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The Chicago Sun-Times reports that the Chicago Police Department is fighting a lawsuit to force them to reveal how they use Stingray cell tower-emulating devices:
Since 2005, the department has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on cell-site simulators manufactured by the Harris Corp. in Melbourne, Florida, records show. The devices — with names like StingRay and KingFish — capture cellphone signals.
Cops can use the technology, originally developed for the military, to locate cellphones. Police agencies in other states have revealed in court that StingRays and similar devices have been used to locate suspects, fugitives and victims in criminal investigations.
But privacy activists across the country have begun to question whether law enforcement agencies have used the devices to track people involved in demonstrations in violation of their constitutional rights. They also have concerns the technology scoops up the phone data of innocent citizens and police targets alike.
The Chicago Police Department has also been running a CIA-style black site, according to a recent report by the Guardian.
When the federal government began imprisoning people at Guantanamo in violation of the Constitution, some argued it was the only place, and that there were exceptional, extenuating circumstances. When the network of CIA black sites around the world and its practice of "extraordinary rendition," known to normal people as, "kidnapping," were revealed, some argued it was only for terrorists and other bad guys. When the NSA's mass violations of the Constitution were revealed by the Snowden leaks, some argued that it was for our own protection. Each time, they were justified as defense against the "Other."
Is this Chicago case a harbinger of things to come, that those tools and practices developed to violate the rights of the "Other" elsewhere, are now being applied to "Us", here?
(Score: 5, Insightful) by TrumpetPower! on Wednesday March 25 2015, @12:03AM
There can be no legitimate reason for a police force to keep this sort of information from the public. Either it's going to come out in trial or it's inadmissible -- and, if it's inadmissible, the police have no business doing it.
Of course, the other option is that their reasons are illegitimate.
You can make an argument that the military should have certain secrets. No such arguments can apply to the police, beyond certain types details of an active investigation or privacy-intruding records of closed investigations that didn't result in charges. Everything beyond that, especially once charges are filed, either must be public record...or the police are not public servants but rather the domestic ground troops of a police state.
b&
All but God can prove this sentence true.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by RedGreen on Wednesday March 25 2015, @12:55AM
"or the police are not public servants but rather the domestic ground troops of a police state."
They always have been that and will continue to be the illusion that they are there for our protection is just that an illusion. They serve the elite in their ongoing effort to keep the masses in check there are so many laws on the books virtually no one can go a day without breaking one of them and once you become an irritant they will come for you.
"I modded down, down, down, and the flames went higher." -- Sven Olsen
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 25 2015, @01:29AM
Similar action going on in Western NY State --
http://www.buffalonews.com/city-region/police-courts/nyclu-taking-sheriff-to-court-over-cellphone-monitoring-20141208 [buffalonews.com]
From the article:
The NYCLU filed the legal action in State Supreme Court after the Sheriff’s Office denied its request under the Freedom of Information Law for records on the acquisition and use of the mobile devices known as Stingrays.
“The Erie County Sheriff’s Department cannot hide behind a shroud of secrecy when it is in fact invading the privacy of the communities it has sworn to serve and protect,” said John A. Curr III, director of the NYCLU’s Western Regional Office.
“This advanced surveillance technology raises serious concerns regarding the tracking of innocent people, and the public has a right to know how and when such invasive techniques will be employed.”
The Sheriff’s Office on Monday declined to comment on the legal action, referring any questions to the County Attorney’s Office, which is expected to file legal papers responding to the action by Friday.
Sheriff Timothy B. Howard has acknowledged that specially trained deputies have been using Stingrays since 2008. He told Erie County lawmakers at a committee hearing in May that it was up to the courts and not legislators to provide oversight on how the devices are used.