planes may seem problematical at first. But we will cope, we always do. The evidence from the device shouldn't be too much of a problem although issues of dead-man's trap should always be considered. Equally of interest will be usage, call records and cell site analysis. The latter, cell site analysis, should prove thought provoking, for is there sovereignty on an aeroplane? If there is not (and sovereighty is only applicable to airspace) and a call starts and terminates within the same airspace the sovereignty of which belongs to country XYZ then there may well be some jurisdictional issues to deal with. However, given the confines of the plane's cabin it may well be difficult for a user, if you follow my drift, to suggest that when the call was made s/he wasn't in the plane, but somewhere in the neighbourhood.
No comments:
Post a Comment