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From the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF)
Sen. Ron Wyden has sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Justice concerning disruptions to 911 emergency services caused by law enforcement's use of cell-site simulators (CSS, also known as IMSI catchers or Stingrays). In the letter, Sen. Wyden states that:
Senior officials from the Harris Corporation—the manufacturer of the cell-site simulators used most frequently by U.S. law enforcement agencies—have confirmed to my office that Harris' cell-site simulators completely disrupt the communications of targeted phones for as long as the surveillance is ongoing. According to Harris, targeted phones cannot make or receive calls, send or receive text messages, or send or receive any data over the Internet. Moreover, while the company claims its cell-site simulators include a feature that detects and permits the delivery of emergency calls to 9-1-1, its officials admitted to my office that this feature has not been independently tested as part of the Federal Communication Commission's certification process, nor were they able to confirm this feature is capable of detecting and passing-through 9-1-1 emergency communications made by people who are deaf, hard of hearing, or speech disabled using Real-Time Text technology.
The full text of the letter can be read here.
Researchers of CSS technology have long suspected that using such technologies, even professionally designed and marketed CSS's, would have a detrimental effect on emergency services, and now—for the first time—we have confirmation.
So not only does it snoop on all calls in the area, it also disrupts emergency calls. And why is everything about Stingrays, even their existence, such a huge secret, even to the point of dropping prosecutions?
(Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday August 28 2018, @10:33PM (8 children)
(Score: 3, Informative) by sjames on Wednesday August 29 2018, @02:00AM (7 children)
Your "urban myth" is named qwest. It was the one holdout that wouldn't hand call records over to the NSA.
The CEO was Joseph P. Nacchio. He went up the river for insider trading after his defense was barred from presenting evidence based on a dubious national defense claim by the prosecution.
The remains of Qwest were absorbed by Centurylink.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Wednesday August 29 2018, @12:05PM (5 children)
(Score: 2) by sjames on Thursday August 30 2018, @08:33AM (4 children)
Perhaps OP didn't remember the name. That didn't make what he said a myth, it made it incomplete.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday August 30 2018, @11:36AM (3 children)
(Score: 2) by sjames on Thursday August 30 2018, @05:16PM (2 children)
OTOH, the information found it's way to the page with no problem, so youi got your spoon feeding after all. Was it nummy?
(Score: 1) by khallow on Friday August 31 2018, @03:47AM
Indeed, my little buttercup.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Friday August 31 2018, @12:34PM
So did hendrikboom who asked in the first place. Remember one poster, many readers. Foisting work off on your reader wastes much more time than it saves.
(Score: 2) by hendrikboom on Monday September 03 2018, @11:31PM
Thank you.