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Fnord666 [soylentnews.org] writes:

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 [nycourts.gov] 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 [arstechnica.com] that stingrays normally require a warrant, as did a federal judge in Oakland, California, back in August [arstechnica.com].

According to The New York Times [nytimes.com], 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.

Source: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2017/11/if-nypd-cops-want-to-snoop-on-your-phone-they-need-a-warrant-judge-rules/ [arstechnica.com]

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