
United Nations Expert Arrested in Tunisia for Using an RTL-SDR - newman8r
https://www.rtl-sdr.com/united-nations-expert-arrested-in-tunisia-for-using-an-rtl-sdr/
======
csomar
Citizen of the said country here.

> As Kartas' business in Tunisia was to present his findings on the arms
> embargo violations, other experts believe that the arrest is politically
> motivated, and that ownership of the RTL-SDR for espionage is simply being
> used as an excuse.

No kidding. The government is failing on several fronts; and is trying to gain
popularity by making fake moves (like finding and arresting a spy). They did
that to several business man. The good news, they released them (no charges,
no evidence, no nothing). The bad news, some of them were released only a year
later. They had no right to a lawyer or a trial during that time. It was
"investigation".

This is possible because technically speaking the country is under martial-law
which keeps getting renewed every month. The sad thing people are quite busy
these days trying to find gas, milk and basic necessities. The interest on
political and freedom-related news is way down from the first few years of the
said revolution.

It is funny because looking at the pictures, some parts of Tunisia are now in
more dire straits than Venezuela. It is just not getting the media coverage.

~~~
karatchov
Tunisian here. The part about the goverment failing on mutiple fronts and
trying to get popularity is mostly true.

Comparing to Venezuela on the other hand is ... an overstretch at best.

~~~
csomar
I used to think so. I think part of it is getting "used to the situation" and
the other part is dramatization of the Venezuela crisis by the media.

Our roads are worse, the streets are much dirtier, and unless you are living
around lamarsa/lac, then food shortages are real. If you can afford them in
the first place. I live in a "wealthy" neighborhood and yesterday there was a
water cut.

Yesterday I was at the airport. Looking at Venezuela/Caracas airport and
comparing, the one here is much more degraded. What do you think is Venezuela
situation? No electricity? It might as well be a reality here if the
government doesn't get its shit together very soon.

~~~
adventured
> What do you think is Venezuela situation?

I can't speak personally to Tunisia's situation. However the people of
Venezuela are starving to death. They're no more than two or three years from
genocide by starvation at this point (or otherwise requiring desperate,
massive food aid from the UN, Russia, China, or whichever countries they would
allow to deliver it).

On the food security index:

[https://foodsecurityindex.eiu.com/Country](https://foodsecurityindex.eiu.com/Country)

Tunisia ranks 51 out of 113. Venezuela ranks 78 out of 113. That's a lagging
ranking, things have gotten much worse in Venezuela over the last six months
and year.

A year ago, when things weren't as bad as they are now, the situation was:

"Venezuelans reported losing on average 11 kilograms (24 lbs) in body weight
last year [in 2017] and almost 90 percent now live in poverty, according to a
new university study on the impact of a devastating economic crisis and food
shortages. "

[https://www.reuters.com/article/us-venezuela-
food/venezuelan...](https://www.reuters.com/article/us-venezuela-
food/venezuelans-report-big-weight-losses-in-2017-as-hunger-hits-
idUSKCN1G52HA)

On a monetary, economic front, their inflation rate is so high as to be
entirely pointless to track. They're formally a failed state with no
functioning currency or central bank system.

Their economy has collapsed by 80% to 90%, in the last five years:

[https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-
america-46999668](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-46999668)

Tunisia's GDP per capita has declined in the last several years, back to about
where it was in 2006/2007\. They've seen a ~18% decline approximately, from
the peak. A lot of that is dollar conversion decline however, only a small
portion of it is real domestic economic contraction. Venezuela's collapse is a
severe domestic contraction, a near total obliteration of all business and
private enterprise, including basic stores (now entirely empty everywhere).
Very little of Venezuela's decline is an issue of currency conversion against
the jump in the US dollar: it's a flat out, straight down collapse.

When the US dollar took off on its historic run five years ago, it hit a lot
of developing economies, including Tunisia. Tunisia's GDP per capita peaked in
2014, and began to decline, exactly in line with the USD taking off.
Developing countries as diverse as Brazil, Russia, Pakistan, Turkey and
Indonesia were hit by the same effect at the same time. The USD spike is also
what pushed Venezuela under water, as it hammered the price of oil downward.

On a basic health front, diseases like malaria, diarrhea, typhoid fever and
hepatitis A have skyrocketed in cases. Malaria has gone from relatively rare
(15k-30k cases), to common (half a million annual cases), in Venezuela. At
this point there is no functioning healthcare system in Venezuela, and
essentially no medicine available to 99% of the population.

In terms of consumer goods, nearly all basic consumer goods were gone 18 to 24
months ago. They increasingly lack nearly all basic consumer staples, from
diapers to toilet paper.

When it comes to access to safe drinking water, that too has essentially
entirely disappeared. Water security is now a daily battle for nearly all the
people of Venezuela:

"The water scarcity has driven people out of their homes and into the streets
in search of any source, potable or not. ... Caracas, a city of 2 million,
sits in a valley some 3,000 feet above sea level. The public water system
relies on a succession of pumps that require massive amounts of energy.
Without electricity, the water doesn’t flow."

[https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/why-are-
yo...](https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/why-are-you-crying-
mami-in-venezuela-the-search-for-water-is-a-daily-
struggle/2019/04/04/39972ce4-5547-11e9-814f-e2f46684196e_story.html)

Venezuela is seeing a severe flight of population, whereas Tunisia's
population is solidly expanding year after year. Venezuela has seen maybe as
many as three to four million people flee the country during the crisis. These
people fleeing Venezuela are often living in imminent fear of starving to
death, or the fear that that is what's to come next.

