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Question of the Day: Do you think you could pass a driver's licence test without any preparation?
"Free" Vodacom Internet!
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Prometheus
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Who said anything about free? Have you seen the cost of calls lately? It's damn expensive. All users with vlive phones would automatically be browsing on the vlive apn. Those are the users getting their service for "free", the ones paying through their noses for it by some other means. If those users suddenly see their airtime drop more than it usually does for no reason known to them they are going to leave in flocks. But it doesn't matter to Vodacom since they don't get anything from them. We know companies shoot themselves in the foot all the time, I would like to see the latest Vodacom headline towards that end: "Thousands of Vodacom customers report an unexplainable drop in their airtime".
Can we just get off the subject please? What part of public forum don't you understand? If you're going to post illegal stuff on this forum you damn well must be prepared to deal with the consequences. There is no expectation of privacy. Anything you say here may and WILL be used against you. People are too quick to hit the post button thinking they are anonymous. Guess what, you are not. Any court may issue a warrant for access to the server records should any illegal activity be posted, and they WILL for serious stuff. So just deal with it. KeeS made some pretty stupid remarks from a legal standpoint, so if Vodacom uses it to track him down they would be acting well within their right. Did I get through to you?It's not a conspiracy if it's true!! Could be worse - I might have been accused of being an Apologist
aviator
Member
Well said Prometheus - this is becoming rather stale now. Each to their own conspiracy, now let's move on....... 
AirWolf
Honorary Master
It was getting a little annoying with 2 threads about the alleged tracking through this site. Thank you IC.
.vodacom3g
Vodacom Representative
It did turn this thread into the 'most active' thread though, or so I believe if you had to calculate (thread age) / (number of reads).
Amazing that the 6680 thread is still high up!
Amazing that the 6680 thread is still high up!
AirWolf
Honorary Master
Entertaining yes but the whole issue revolved around two words "for him" and the same things were repeated over and over and ... You get the idea
but the whole issue revolved around two words "for him" and the same things were repeated over and over and ... You get the idea 
LandyMan
Honorary Master
Pardon my stupidity if Vodacom knows how much data is being used why are they not billing the prepaid subscribers, when I dial in or browse on the phone is'nt my airtime deducted in real time same with voice calls?I would think only contract subscribers get the lump sum bill at the end of the month?
Skeptik
Banned
You are right of course. I suppose if someone makes a controversial post and then refuses to explain certain aspects of it, we have no other choice but to analyse what was actually written. Especially when certain forumites & Vodacom apologists seem not to see what's in front of them. I make no apology for the analysis.
It's interesting how people approached this topic. I never said it was true IC, which is why I raised it as a question. If our illustrious Vodacom rep refuses to step up to the plate & clarify what he said (sans personal jibes, clear contradiction & sophistry), then we can read into his silence what we like - and without being 'blamed' for it. It won't buy anyone more respect, that's for sure!
Prometheus
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Ag nee man, now you made me go and read the whole thread again. Ok, it was only the last five pages, but still.
Since Skeptik still does not seem at ease let me explain it to him like this:
Let me set your mind at ease... OR NOT!!! Anyone who knows the ins and outs of the systems can do all this and more. So Vodacom can do all this? No they can't, not without some outside help, hell they can't even get their billing right. No one inside Vodacom has the technical knowledge of all their systems let alone the forum system to do it. But lots of people on the outside can do this. All it would require is to get the server log of who posted at the time the post was made and deduce their ip and hence their isp from that log. Second step would be to get the isp log of who was using that ip at that time or who was connected the whole time those posts were made which would provide a lot more candidates so it would be the second option. The third step would be as an excursion to track down the location of the poster to within 10 meters based on signal strength from three nearby towers, this has to be done in real time while the number is in use. So as you can see private isn't really that private after all for the person who has the technical skills. Who would actually want to do this? Anyone up for a challenge. What would they do with the info? Probably discard it anyway. With over 10,000 members it's quite possible that this forum was someone's target already. The intent would most probably not be malicious as there's not much you can do with a user name. Who wants to post as someone else?
Anyone noticed a mysterious sig change which the mods were completely oblivious to sometime or another. It's funny how some people can take what is posted here and use it completely out of context and only highlight certain phrases or words to the exclusion of all others in a way that suites them. I want to join the game.
