A New York state judge has concluded that a powerful police surveillance tool known as a stingray, a device that spoofs legitimate mobile phone towers, performs a "search" and therefore requires a warrant under most circumstances.
As a New York State Supreme Court judge in Brooklyn ruled earlier this month in an attempted murder case, New York Police Department officers should have sought a standard, probable cause-driven warrant before using the invasive device.
The Empire State court joins others nationwide in reaching this conclusion. In September, the District of Columbia Court of Appeals also found that stingrays normally require a warrant, as did a federal judge in Oakland, California, back in August.
According to The New York Times, which first reported the case on Wednesday, People v. Gordon is believed to be the first stingray-related case connected to the country's largest city police force.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 20 2017, @02:21PM (4 children)
They need to spend less time...
finding it needs a warrant and more time harshly reprimanding or helping the officers/agents involved get fired over using one illegally.
This is the sort of abuse of power and privilege that should get both power and privilege stripped from those involved.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 20 2017, @03:29PM (3 children)
Later - Courts say it doesn't count without a warrant.
Later - "Jim, we need to get a warrant to use that thingy. I know a judge that can have it to us by tomorrow."
This is pretty much the system working as intended - with the judicial branch providing a check/balance on the power of the executive branch.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 20 2017, @03:40PM
And there you have it folks. This is pretty much how it works in real life...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 20 2017, @07:52PM
Since these things necessarily slurp up data from more than just the intended target, they shouldn't be able to use them at all, even with a warrant. They can't even remotely guarantee specificity with this.
(Score: 1) by anubi on Tuesday November 21 2017, @03:29AM
I would use it to see if I was barking up the right tree or wasting my time.
Sure, I could not enter anything I got as evidence, but I could sure use it to tell me where to look to get evidence.
Ever since the telephone came out, it never has been private, albeit the latest incarnations offer far more privacy than any of the previous incarnations I ever used.
Its foolhardy to cook up problems on the phone. Especially these days with every call being logged and kept with almost no effort at all.
If I were to try to communicate covertly, it would be public wifi spots, MAC spoofing, and custom coded "instant messenger" programs using nonstandard ports and nonstandard protocols.
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 20 2017, @02:35PM (7 children)
LEO's need to start doing their fucking job, part of that is acquiring warrants. If you can't do that, you're incompetent and should not be in that job; if you don't want to do that, you should find another job; if you won't do that, you're a criminal and rights abuser.
Warrants exist for a reason and that reason is indeed partially to make the life of LEOs harder; that is by design and is there for a bloody good reason! Failure to understand that puts you in the section of "authoritarian bastards who should not be allowed anywhere near any position of authority".
(Score: 2) by takyon on Monday November 20 2017, @02:39PM (6 children)
I want LEOs to spend their time acquiring useless warrants [engadget.com] that yield them no evidence due to encryption/etc.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Monday November 20 2017, @02:51PM (5 children)
You don't think they can get a warrant specifying allowing the use of a Stingray on a particular person, specifically to capture data from person X and discarding all other data collected immediately after capture?
And you don't think that if the data stream itself is encrypted you get no more data of what was accessed with a stingray than would be otherwise capturable by other means?
This sig for rent.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by takyon on Monday November 20 2017, @03:16PM (4 children)
Written-in limits and court rulings shouldn't be trusted. We've already seen warrantless use of Stingrays and even if local cops have to get warrants, the CIA and others can probably do without warrants for the purpose of fighting terrorism. There is no legal solution, only technical (or the non-technical solution of not carrying a phone to avoid any location tracking).
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Monday November 20 2017, @06:20PM (3 children)
The legal solution is the have the lawyers and judge talk about throwing away most of the evidence because a warrant wasn't issued.
It's costly and time-consuming, but it hurts the prosecution's ego, so they won't let it happen too many times. Judges don't like to have to repeat themselves, either.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 20 2017, @07:29PM (2 children)
right and financially, the only solution for a clown like me is to not carry a phone. because I cant afford to tie them up in courts with my sense of moral superiority knowing that the law and justice is on my side. it won't happen; only the rich are afforded that opportunity.
the rest of us are tracked with our digital barcoded collars that transmit automatically. they even can medicate you now, for your mental illness, and report that you took the pill via the said tracking device.
wargames was right in that the winning move is not to play... don't get a modern phone that allows for these things and you can at least text and make calls.
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Monday November 20 2017, @09:09PM (1 child)
Why can't we have a mod +1 Conspiracy Theory?
Great comment, really enjoyed reading it. I can't tell if you've taken your meds or not, but not because of anything your phone tells me.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Tuesday November 21 2017, @02:09AM
Keep up with the times, bro:
FDA Approves "Digital" Pill [soylentnews.org]
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]