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posted by martyb on Monday August 21 2017, @07:44AM   Printer-friendly
from the Don't-have-a-COW dept.

The acting head of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement says that the agency does not use cell-site simulators, aka IMSI-catchers or "StingRays", to locate undocumented immigrants:

The acting head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the federal agency charged with deportations, has confirmed in a new letter that it does not use cell-site simulators, also known as stingrays, to locate undocumented immigrants. In the August 16 letter, which was sent to Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR), acting Director Thomas Homan wrote that, since October 2015, ICE has followed similar guidelines put in place by the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security a month earlier, which require a warrant before deploying a stingray.

[...] The Homan letter makes a point though to say that "interference with non-targeted mobile devices is virtually nonexistent."

As he continued:

The mobile identifier of non-targeted mobile handsets is verified by the cell-site simulators automatically as a non-target and sent back to the best mobile network. This process is conducted in an amount of time that is not noticeable to the user. If a call is placed or received during the exact instant the verification is taking place, interference may result. The equipment software has provisions to allow a captured device one currently engaged by the cell-site simulator to return to the host network if the captured device initiates a call. In all circumstances, devices are always able to dial 911 without any disruption of service.

This description is curious given that a Friday warrant application, filed by an FBI agent in a drug case in Wisconsin, describes "service disruption" to phones that aren't targeted by the stingray as being "brief and temporary."


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  • (Score: 0, Redundant) by aristarchus on Monday August 21 2017, @08:28AM (9 children)

    by aristarchus (2645) on Monday August 21 2017, @08:28AM (#556926) Journal

    No Comment.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 22 2017, @01:37AM (8 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 22 2017, @01:37AM (#557340)

      what is this no comment nonsense?

      • (Score: 2, Funny) by aristarchus on Tuesday August 22 2017, @01:44AM

        by aristarchus (2645) on Tuesday August 22 2017, @01:44AM (#557343) Journal

        Must be very important, since it has attracted three (3) Spam mods. Something to do with Nazis. And free speech.

      • (Score: 2) by takyon on Tuesday August 22 2017, @02:40AM (5 children)

        by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Tuesday August 22 2017, @02:40AM (#557357) Journal

        He got butthurt over having several flamebait submissions deleted while two others got mashed up in a way he didn't like. Now you're seeing him protest these decisions (indistinguishable from a temper tantrum).

        --
        [SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 23 2017, @08:54AM (2 children)

          by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 23 2017, @08:54AM (#557902)

          [11:07:19] I tried to defang anonystarchus a bit - is the dept. line OK: https://soylentnews.org [soylentnews.org]
          [11:07:20] ^ �03Error�
          [11:07:55] upstart: go error yourself, you dumb bot!
          [11:09:34] Maybe if I had editor privs

          AC below may well have a valid point. Just saying.

          _anonystarchus_

          • (Score: 2) by takyon on Wednesday August 23 2017, @01:58PM (1 child)

            by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Wednesday August 23 2017, @01:58PM (#558005) Journal

            Department

            May be ignored by the Editors. They are a strange lot.

            Flamebait that you submit may also be ignored, deleted, or heavily edited.

            It's also bleedingly obvious that you are the only one posting those stories and certain comments.

            If you quote from IRC you need to use HTML entities so that the names don't turn into tags and disappear:

            &lt;NAME&gt; → <NAME>

            --
            [SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 23 2017, @08:27PM (1 child)

          by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 23 2017, @08:27PM (#558154)

          As we do not want this used against non-spamers, we monitor all spam mods to make sure moderators are not abusing the spam mod. If we find a moderator that unfairly applied the spam mod, we remove the mod giving the poster back the Karma points, and the modder is banned from modding for one month.

          Except when "we" are giving the spam mods? Shame, eds, shame!

