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Indiana State Police Acknowledge Use of Cell Phone Tracking Device

Posted by timothy on from the hoosier-friend-on-the-phone? dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Indiana state police acknowledge use of cell phone tracking device 'Stingray', tricking all cellphones in a set distance into connecting to it as if it were a real cellphone tower. A joint USA Today and IndyStar investigation found earlier this month that the state police spent $373,995 on a device called a Stingray. Often installed in a surveillance vehicle, the suitcase-size Stingrays trick all cellphones in a set distance ('sometimes exceeding a mile, depending on the terrain and antennas') into connecting to it as if it were a real cellphone tower. That allows police agencies to capture location data and numbers dialed for calls and text messages from thousands of people at a time."

20 of 155 comments (clear)

  1. My Question is by dale.furno · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Who controls the Data that is collected?

    1. Re:My Question is by noh8rz10 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      srsly, that's your question? the collection itself is no biggie, but who gets the records? I assume the police are inept to handle this firehose of real-time data, and are just trying to spend down 9-11 anti-terrorist cash that US gives to agencies at every level. this is why the sheriff's dept in Wasilla, AK has an armored weaponized SWAT vehicle.

      I see a few important questions here, but tbh I'm feeling pretty weary to list them all.

    2. Re:My Question is by msauve · · Score: 4, Insightful

      More significantly - cell phone frequencies are licensed, and some have been "sold" to cell providers. Methinks there's a felony here by some within the Indiana State Police, regarding theft of services, or something similar regarding use of frequencies they're not licensed to use. Who watches the watchers?

      This is a recurring issue - what makes law enforcement think they can break the law in order to enforce it (this, and simpler things like speeding while on patrol).

      --
      "National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
    3. Re:My Question is by cold+fjord · · Score: 4, Informative

      .... but who gets the records?

      That is a big question, especially since various state governments in the US have passed data privacy laws, and they aren't always complied with by state agencies. This was in the news about six months ago. I have little doubt there are many more instances of illegal or abusive data transfers out there at the state or local level. Bureaucratic overreach is hardly confined to the Federal government, and often occurs in conjunction with it.

      Highway Patrol Handed Concealed Carry Information To Feds - April 11, 2013

      It was revealed in Missouri Senate testimony Thursday morning that the Missouri State Highway Patrol has twice handed over to federal officials information regarding concealed carry permits in the state.

      The revelation validates the concerns of many Republican state legislators who have warned of the “gun list” for longer than a month.

      Sen. Kurt Schaefer (R-Columbia) has led the charge against the Missouri Department of Revenue and others over the list. He said in a press release that the Highway Patrol “asked for and received the full list from the state Division of Motor Vehicle and Driver Licensing.”

      According to Schaefer, the list contains 185,000 names and “had been put online in one instance and given to the patrol on a disc in January.” ....

      Col. Ron Replogle with the Highway Patrol underwent nearly an hour of testimony Thursday morning in a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing. Replogle testified that a Social Security Administration Office of the Inspector General agent received the discs but was not able to read encrypted data and then destroyed the discs.

      “They said no names were retrieved,” Replogle told the committee this morning, according to the Columbia Tribune. “ ...

      The gun list issue was first raised in early March when Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder told KMOX News that the Missouri Department of Revenue was illegally sharing information on concealed gun permit applicants with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

      --
      much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
    4. Re:My Question is by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

      I'm going to hang up my hat. Cold is being reasonable and citing sources. The world must be ending. So long, and thanks for all the fish.

    5. Re:My Question is by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I think you missed the point in that the police should not be in possession of this information without probable cause and a warrant in the first place. Asking who has access or control of the data skips that first step as if it isn't important when it is probably the most important.

