Judge: Stingrays Are 'Simply Too Powerful' Without Adequate Oversight (arstechnica.com)

New submitter managerialslime sends news that an Illinois judge has issued new requirements the government must meet before it can use cell-site simulators, a.k.a. "stingrays," to monitor the communications of suspected criminals. While it's likely to set precedent for pushing back against government surveillance powers, the ruling is specific to the Northern District of Illinois for now. What is surprising is Judge Johnston’s order to compel government investigators to not only obtain a warrant (which he acknowledges they do in this case), but also to not use them when "an inordinate number of innocent third parties’ information will be collected," such as at a public sporting event. This first requirement runs counter to the FBI’s previous claim that it can warrantlessly use stingrays in public places, where no reasonable expectation of privacy is granted. Second, the judge requires that the government "immediately destroy" collateral data collection within 48 hours (and prove it to the court). Finally, Judge Johnston also notes: "Third, law enforcement officers are prohibited from using any data acquired beyond that necessary to determine the cell phone information of the target. A cell-site simulator is simply too powerful of a device to be used and the information captured by it too vast to allow its use without specific authorization from a fully informed court."

Comments

A step in the right direction

[Anonymous Coward]

But in the end, these court orders and government actions do little. These organizations are almost clandestine in nature and are just going to do what they want. Props to GNAA.

Re:A step in the right direction

[bhcompy]

They'll still use it, but it will not be used in court, rather it will be used to gather information until another method of making a charge stick is found. It's not fruit of the poison tree at that point.

Re:A step in the right direction

[sumdumass]

Well, it is still fruit of the poison tree but is only known as such if someone is willing to admit that was how they found the information.

Parallel construction largely relies on a lie being in place. If at any time it is discovered that this other source or means was crafted due to the illegal connections, it can and likely would be toss out with it.

Re:A step in the right direction

[Frobnicator]

Well, it is still fruit of the poison tree but is only known as such if someone is willing to admit that was how they found the information.

Parallel construction largely relies on a lie being in place. If at any time it is discovered that this other source or means was crafted due to the illegal connections, it can and likely would be toss out with it.

One neat thing about this type of deception is that the bigger it grows, the harder it is to hide. One person can keep a secret. Two people struggle to keep a secret. Hundreds of people cannot keep a secret, there will be a media leak by with a citation as a "confidential source not authorized to talk to the media."

If that happened it would not be one case tossed. It would be at least one case tossed and thousands of other cases re-opened for investigation, and intense scrutiny and a nasty public relations backlash.

We had a situation in a local PD where a highly acclaimed officer was caught faking field sobriety tests, falsifying reports and even the discovery of dashcam video showing the tazering of a sober person while shouting at them. In addition to the officer losing their job and various awards, there were various convictions overturned, convictions expunged, and several settlements allegedly of a quarter million dollars each were issued.

When discovered the impact to the groups is huge.

Discovery of illegal wiretaps and illegal records and failure to disclose potentially exculpatory evidence? That's the kind of thing that gets mass terminations and prison time for officers.

Why use stingrays at all?

[hawguy]

Is there any information a stingray can collect that the cellular carriers don't also collect?

The stingray just seems like an end-run around getting a court order to subpoena the information from the carriers.

FINALLY!

[tgrigsby]

Someone who gets it!

Without getting stupidly extremist ("Death to eavesdroppers"? Really?!), our law enforcement and judicial systems have gotten off into the weeds and need to be reminded that the spirit of the Constitutional amendments that grant privacy are designed to limit personal exposure down to only what is needed to investigate specific crimes committed by specific individuals. The idea of casting a wide net and picking up everyone doing anything wrong will always be attractive and based on the faulty logic that our judicial system is perfect in discerning proof of offense from misleading and incomplete evidence. The Constitution, on the other hand, assumes the judicial system is imperfect and must be held to a high standard that assumes imperfection.