      • (Score: 0, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 22 2017, @12:49PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 22 2017, @12:49PM (#557478)

        It's a protest making the point that it's increasingly difficult to air any facts or opinions here that challenge the emerging alt-wrong orthodoxy.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 21 2017, @08:29AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 21 2017, @08:29AM (#556927)

    Don't be a Woz fool. Pay your wireless bill. Free mobile network usage is worse than terrorism.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 21 2017, @09:07AM (5 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 21 2017, @09:07AM (#556938)

    Can I do this too? Undocumented firearms? Undocumented revenue? Undocumented substances?

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 21 2017, @10:09AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 21 2017, @10:09AM (#556957)

      Not if you're white.

    • (Score: 2) by unauthorized on Monday August 21 2017, @11:41AM

      by unauthorized (3776) on Monday August 21 2017, @11:41AM (#556979)

      Sure you can, as long as you do it through the established lawful means to introduce laws, or in case of the first one, amend constitutional law.

    • (Score: 2) by kazzie on Monday August 21 2017, @12:25PM (1 child)

      by kazzie (5309) Subscriber Badge on Monday August 21 2017, @12:25PM (#556992)

      Yes, but you have to follow an undocumented method.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 21 2017, @02:50PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 21 2017, @02:50PM (#557048)

        That's only true if you have undocumented documents.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 21 2017, @08:23PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 21 2017, @08:23PM (#557220)

      "Officer I did not steal his vehicle. I was merely engaged in undocumented borrowing."

      Absolutely disgusting. The people engaging in such a blatantly disingenuous white-wash of criminal activity deserve undocumented helicopter rides.

  • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 21 2017, @12:36PM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 21 2017, @12:36PM (#556994)

    Who's taking bets on how long it will take for someone in ICE or a leaker to show that this was a complete lie?

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 21 2017, @02:34PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 21 2017, @02:34PM (#557040)

      Well, maybe they don't use cell-site simulators because they have access to the data from the real cell sites …

    • (Score: 2) by bob_super on Monday August 21 2017, @06:29PM

      by bob_super (1357) on Monday August 21 2017, @06:29PM (#557155)

      No need to lie.
      They may use a Stingray to "get incriminating data" on a particularly troublesome illegal, but then they can just use FB, Apple or Google to "locate" them.

  • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 21 2017, @02:14PM (4 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 21 2017, @02:14PM (#557031)

    Please, let's use our collective minds. With how easy it is to identify and find illegal aliens (aka undocumented workers), why would ICE go through the trouble of purchasing, getting training for and using a StingRay? Really. I can find a couple dozen illegal aliens by just driving through the local Home Depot or Lowe's parking lots, or going to a few fast food restaurants. And ICE has much more relevant info on where large populations of illegal aliens live and work. The need for a StingRay is almost zero.

    • (Score: 2) by LoRdTAW on Monday August 21 2017, @02:24PM (2 children)

      by LoRdTAW (3755) on Monday August 21 2017, @02:24PM (#557036) Journal

      The better question is how does one tell an undocumented persons phone from a citizens?

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 21 2017, @03:24PM (1 child)

        by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 21 2017, @03:24PM (#557063)

        No habla Ingles.

        • (Score: 2) by LoRdTAW on Monday August 21 2017, @03:52PM

          by LoRdTAW (3755) on Monday August 21 2017, @03:52PM (#557075) Journal

          That almost makes sense until you realize that there are plenty of spanish speaking citizens. Then again, they could be trained to pick out mexican accents. But I still see it as a waste of time when they can just wait by main roads and home improvement centers.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 21 2017, @08:31PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 21 2017, @08:31PM (#557225)

      Because I've got this budget here that I need to spend because if I don't, my budget for next year gets cut. And I can't think of anything to spend it on but lo, there's this friendly salesperson here that sells StingRays so I guess I'll spend the money on that. And now that I have these things, he says I can pull all sorts of shenanigans with them so why not.

      You've never had a budget to 'balance'(*), have you?

      (*) In your favor, that is...

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 21 2017, @05:17PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 21 2017, @05:17PM (#557116)
    Well they should use them.

    Use every tool we have to catch these criminals.
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