<instructions>Your goal is to analyze the following comment and estimate how highly it will be upvoted by the Hacker News community.</instructions><comment><author>jasonwatkinspdx</author><text>The Mexican cartels use actual cell&amp;#x2F;mobile equipment, and have kidnapped engineers from South Texas to gain additional technical knowledge. Also, these areas surround SLC are not territory they&amp;#x27;re trying to control in the same way. What utility would there be in this network vs simply using encrypted communication over the internet?&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, solar powered mining with just good enough radios to do C2 and send back any hashes found would be an exact match to this scale of equipment.</text><parent_chain><item><author>downrightmike</author><text>I disagree, this sounds _exactly_ like what the drug cartels have been doing in Mexico for years. They build their own network so they can bypass the government. It makes more sense that they are connecting their operations further up north given the amount of security upgrades that the USA has been doing recently. 
One Example: &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.reuters.com&amp;#x2F;article&amp;#x2F;us-mexico-telecoms-cartels-specialreport&amp;#x2F;special-report-drug-cartel-narco-antennas-make-life-dangerous-for-mexicos-cell-tower-repairmen-idUSKCN24G1DN&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.reuters.com&amp;#x2F;article&amp;#x2F;us-mexico-telecoms-cartels-s...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;Crypto&amp;quot; is just a buzzword that people who don&amp;#x27;t understand tech jump to as a kneejerk reaction.</text></item><item><author>RF_Enthusiast</author><text>SLC&amp;#x27;s recreational trails manager says it might be related to cryptocurrency. This sounds like the Helium crypto network, which is an IoT network offering node owners payment in cryptocurrency, which has plummeted in value ($55.22 in Nov 2021, $1.73 today).</text></item></parent_chain></comment><story><title>Why are antennas popping up over the Salt Lake City foothills?</title><url>https://ksltv.com/516749/why-are-antennas-popping-up-all-over-the-foothills-salt-lake-city-seeks-to-solve-mystery/</url></story>
<instructions>Your goal is to analyze the following comment and estimate how highly it will be upvoted by the Hacker News community.</instructions><comment><author>Manuel_D</author><text>What does this provide that an encrypted cellphone messenger app does not? I&amp;#x27;m sure they have the know how to acquire SIMs through intermediaries to remain anonymous. That&amp;#x27;s probably a lot less suspicious than setting up random radio towers, in fact this story is evidence of that.&lt;p&gt;Presumably self-operated infrastructure could expand comms to remote areas that don&amp;#x27;t normally have cell service. They makes sense in stretches of the southern border. But right outside salt lake city is covered by cell access.</text><parent_chain><item><author>downrightmike</author><text>I disagree, this sounds _exactly_ like what the drug cartels have been doing in Mexico for years. They build their own network so they can bypass the government. It makes more sense that they are connecting their operations further up north given the amount of security upgrades that the USA has been doing recently. 
One Example: &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.reuters.com&amp;#x2F;article&amp;#x2F;us-mexico-telecoms-cartels-specialreport&amp;#x2F;special-report-drug-cartel-narco-antennas-make-life-dangerous-for-mexicos-cell-tower-repairmen-idUSKCN24G1DN&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.reuters.com&amp;#x2F;article&amp;#x2F;us-mexico-telecoms-cartels-s...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;Crypto&amp;quot; is just a buzzword that people who don&amp;#x27;t understand tech jump to as a kneejerk reaction.</text></item><item><author>RF_Enthusiast</author><text>SLC&amp;#x27;s recreational trails manager says it might be related to cryptocurrency. This sounds like the Helium crypto network, which is an IoT network offering node owners payment in cryptocurrency, which has plummeted in value ($55.22 in Nov 2021, $1.73 today).</text></item></parent_chain></comment><story><title>Why are antennas popping up over the Salt Lake City foothills?</title><url>https://ksltv.com/516749/why-are-antennas-popping-up-all-over-the-foothills-salt-lake-city-seeks-to-solve-mystery/</url></story>