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A rare alliance of Democratic and Republican members of the US Congress could lead to increased restrictions on how police officers can deploy so-called Stingray cell phone trackers. These devices are regularly used to investigate suspected criminals, but the nature of the system means a lot of innocent Americans are caught up in the dragnet. This bill would force police to get warrants before using Stingrays.
The legislation was introduced Wednesday, and is called the Geolocation Privacy and Surveillance (GPS) Act. Congress does love its clever acronyms. The bill was sponsored by unlikely allies Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Oregon), Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), and Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich). That means essentially the same bill exists in the House and Senate, which both need to pass the legislation before it can become a law.
[...] Police have long maintained that the use of Stingrays does not constitute a "search," and as such does not require a warrant. The GPS bill seeks to force warrants before a Stingray could be used. That wouldn't stop Stingrays from being used in the US, of course. However, it would vastly reduce the frequency.
[...] If the bill is passed by Congress, it's up to President Trump to sign it. If law enforcement groups oppose it, he may decline to do so.
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(Score: 2) by davester666 on Tuesday February 21 2017, @05:58AM
More likely, hours before the bill will be voted on, the word "not" will be sprinkled throughout the bill, making it legal to use a stingray without a warrant to locate people who are late paying a parking fine. And also lawfully collect and use both voice and data "incidentally" captured from all phones in the area while using the stingray.
(Score: 1) by anubi on Tuesday February 21 2017, @07:08AM
I guess if they pull this off right, Stingray technology will become kinda like BitTorrent, with components out of China easily assembled into devices to be used by anyone who cares to use one for the purpose of things like assuring themselves of spousal fidelity, making sure phone calls at work are indeed of a business nature, or maybe he needs to know his customer's communications with his competitors.
Right now, the technology is expensive, but once replicated, costs quickly fall to the marginal cost of production, which in today's world - approach zero.
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]