    6. Re:My Question is by Artifakt · · Score: 4, Insightful

      To put it simply, there are things which should not be allowed at all by free men and women, and asking what safeguards are in place implies that there potentially exists some set of safeguards that should make those things allowable. Gathering evidence without both a warrant and probable cause is one of those things, as the U.S. Constitution says, that should NEVER be allowed.
                If you're going to ask a question that assumes there is some way around the Constitution, OR SHOULD BE, you're the person who has to defend your position. You're the person who might want to be more honest and admit you are implicity asking for the Constitution to be set aside. If you really feel that way, how about saying so explicity? Talking down to people who take exception to that point isn't clever, or adult, or enlightened, especially when it's an attempt to deflect that you are the one with the extreme, radical, and generally un-thought-out position you're scared to express openly. I say un-thought-out because if you are consiously supporting just ignoring that 'little' question of the large scale violation of fundamental human rights, you are something much worse than a person who needs things at the 1st grade level.

      --
      Who is John Cabal?
  2. Is this legal? by BitterOak · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Doesn't the FCC regulate the frequencies used by cell phone towers? Do state police have the authority to use them as well? Do they have a special license from the FCC?

    --
    If I can be modded down for being a troll, can I be modded up for being an orc, or a balrog?
    1. Re:Is this legal? by Skarecrow77 · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Even if it is technically illegal, and I don't know whether it is or not, who is going to arrest them?

      Do police have a tendency to be held accountable for their abuse of power in your jurisdiction?

    2. Re:Is this legal? by tftp · · Score: 4, Informative

      Cell phone bands are licensed to providers (AT&T, Verizon, etc.) They paid big bucks for the licenses. Nobody else is legally allowed to use those frequencies. A "tower in a suitcase" would be a major violation of the rights of license holders.

      I do not know if FCC allows the law enforcement to violate FCC's own rules and regulations. (Those are not laws, as I understand - if you run a pirate radio station you will be fined, but not imprisoned.) But why the police should care? Nobody is going to arrest them. The police can raid your home at 3am, kick your door in, shoot your dog and perhaps you, and nobody (except you) will be in trouble.

    3. Re:Is this legal? by Frosty+Piss · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Do state police have the authority to use them as well? Do they have a special license from the FCC?

      Surly you jest! Are you not aware that laws do not apply to "LE"? Especially when tracking "terrorists"? Come on, dude, get out of the basement!

      And if the Boston coppers were passing this all on to a Three Letter Agency, you can bet the FCC knew and turned a "blind eye".

      --
      If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
    4. Re:Is this legal? by cold+fjord · · Score: 3, Informative

      Doesn't the FCC regulate the frequencies used by cell phone towers? Do state police have the authority to use them as well? Do they have a special license from the FCC?

      Two things to remember. First, each state police agency is already a licensed user of sophisticated radio equipment that will generally have state-wide reach, a law enforcement agency, increasingly automated with sophisticated equipment, and able to engage in surveillance. Second, Congress has passed laws that the FCC is involved with overseeing for the assistance of law enforcement.

      Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act

      In response to concerns that emerging technologies such as digital and wireless communications were making it increasingly difficult for law enforcement agencies to execute authorized surveillance, Congress enacted CALEA on October 25, 1994. CALEA requires a "telecommunications carrier," as defined by the Act, to ensure that equipment, facilities, or services that allow a customer or subscriber to "originate, terminate, or direct communications," enable law enforcement officials to conduct electronic surveillance pursuant to court order or other lawful authorization. CALEA was intended to preserve the ability of law enforcement agencies to conduct electronic surveillance by requiring that telecommunications carriers and manufacturers of telecommunications equipment modify and design their equipment, facilities, and services to ensure that they have the necessary surveillance capabilities as communications network technologies evolve

      --
      much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
    5. Re:Is this legal? by DanielRavenNest · · Score: 4, Insightful

      > Nobody is going to arrest them.

      That's not necessary. The major phone companies can sue the Indiana State Police for whatever the corporate lawyers can come up with. And those lawyers don't live in Indiana, so they aren't subject to being pulled over in a traffic stop by the local cops. Alternately, independent lawyers can start a class action on behalf of the phone customers for violation of their civil rights. The cops may not go to jail, but their employers may face big financial settlements.

