Upon actually reading the article, this looks overblown, typical of the current regime.
Having a lot of SIM cards, a lot of phones, having phones in a rack-mount form factor, and plugging SIM cards into things that are not phones are not illegal.
The fact that a cellphone network could be overloaded by a lot of phones doesn't make it illegal to have a lot of phones. Even if it /does/ overload the cellphone network, AFAIK it's still not illegal unless that was your intention.
Yes, it's very overblown. The reports say these items were found inside of a "35 mile radius" of the UN. The total population inside that area is roughly 17 million people. 100k SIMs is a rounding error relative to the number of cellular network devices in that area. On Wed, Sep 24, 2025 at 5:13 AM nanog--- via NANOG <nanog@lists.nanog.org> wrote:
Upon actually reading the article, this looks overblown, typical of the current regime.
Having a lot of SIM cards, a lot of phones, having phones in a rack-mount form factor, and plugging SIM cards into things that are not phones are not illegal.
The fact that a cellphone network could be overloaded by a lot of phones doesn't make it illegal to have a lot of phones. Even if it /does/ overload the cellphone network, AFAIK it's still not illegal unless that was your intention.
Their other justification is even worse:
"These devices could be used for... facilitating anonymous, encrypted communication between potential threat actors and criminal enterprises" - MEGA YIKES. So they're outlawing encryption now? Anything that can send communication can send encrypted communication. It's one thing if they discovered a criminal enterprise that was actually using this equipment as their communications hub, as I believe the law allows them to seize stuff used for a crime regardless of its other uses. But only in America (and Russia, Iran, North Korea) can they legally seize stuff just because it /could hypothetically/ be used for a crime, and then not give it back.
The U.S. Secret Service announced today that it dismantled a network of electronic devices located throughout the New York tristate area that were used to conduct multiple telecommunications-related threats directed towards senior U.S. government officials, which represented an imminent
On 23/09/2025 18:46, Mel Beckman via NANOG wrote: threat to the agency’s protective operations.
The SS say they discovered more than 300 co-located SIM servers and
100,000 SIM cards across multiple sites, and while the photo they provide shows gear set up in what looks like an apartment, it could be that interlopers have infiltrated actual Internet colo facilities.
As a colo operator, I’ve turned away more than a few sketchy potential
customers due to their flakey stories requesting rooftop or window antenna locations. Be on the lookout.
https://www.secretservice.gov/newsroom/releases/2025/09/us-secret-service-dismantles-imminent-telecommunications-threat-new-york#:~:text=NEW%20YORK%20–%20The%20U.S.%20Secret,SIM%20cards%20across%20multiple%20sites <https://www.secretservice.gov/newsroom/releases/2025/09/us-secret-service-dismantles-imminent-telecommunications-threat-new-york#:~:text=NEW%20YORK%20%E2%80%93%20The%20U.S.%20Secret,SIM%20cards%20across%20multiple%20sites> .< https://www.secretservice.gov/newsroom/releases/2025/09/us-secret-service-di... .>
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