~~~
csomar
Parts of Tunisia are definitely doing as bad or worse. I don't know about the
average guy. I'm neither one; nor there is any reliable data.

------
kissickas
> RTL-SDR is a very cheap ~$25 USB dongle that can be used as a computer based
> radio scanner for receiving live radio signals in your area (no internet
> required). Depending on the particular model it could receive frequencies
> from 500 kHz up to 1.75 GHz. Most software for the RTL-SDR is also community
> developed, and provided free of charge.

[https://www.rtl-sdr.com/about-rtl-sdr/](https://www.rtl-sdr.com/about-rtl-
sdr/)

~~~
themodelplumber
I believe you can still get in trouble with these in the US; last I checked,
for example, New York has a law forbidding the use of police-radio-monitoring
equipment to monitor police frequencies when placed in a vehicle, at least. I
wouldn't be surprised to hear there are other cities with stricter laws, even
NYC itself.

~~~
Jnr
Out of the box those devices act as digital TV and radio receivers. In fact I
have been using them for just that for many years. Weird that someone can get
in trouble for having a TV/radio receiver.

~~~
crispyambulance
It's not really about the RTL-SDR.

The person who was arrested was using the device to probe stuff that the
Tunisian government doesn't want to be made known. If he had been using
binoculars and a notebook at the airport, he would have been arrested too.

They were watching him, knew what he was doing there, and used whatever
pretext was at hand to arrest him upon arrival (which suggests he had been
there before).

------
gpm
> As Kartas holds UN diplomatic immunity, and as Tunisia is a member of the
> UN, the arrest and detainment is seen as illegal.

This seems like it should be the bigger (though less on topic) deal.

~~~
bsza
The article doesn't mention this, but according to TAP, he was traveling with
his regular passport instead of a diplomatic one[1], so he had no diplomatic
immunity.

[1] [https://www.reuters.com/article/us-tunisia-libya/tunisia-
say...](https://www.reuters.com/article/us-tunisia-libya/tunisia-says-u-n-
official-arrested-in-anti-terrorism-probe-agency-idUSKCN1RB0LG)

~~~
dannyw
UN allowing him to travel on a normal passport seems like a big problem.
Diplomatic immunity should be SOP for precisely this reason.

~~~
csomar
I think he used his normal passport because he was entering his own country
and had no doubt he is fine. Should be an unthinkable measure to take from
here forward for UN officials.

~~~
amanaplanacanal
As a US citizen, I was under the impression that I have to use my US passport
when entering the US. Is that not the case everywhere?

~~~
dannyw
I'm sure there's an exception for diplomatic passports.

------
maouida
OMG. I am Tunisian and was planing to buy an sdr dongle next month for
research purposes. I guess if I had done it I would be in big trouble by now.
It is well known here that customs are very suspicious about any device they
do not recognize. Back in the early 2000s they were questioning people about
their USB sticks!

~~~
sytelus
It’s not about just carrying device.

 _they explain that he was using the RTL-SDR as part of his investigation for
monitoring air traffic to Libya in an attempt to link flights against
violations of the arms embargo._

So the person in question supposedly wanted to prove that Tunisia is
potentially violating UN embargo by possibly monitoring air traffic
communications without permission.

~~~
dingaling
Tunisia and Algeria are well-known in enthusiast circles as countries where
you do _not_ try to monitor ATC or Mode-S transmissions.

He had a noble cause but what he was doing would have to be done in a hands-
off, anonymous way with relay to an outside recipient. Perhaps remote solar-
charged SoC units with satellite uplink, but that's getting into serious
money.

------
errantspark
Damn, I wonder what countries my EDC kit could get me arrested in. I often
carry one of those around, it's a lot of fun to listen in on ATC or just scan
the spectrum for interesting signals.

~~~
gumby
Not clear as the article speculates that the SDR was simply used as a fig leaf
for the real arrest motivation.

They used to be illegal in Germany (along with wifi-specific sniffers): is
this still the case?

------
amingilani
I'm getting a Cloudflare error 524. Hug of death?

Here's a backup:
[https://web.archive.org/web/20190509030015/https://www.rtl-s...](https://web.archive.org/web/20190509030015/https://www.rtl-
sdr.com/united-nations-expert-arrested-in-tunisia-for-using-an-rtl-sdr/)

~~~
ignoramous
Mirror: [https://outline.com/aeeu8G](https://outline.com/aeeu8G)

------
hawaiian
Does an RTL-SDR usually lack a passive/monitor mode?

~~~
markovbot
I'm not aware of an RTL-SDR that posses anything _other_ than a
passive/monitor mode

~~~
errantspark
It's possible, but hacky and not that useful [0]

[0] [https://www.rtl-sdr.com/using-the-rtl-sdr-as-a-
transmitter/](https://www.rtl-sdr.com/using-the-rtl-sdr-as-a-transmitter/)

------
Abishek_Muthian
So if a tourist carries RTL-SDR device to listen to local music on FM radio,
he/she/other is going to rot in jail or worse?

