Undercover Uncovered: Govt. Spy Truck Found Disguised As Google Street View Car

Short Bytes: A new case has popped up where a government vehicle was found disguised under the name of Google Street View car and monitoring public’s activities. Neither the government nor Google has taken the responsibility for the vehicle but it is sure from the case that government is into some spying activities.

Is the US govt. spying on its citizens disguised in different cloaks? Well, here is a story from Philadelphia where, for others a truck appeared as a Google Street View car. But, for professor Matt Blaze, from University of Pennsylvania’s Computer and Information Science department, that car was a government spy truck.

Once he saw the truck, he tweeted about the same with the title ‘WTF’. That tweet makes us think why does government agency need to disguise themselves in something which pretends to a Google Street View car.

A bill pasted on the dashboard indicated that the car was registered with the Philadelphia Office of Fleet Management. The organization is responsible for maintaining government’s vehicles, indicating that the vehicle is being used by a local agency.

Also Read: Now FBI Can Hack Any Computer In The World With Just One Warrant

When Christopher Cocci, the city’s fleet manager, was approached regarding the vehicle with department’s signature on the document, a surprising response came that the vehicle did not belong to Pennsylvania State Police.

He says,

All city vehicles such as police, fire, streets etc.…are registered to the city. Quasi [public] agencies like PPA, Housing Authority, PGW and School District are registered to their respective agencies.

If none of the other departments are using this vehicle and no department is raising its hands and taking the claim that means this vehicle was being illegally used under the name of Google Street View car.

When Google was approached for the same, they said,

We can confirm that this is not a Google Maps car and that we are currently looking into the matter.

Let’s see who takes the ownership of the incident and whom does the truck belong to? But, this is sure from the picture that the govt. is using illegal activities to monitor the citizens’ daily activities.

Read another story in how FBI is harassing a TOR software developer.