"After his comments, we watched for him (and other abusers) in real-time and built up a nice database of cell numbers who were downloading larges amounts over the VLive apn."
Clearly this was not exclusive. Vodacom monitored who was using the vlive apn to a large extend for free internet. There is nothing sinister about it. KeeS posted comments publicly on this site even after being advised not to do so. Vodacom following up on this very public remark by actively monitoring who uses their network to such an extend or if it is even possible is not an invasion of anyone's privacy. He was monitored together with a group of users as a whole and based on his comments which were almost provocative although exaggerated he is most probably one of them. This is simple deductive logic based on public information. There is no contradiction either, he was still abusing the network based on his comments although 180GB in 4 days is a great exaggeration and most sim farmers last time didn't even rack up half that much in a week. Most cells won't be able to handle that much data and the ones that can won't be able to do it without people complaining about being unable to use the cell.
You don't have any idea what goes on in the real world. This isn't a novel where they track you down through your cellphone usage. How do you think they would get your number in the first place? Most terrorists are tracked through their connections in the real world, i.e. people you meet, places you visit, things you buy like that 2 ton fertiliser while wearing a designer suite and visiting the pharmacy on the same day.Oh, and to answer the bit about terrorists. How do you think they get caught? -- because they did something they didn't think could be tracked. Like the thing with tracking a phone call and having to be on the line for min 30 seconds
Prometheus
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It depends on the purpose. If an outside party requests information they must be able to produce a court order when requested to do so. I don't remember anything about the isp being compelled not to give out any information without a court order, other laws may apply there. Tracking users who are using the network illegally would not fall under that protection anyway as technically Vodacom isn't providing them with a service.
Afaik an isp isn't compelled to keep any information besides what is needed to make the network function reliably and without interruption and to complete tasks such as billing etc. They are only required to have that ability in case they were compelled to use it to track a predetermined user whos activities are already monitored in some manner. In which case the corresponding account may not be tracked for longer than 3 months and the records must be kept for at least 6 months afaik. The latter is unlikely to apply anyway since the records would most likely be requested on a daily basis.
Completely irrelevant. It's a service offered by Vodacom and the person being tracked (only their location) gives consent to the service.
They don't, HIM actually refers to KeeS.
It's the first internet experience for some of us, sorta like that Spectravideo MSX packed away somewhere...
It's actually deducted in semi-realtime. You get billed every couple of seconds for calls and every couple of minutes for data depending on how much you used. This can cause your balance to only be updated accurately after disconnecting or minutes after that if the network is a bit overloaded.
I would think only contract subscribers get the lump sum bill at the end of the month?
LOL@Prometheus, while I find it amusing that you've placed conspiracy terrorist Skeptik under citizen's arrest
That said, a court of law could order MyADSL to provide some info that could be later used to determine a forumite's identity, but the forum does not know anyone's real name unless a forumite has included their real name in their username, hopefully courts are very careful about issuing such court orders.
While I agree with the anonymity aspect I don't think there is any expectation of privacy. Those are two very different terms legally which could affect whether a court order is issued or not. I for one hope that a court order is never issued for minor offences/crimes. But one must consider the possibility. Hence my comment: "Anything you say WILL be used against you". With every post a person should consider what would happen if their details became known. Could you be held legally accountable or not. If something is illegal don't post it in the first place and if you do be prepared to deal with the consequences instead of saying "I thought it was private" when it is not. I feel safer in a society knowing that option is available, but at the same time wouldn't want it to be abused either which would inevitably lead to a police state.sean12
Well-Known Member
To stir the pot a bit more!!!!
The way Skeptic has been going on about HIM, there might be another conspiracy......
Maybe Kees and Skeptic are the same person.
Have they ever been logged on together.
Makes you think.
Sean
AirWolf
Honorary Master
ld13
Honorary Master
This is irrelevant...one can be logged into two or more accounts at the same time. Only the IP logs would maybe be able to confirm this. Then again KeeS said he/she can change that at will…maybe some proxy app?
AirWolf
Honorary Master
But strange how Kees and Skeptik have never responded to each others comments
ld13
Honorary Master
But strange how Kees and Skeptik have never responded to each others comments
I’ll have to reread the last 5 pages, but nice theory sky.akash.
One cannot help but to wonder…
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I found this on another Forum, at the bottom of all their pages:
And this is how I handle all my posts, as Public.
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