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posted by janrinok on Sunday March 23 2014, @05:13PM   Printer-friendly
from the but-we-have-to-be-able-track-everyone dept.

mrbluze writes:

"Columbia Tribune / AP reports of Police agencies' reluctance to divulge details about the Stingray cell-phone interception device, whose use has increased since a Supreme Court decision to prevent the use of GPS tracking devices without a warrant. The Stingray is reported to be a suitcase-sized device that pretends to be a mobile phone tower, tricking a cell phone to connect to it instead of the cellphone company's tower, but details on how this works are not revealed.

In one of the rare court cases involving the device, the FBI acknowledged in 2011 that so-called cell site simulator technology affects innocent users in the area where it's operated, not just a suspect police are seeking.

A December 2013 investigation by USA Today found roughly 1 in 4 law enforcement agencies it surveyed had performed tower dumps, and slightly fewer owned a Stingray.

However, a report by GlobalResearch.ca gives much greater detail, including photographs of the device:

When a suspect makes a phone call, the StingRay tricks the cell into sending its signal back to the police, thus preventing the signal from traveling back to the suspect's wireless carrier. But not only does StingRay track the targeted cell phone, it also extracts data off potentially thousands of other cell phone users in the area.

Although manufactured by a Germany and Britain-based firm, the StingRay devices are sold in the US by the Harris Corporation, an international telecommunications equipment company. It gets between $60,000 and $175,000 for each Stingray it sells to US law enforcement agencies."

 
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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 23 2014, @10:17PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 23 2014, @10:17PM (#20000)

    fake cell phone tower? wow it that like a fake plastic christmas tree?
    does it run on 9V batteries and make funny sounds and have cheesy lights or how?
    or do we mean "unlicensed cell phone tower"?

  • (Score: 2, Funny) by Tork on Sunday March 23 2014, @10:25PM

    by Tork (3914) Subscriber Badge on Sunday March 23 2014, @10:25PM (#20001)
    "Fake" as in: Not authentic. Since it was mentioned in the summary that it is briefcase-sized, I'm not sure why you were picturing a hollow tower.
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