Tunisia being a tourist hot spot I expected their customs to be knowledgeable
enough to differentiate a malicious device.

I think they had already made their mind to arrest this person and RTL device
is just a scape goat (or) they were super paranoid for some reason & this
person was just unlucky to have a USB device with a antennae which for the
uninformed has spy gadget written all over it.

~~~
oasisbob
Given that an RTL-SDR is a device capable of receiving and intercepting all
sorts of radio signals, I would be _very_ careful of traveling with one unless
I was intimately familiar with the relevant laws of the country I was
traveling to.

~~~
jwandborg
The thing about an RTL-SDR is that it's just a TV/FM tuner, sold for that
purpose, but with alternative drivers on the host you can use it for general
RF tuning. My RTL-SDR is a cheap Chinese TV tuner dongle. They need access to
his PC in order to prove that it's being used for other things than watching
TV.

~~~
antsar
They [would] need access to his PC [if they needed] to prove that it's being
used for other things than watching TV.

Fixed that for you :)

------
WrtCdEvrydy
Reminds me of the 'This shirt is a munition'

------
pjkundert
Translation: “Don’t take us seriously, as a nation or a military power”.

~~~
Iv
On the contrary, the reason for this kind of arrest is usually a military
paranoia over the import of military equipment.

You may not take them seriously as a technological country, but such arrests
indicate that the army is worried about the smuggling of military tech and has
power to enforce checks.

~~~
pjkundert
If a $20.00 RTL-SDR dongle presents a risk to your military infrastructure —
then you are confirming your incompetence.

Now, this can be a valuable tactic; it is good to be underestimated by your
opponent. I doubt this is intentional, though.

~~~
ILMostro7
If they're arresting people for even a $20 component/tool, then it stands to
reason that they are more authoritarian and vigilant; not less of a threat or
incompetent!

~~~
Dylan16807
You can be both vigilant and incompetent. For example, when you're being
extremely vigilant over civilians noticing a glaring weak point instead of
fixing it.

------
soulofmischief
> In Tunisia a charge of espionage could be punishable by death.

> Tunisia is a member of the UN

Umm... what? Logic tells me these two statements should be incompatible.

~~~
sb057
That would mean excluding Egypt, the United States, China, India, Russia, and
Indonesia, or roughly half the world's population, or 3/5 permanent UNSC
members.

~~~
soulofmischief
Great. Let's do it. Let's not give power to an international organization
which _condones_ this behavior.

~~~
JimmyAustin
The goal of the United Nation is to prevent another world war. Minor
atrocities are accepted as long as everyone stays at the table.

~~~
soulofmischief
I'd say it's failing in that respect as well.

~~~
amanaplanacanal
I know I'm out of touch, but was there a world war I missed?

~~~
soulofmischief
No, but if you pay attention, the US, Russia, and other global powers are
engaged in proxy wars all over the globe. We continue to fund terrorism. We
are on the cusp of another cold war with Russia. China is moving for market
dominance and expansion of their totalitarian regime.

The West's global markets are on thinner ice than ever. Domestically, the US,
the world's biggest superpower, is crumbling. Poverty is on the rise. The
wealth gap broadens. The US has begun assaulting its citizens'
Constitutionally granted rights, including the rights to free speech and the
right to bear arms against the government.

Dozens and dozens of extremely important natural resources, minerals, etc will
be dried up within half a century. This will likely lead to global instability
and riots. [0]

The environment is wasted. Thousands of animals and insects and other life
evaporated. We are literally in the middle of a global extinction event [1]
whose impact has yet to be fully appreciated. Our biosphere is rapidly
collapsing. Our generation will be synonymous with plastic and the destruction
of the Earth.

Multiple Middle Eastern countries are gaining access to nuclear weaponry.
Things are as tense with Iran as ever. Al-Qaeda's plan [2] for Islamic global
domination and war, while dampened for a moment, is still chugging right
along. ISIS is not gone. We have _not_ defeated them. They _want_ a global
religious war and everything they do is working towards this goal.

If we get out of the next three decades without a world war, I will be _very_
surprised. The coming War for Resources is inevitable, the only unknown is
_when_.

No, the UN is not doing their job. Nor is the US.

[0]
[https://www.dni.gov/files/documents/NICR%202013-05%20US%20Na...](https://www.dni.gov/files/documents/NICR%202013-05%20US%20Nat%20Resources%202020,%202030%202040.pdf)

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holocene_extinction](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holocene_extinction)

[2] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-
Qaeda#Strategy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Qaeda#Strategy)

