Fake Mobile Phone Towers Found To Be "Actively Listening In" On Calls In UK

Posted by samzenpus on Wednesday June 10, 2015 @07:08PM from the all-the-better-to-hear-you-with dept.

New submitter nickweller writes: More than 20 Stingray fake phone towers which can collect data from passing devices and listen in on calls have been discovered operating in the UK. The Metropolitan Police have refused to say who is controlling the IMSI catchers, also known as Stingrays, or what is being done with the information they are gathering. Met Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe said: "If people imagine that we’ve got the resources to do as much intrusion as they worry about, I would reassure them that it’s impossible.”

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Let me guess... by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · 2015-06-10 20:33 · Score: 5, Insightful

I'm assuming that their ever-so-coy stance on whether or not the stingrays are their stingrays would evaporate rather quickly if somebody were to climb up, cut one down, and make off with it...

Feds have this funny habit of suddenly getting really possessive of things that previously didn't exist if you start touching them.