    6. Re:Is this legal? by BitterOak · · Score: 3, Informative

      Even if it is technically illegal, and I don't know whether it is or not, who is going to arrest them?

      Do police have a tendency to be held accountable for their abuse of power in your jurisdiction?

      I think the point here is that these laws are federal laws and these are state police. I'm not sure how much deference the FCC pays to state police.

      --
      If I can be modded down for being a troll, can I be modded up for being an orc, or a balrog?
  3. Re:Excellent! by Skarecrow77 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I have nothing to hide, and if this helps catch bad guys, it's still a tremendous invasion of privacy and morally wrong under just about any definition of "moral" you want to use (aside from the "moral = whatever the hell I say it is" definition that seems to be increasingly more prevalent).

    If I spend my spare time doing the most boring, non-threatening things imaginable, that is nobody's business but my own. If I spend my spare time doing unusual or asinine things, that's still nobody's business but my own. If I spend my spare time hurting other people and committing crimes that result in damage... then hey, maybe it's time to look into what I'm doing, not before.

  4. Explain it like I'm a 3 year old... by Eggplant62 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    How is this not illegal wiretapping?

  5. Re:RTFA by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    State Police State Police State Police State Police State Police State Police
    Police State Police State Police State Police State Police State Police State
    State Police State Police State Police State Police State Police State Police
    Police State Police State Police State Police State Police State Police State
    State Police State Police State Police State Police State Police State Police

    Which do you see?

    First seen at protests in Boston--in the 1980's.

  6. Re:Excellent! by DavidClarkeHR · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I have nothing to hide, and if this helps catch bad guys, it's still a tremendous invasion of privacy and morally wrong under just about any definition of "moral" you want to use (aside from the "moral = whatever the hell I say it is" definition that seems to be increasingly more prevalent).

    If I spend my spare time doing the most boring, non-threatening things imaginable, that is nobody's business but my own. If I spend my spare time doing unusual or asinine things, that's still nobody's business but my own. If I spend my spare time hurting other people and committing crimes that result in damage... then hey, maybe it's time to look into what I'm doing, not before.

    Moxie Marlinspike had a great article/journal entry/essay on this topic. I'm not saying he's the next hemmingway, but I'd rather let him explain why we should all have something to hide.

    TL;DR - Lots of good things were illegal, once. Big things, like equality (smaller things, too).

    --
    - Nec Impar Pluribus, or so I'm told.
  7. In Soviet Russia, the Modem tracks THEM! by Thor+Ablestar · · Score: 4, Informative

    Once upon a time, working for some Russian defense project I used there a Cellular Modem. The Modem has lots of AT commands that precisely informed about almost everything. As I know, CDMA modems have a similar set of functions.

    Then, the second fact. The stingray does NOT use the same frequency as a real tower. It uses any free frequency and real credentials (If it uses the real frequency it will immediately cause lots of interference). And it should overpower the real tower since the phones connect to the most powerful tower. The Chinese cellular suppressors use the same tactic.

    What does it mean: Any sufficiently opensource phone ( http://neo900.org/#main for instance) can have a software that monitors the cellular connections for anything strange and immediately report it.

    Also, the encoded GSM communications become trivial if you control your phone. It does NOT protect your metainfo but there are other means for it.

  8. Re:Excellent! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I have nothing to hide. If this helps catch bad guys, I'm all for it!

    There have been over 2,000 people sentenced to life in prison or death, who have been exonerated after it's been proven they did not actually commit the crime.

    You might not think you have anything to hide, but you WERE the only cell phone in the vicinity of a grisly murder last week. And hey, you don't have a solid alibi, the cops don't have any other leads, and the Prosecutor is up for an election soon. So you can either spend the next 10 years of your life trying to fight through the courts, and get a death penalty for raping and murdering that child, or you can agree to life in prison without parole you twisted fucking piece of shit.