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posted by janrinok on Tuesday December 27 2016, @01:28AM   Printer-friendly
from the I-could-tell-you-but-I-would-have-to-kill-you dept.

StingRay, a suitcase-size surveillance tool, mimics a cellphone tower, allowing authorities to track individual cellphones in real time. Users of the device, which include scores of law enforcement agencies across the country, sign a non-disclosure agreement when they purchase it, pledging not to divulge its use, even in court cases against defendants the device helped capture.

That is one of the concerns of civil liberties groups, that cellphones unconnected with a law enforcement investigation are also captured by the device. While some cell-site simulators allow 911 emergency calls to pass through to legitimate towers, other calls routinely fail. Should an emergency unfold, cell users in the vicinity probably would find their calls dropped or signals jammed.

"Even if there is a 911 pass-through feature, there are still plenty of other calls that people might want to make," said Christopher Soghoian, principal technologist at the American Civil Liberties Union. "You might want to call your children's school. You might want to call your wife or husband."

It's hard to know with certainty how many innocent cellphone users have experienced jamming due to police use of cell-site simulators. Federal restrictions on information about their use prevents collecting such details.


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 27 2016, @06:02PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 27 2016, @06:02PM (#446394)

    if

    If you are operating a Stingray and you don't have a court order, your ass goes to jail. If you are operating a Stingray with a court order, and 911 calls don't go through, you go to jail. If you are operating a Stingray and my call to Aunt May doesn't go through because of it, you go to jail.

    && ! YOU_ARE POLICE_OFFICER; then echo "Go to jail"; fi

    There, fixed that for you.

  • (Score: 2) by Immerman on Tuesday December 27 2016, @11:34PM

    by Immerman (3985) on Tuesday December 27 2016, @11:34PM (#446500)

    That would rather defeat the point, wouldn't it? If a police officer has a legitimate reason to operate the device, let them get a court order. Or risk prison, as they choose.

    • (Score: 2) by Snotnose on Wednesday December 28 2016, @01:05AM

      by Snotnose (1623) on Wednesday December 28 2016, @01:05AM (#446522)

      The point is these devices are blanket surveillance, not pinpoint. They get a warrant to use a stingray on some dude 1/4 mile away, it's also going to vacuum up my calls. Unless they also get a warrant against me that's against my 4th amendment rights.

      I realize the 4th doesn't mean shit nowdays, but it's still worth fighting for.

      --
      Why shouldn't we judge a book by it's cover? It's got the author, title, and a summary of what the book's about.
      • (Score: 2) by Immerman on Wednesday December 28 2016, @07:06AM

        by Immerman (3985) on Wednesday December 28 2016, @07:06AM (#446577)

        Indeed, and one would hope that a warrant would, at the least, be correspondingly more difficult to get.

        But even if not, it would still be miles ahead of the current "we felt like it" level of authorization needed by he police to operate one.