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posted by martyb on Saturday February 13 2016, @12:37AM   Printer-friendly
from the the-surveillance-that-never-sleeps dept.

Shaun Nichols over at The Register (El Reg) is reporting on a New York Civil Liberties Union report (NYCLU) detailing New York City Police Department (NYPD) use of IMSI catchers.

According to the NYCLU's report, the NYPD has used IMSI catchers (essentially mobile cell towers powerful enough to induce all nearby cellular devices to connect to them, rather than commercial cell towers) more than 1,000 times in the past seven years.

From the El Reg article:

According to the NYCLU report, between 2008 and May of 2015 police used stingray hardware 1,016 times, and that permission to deploy the devices required a court order rather than a harder-to-obtain warrant.

The use of stingray devices by police has become a point of contention between law enforcement and groups who see the devices as a violation of personal privacy. Long used by the FBI, stingray devices impersonate legit cellphone towers to monitor nearby mobile phones and track their movements.

[...] "If carrying a cell phone means being exposed to military-grade surveillance equipment, then the privacy of nearly all New Yorkers is at risk," said NYCLU executive director Donna Lieberman.

"Considering the NYPD's troubling history of surveilling innocent people, it must at the very least establish strict privacy policies and obtain warrants prior to using intrusive equipment like Stingrays that can track people's cell phones."

This kind of gives a little more zing to the old saw "Welcome to New York. Now go home."


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  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by Runaway1956 on Saturday February 13 2016, @02:37AM

    by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Saturday February 13 2016, @02:37AM (#303525) Journal

    If people didn't revolt over Stop and Frisk, no one is going to give a damn about surveillance.

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  • (Score: 3, Funny) by krishnoid on Saturday February 13 2016, @08:13AM

    by krishnoid (1156) on Saturday February 13 2016, @08:13AM (#303592)

    I think they toned the program down [theonion.com] a little after some of the outrage.