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In Baltimore and Elsewhere, Police Use Stingrays For Petty Crimes
USA Today reports on the widespread use of stingray technology by police to track down even petty criminals and witnesses, as well as their equally widespread reluctance to disclose that use. The article focuses mostly on the city of Baltimore; by cross-checking court records against a surveillance log from the city’s Advanced Technical Team, the USA Today reporters were able to determine at least several hundred cases in which phony ("simulated") cell phone towers were used to snoop traffic. In court, though, and even in the information that the police department provides to the city's prosecutors, the use of these devices is rarely disclosed, thanks to a non-disclosure agreement with the FBI and probably a general reluctance to make public how much the department is using them, especially without bothering to obtain search warrants. From the article:
In at least one case, police and prosecutors appear to have gone further to hide the use of a stingray. After Kerron Andrews was charged with attempted murder last year, Baltimore's State's Attorney's Office said it had no information about whether a phone tracker had been used in the case, according to court filings. In May, prosecutors reversed course and said the police had used one to locate him. "It seems clear that misrepresentations and omissions pertaining to the government's use of stingrays are intentional," Andrews' attorney, Assistant Public Defender Deborah Levi, charged in a court filing.
Judge Kendra Ausby ruled last week that the police should not have used a stingray to track Andrews without a search warrant, and she said prosecutors could not use any of the evidence found at the time of his arrest.
Judge Kendra Ausby ruled last week that the police should not have used a stingray to track Andrews without a search warrant, and she said prosecutors could not use any of the evidence found at the time of his arrest.
Reminds me of a Baltimore TV show. Now, what was it called?
When violating the Supreme Law of the Land means that none of the law-breakers involved get punished, it's clear that something has to be changed. Whether it takes an amendment or not, what needs to happen is that if you're so gung ho certain that you've got the right guy that you feel like you don't need to obey the law, well then go right ahead. That guy goes down for murder and you go down for violating the Constitution. Oh, you didn't have any guy so you went on a fishing expidition and you infringed the rights of 100 Americans looking for someone breaking the law? That's 100 counts.
They have a tool and they're going to use it.
Don't waste your vote! Vote for whoever you want, unless you live in a swing state it won't matter anyways
What's really shocking is that the police invested any effort in tracking down a mobile phone thief. The victim must have been someone with influence.
The real "Libtards" are the Libertarians!
Maybe we need to set up a bitcoin bounty for a stingray. I'd imagine reverse engineering it would reveal a wealth of information.
Only the State obtains its revenue by coercion. - Murray Rothbard
According to this study, America is an oligarchy. Here is a quote (as per the New Yorker):
Americans do enjoy many features central to democratic governance, such as regular elections, freedom of speech and association, and a widespread (if still contested) franchise. But we believe that if policymaking is dominated by powerful business organizations and a small number of affluent Americans, then Americaâ(TM)s claims to being a democratic society are seriously threatened.
When I hear about abuses of power, when I hear about the NSA spying on everyone, when I hear about militarization of police, when I hear about local police departments running roughshod over the Constitution as implied in the parent article, I start to think that something is deeply wrong in America. Then I remember that Americans still have the right to vote in those who rule them. And that is encouraging. But then I realize that most Americans have lost the ability to comprehend the systems of power that rule them. I remember that too many Americans vote based on shallow ignorant views, that they are persuaded by 30 second political TV commercials instead of actual rational argument, which is boring and long and tedious. And I remember that those 30 second TV commercials are expensive, and that politicians must go begging to those with large amounts of money in order to buy those 30 second commercials. And I remember that when politicians accept money from those very wealthy interests, that they become enslaved to them. And this makes me feel hopeless.
Then I remember that if Americans stopped listening to shallow arguments given in 30 second TV commercials, if they started to demand rational argument instead of the shallow blather that has so far persuaded them, then they could take back power from the corrupt wealthy interests who have driven the country into the ground over the last three and a half decades. And that makes me a little bit hopeful.
This and no other is the root from which a tyrant springs; when first he appears as a protector - Plato (423 to 327 BC)
If they're going to invade our privacy so deeply, it would be nice if they'd actually do something.
Right now, if you call the police, and tell them that someone broke into your house, they will respond and......write a report.
"Are you going to go find him?"
"No."
"But you have the fingerprints!"
"We'll put that in the report."
".........."
"First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
Under federal (U.S. Code â Title 18 â Part II â Chapter 206 â Â 3122 a), state and local law enforcement must get a court order before using a device which records which numbers are called.
Using such a device (called a pen register) without a court order is punishable by one year in jail.
So it's not necessarily unconstitutional, but it's absolutely illegal, by the plain text of chapter 206.
There is a very clear federal law making this a crime, so they absolutely could be charged, if a federal prosecutor chose to do so.
U.S. Code , Title 18 , Part II , Chapter 206. Â 3122 a) says that state and local law enforcement must get a court order before using a device which records which numbers are called.
Using such a device (called a pen register) without a court order is punishable by one year in jail.
I don't know if any charges have ever been brought under that paragraph, but they very easily could be. The law is pretty clear.
They deceive the court (by withholding vital information or by flat out lying), in order to uphold an EULA! So EULA > LAW
Surely that's the big crime here, those officers should not be accepting orders from the FBI to lie to a court. Its perjury or withholding evidence. Actual real crimes being committed.
It's like the parallel construction thing, call it Parallel Construction and it sounds positive. But its fabrication of evidence, an officer goes into court and lies about the chain of evidence to a judge, telling the judge a *different* chain of evidence led to the arrest. The officer learns confidence in telling lies to a court, knowing he will be backed by his police force!
And here we have the exact same principle, spying tech being used illegally to circumvent search warrants and due process and then lies being told in court to cover the illegal evidence trail.
And here is an insightful write-up on Stingrays (IMSI catchers). A good plain-terms read on how they function with a small dose of theory.
http://communications.support/...
Beware of the Leopard.
I know technical solutions to political problems but cheap and trivial availability of technology is what's directly fueling these shortcuts.
Running software on mobile handsets to detect and map the use of stingrays is hardly unreasonable or impractical. If enough people did it stingrays might become sufficiently risky and worthless such that police departments would find the time to ask a judge for warrant to get information from Telcos.
Perhaps misinformed, but also poorly educated. What I was taught in public school about my constitutional rights was really just about next to nothing. But it goes well beyond either misinformed or ignorant - like the people in this thread who are willfully and without thought thinking that this issue has anything to do at all with constitutional rights. And, as it normally happens, 99% of the people getting all up in arms abut this probably didn't even read the article to find out what the problem actually is... if there even is a problem.
Stupid sexy Flanders.
The very old systems? They had a drop to older phone network standards and users would just see it as part of their local rust belt cell networks.
Such changes in networking conditions could be mapped.
Phone Firewall Identifies Rogue Cell Towers Trying To Intercept Your Calls (09.03.14)
http://www.wired.com/2014/09/c...
Upgrades and updates ensure all tracking is now more seamless in any area less of the drop down to another generation of network service. Voice, mapping, rewind packages work "as" any domestic cell infrastructure for a low cost per city, state.
The next gen is as sold as good as is used to track foreigners in their own nations and stay ahead of very low end diplomatic counter surveillance efforts.
Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
if the police remained exclusively involved
in crimes that were petty.
Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.
Ernest Hemingway
That's an interesting point. There is a strong general presumption that anyone is allowed to RECIEVE anything transmitted over the airwaves. One good reason for that is that it's quite common to receive things on accident- a lot of night time "static" is in fact someone's communications.
HOWEVER, wireless phones have a two-way handshake with the tower. After receiving from the phone, the Stingray sends back "this is tower HJFG-7484. What are your parameters ", or something like that. By connecting with your phone and falsely claiming to be a phone-company tower, the Stingray os actively performing as a pen register. In fact, the Stingray probably sends to the phone "I have a call for you " in order to cause it to reveal it's current location. It would then send a disconnect before the phone started ringing audibly. That's all active snooping.
A different device would be one which only LISTENED to genuine communications between the phone and tower, decrypted the call metadata, and recorded it. Different laws would apply.
The story does mention the court ruled the use of a Stingray without a warrant is unconstitutional, so someone is doing their job.
Personally, I prefer to give money to the EFF rather than the ACLU since the ACLU advocates for racial discrimination, but everyone has their own opinions.
I find it very offensive that the ACLU says my daughter has to be given extra points in order to compete, because black people like her are too stupid to do well by their own talents and effort. That's a particularly nasty type of racism, in my view. I also think they are wrong to say that I should be denied admission in favor of someone less qualified because I happen to havevpale skin. That part bothers me much less than their patronizing attitude toward my wife and daughter, though, their belief that my wife and daughter can't manage without special favors and protection from snotty white people.
The "Stingray" mimics a cell tower, and operates at a frequency which the police are not legally entitled to broadcast. They force a disconnect from your legal cell tower and take all traffic, and can read and write data and metadata from/to the phone. They are fully capable of intercepting your content communications as well. this isn't exactly an envelope, this is setting up fake mailboxes and catching all mail that goes through and injecting data/metadata/intercepting content into the mail as well. There is nothing legal about this without a warrant, and even with a warrant the claims of legality are spurious at best.